Some Recent Conferences
IEEE IECON 2012 (Montreal, Canada)
IEEE IECON 2012:
Presented a paper on "Over-Current Relay Model Implementation for Real-Time Simulation and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Validation" in "Special Session on "Real-time Simulation and Validation Methods for Power and Energy Systems"
Significance: This was my first conference presentation and i presented the result from my MSc. Thesis in which one of the task was to design a model of over-current relay and validate this model in real-time using HIL Approach.
Canada (Montreal, Ottawa):
1. Conference venue was ETS (École de technologie supérieure) in Montreal.
2. Conference dates were 25-28 October 2012
3. My home university (The Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Sweden) was generous enough to allow me to stay at Le Center Sheraton Hotel, Montreal
4. My colleague Naveed-ur-Rehman Malik from Division of Electric Machines also attended this conference.
5. After the conference i found some time to visit some nice places in Montreal. Pictures from left to right are;
a. Mount Royal Montreal
b. Montreal Olympic Stadium
c. Botanic Garden (Chinese Lantern Festival)
d. Ottawa Parliament
e. Montreal Aviation Museum
f. Rideau Canal
CIRED 2013 (Stockholm, Sweden)
CIRED 2013:
Presented a paper on "Performance Evaluation of Protection Fucntions for IEC 61850-9-2 Process Bus using Real-Time Hardware-in-the.Loop Approach"
Significance: This was my second paper as a first author and was related to substation automation in which the performance of differential protection for a two winding transformer was evaluated using Real Time Simulator Opal-RT and ABB RED-670 protection relay.
Sweden (Stockholm)
1. Conference venue was Kistamassan just walking distance from KTH-Kista campus and Kista Galleria.
2. Conference dates were 10-13 June 2013.
3. It was indeed one of the best conference in terms of the industrial collaboration and vast audience.
4. The most impressive stalls were of ABB, Alstom, GE and Schnieder Electric. Nice to see all the big vendors associated with power system protection and substation automation under one roof.
5. I was accompanied by my colleagues Yalin Huang and Alberto Fernandes.
6. Lot of interestinf speeches by the industries representatives especially on merging unit (IEC 61850-9-2 ProcessBus).
7. Attended a tutorial session on
"Overview of protection fundamentals and application of protection relays to today’s distribution networks" by Peter Watson, Chief Engineer, Protection, Parsons Brinkerhoff, UK
ÌEEE IPST and IEEE PES GM 2013 (Vancouver, Canada)
Vancouver (Canada)
1. Conference venue for IEEE IPST was University of British Columbia and accommodation was provided in one their hostels.
2. Reception was given at archipeology museum.
4. Experience to go to Grouse Mountain and Suspension Bridge was awesome.
5. IEEE PES GM 2013 conference was held at Vancouver Convention Center.
6. Almost all of my colleagues from KTH Power System Division were attending this conference.
7. Attended a tutorial session on
Synchrophasors given by Dr. Luigi Vanfretti.
8. Attended technical sessions on Cyber Physical Security Systems and Power System Dynamics.
9. One of the highlight of the trip was a Gondola Ride all the way to the top of Grouse Mountain and to experience the sunset.
IEEE IPST and IEEE PES GM 2013:
Presented a paper on "Methodologies for Power Protection Relay Testing-Conventional to RT-HIL Approaches" at IEEE IPST 2013 conference held at University of British Columbia.
Presented another paper on "A MATLAB-based PMU Simulator" in a poster session in IEEE PES GM 2013 conference.
Significance: IEEE IPST was a close group conference with a prime focus on power system transients. Got some real valuable feedback from Prof. Vladimir Treja on my presentation topic of power system protection comparison for both traditional and IEC 61850 based approach.
IEEE IREP 2013:
Presented a paper on "Analysis of Communication Network Challenges for Real-Time Synchrophasor-Based Wide-Area Control Applications" at IEEE IREP 2013 conference held at Aquila Rythimna Beach Hotel in beautiful island of Crete in Greece.
One of the best conference as far as hospitality was concerned. There was only one session in the whole conference and alot of senior technical audiance to evaluate your research work.
ÌEEE IREP 2013 (Crete, Greece)
Crete (Greece)
1. Conference venue for IEEE IREP 2013 was Aquila Rythimna Beach Hotel in Crete, Greece. Stayed there from 24th August till 31st August.
2. I was accompanied by three of my colleagues Robert Eriksson, Camille Hamon and Jan Lavenius and each of us presented a paper.
4. We visited the old town where we were entetained by tradition greek live music concert.
5. On the last day of the conference, we were given a guided trip to Konossos Palace and Archeology Museum.
6. Even in the end of August, the weather was pretty warm and we preferred to stay in a swimming pool for most of the afternoon.
7. Highly impresed by the food and beaches of Greece. On my way back i bought lot of sculptures of Greek Gods and olive oil soaps for myself. This is indeed one of the place where i would love to go again sometime soon.
IEEE IECON 2014:
Presented a paper on "Implementation of Conventional and Phasor Based Power System Stabilizing Controls for Real-Time Simulation" at IEEE IECON 2014 conference held at Shereton Hotel Dallas in Texas, USA. This particular paper was presented in the Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation Session. Another paper titled "Experimental Performance Assessment of a Generator's Excitation Control System using Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation" was presented in the poster session.
Being in Dallas was a nice experience. Not much for the tourists but fortunately i found some of my juniors from NUST-PNEC and had a great time with them.
Dallas (Texas, USA)
1. Conference venue for IEEE IECON 2014 was Sheraton Hotel Dallas. However i stayed at Best Western City Place Inn which was about 2 miles from the conference venue. Stayed at the hotel from Oct 27 - Nov 3.
2. My colleagues from Opal-RT Canada were also echibiting their products so most of the time i stayed with them.
3. We visited the downtown and i must say that the skyline (skyscrappers) of Dallas are one of the best. Worth paying a visit.
4. One of the highlight of the conference was the gala dinner which was arranged at the venue. Got to see the live performance of the cheerleaders of Dallas Cowboys (American Football Team). Though i have some pics from the event but i am not going to share them here for obvious reasons.
5. Had a great time with my juniors Bilal Khan Suri and Almas with whom we tried alot of Desi Restaurants.
ÌEEE IECON 2014 (Dallas, Texas, USA)
IEEE PES GM 2014:
Presented a paper on "Synchrophasor Network, Laboratory and Software Applications Developed in the Strong2rid Project" at IEEE PES GM 2014 conference held at National Harbor, Maryland, USA. Another paper titled "Open Source SCADA Implementation and PMU Integration for Power System Monitoring and Control Applications" was also presented in the same session during the conference.
What can i say about the capital Washington except two words amazingly awesome. I have been in Washington 3 times before, so this time we planned to take some time and visited New York (Chicago). I was accompanied by two of my colleagues Farhan Mehmood and Noman Ahmed in New York. The whole SmarTS lab group participated in IEEE PES GM 2014 in Washington.
Washington and New York
1. Conference venue for IEEE PES GM 2014 was National Harbor in Washington. However me Maxime and Jan stayed at Red Roof Inn Oxon Hill In Washington.
2. During our visit to New York we saw the famous Statue of Liberty (Liberty Island), Times Square, historical Immigration Office etc.
3. I finally made it to visit Brooklyn Bridge where the famous Kal ho na Ho song was shot. Though i couldnt find any Priety Zinta there.
4. Back to the conference in Washington, the IEEE PES GM is always a mega event. We visited Air and Space Museum, the capitol, Statue of Abraham Lincoln, World War Memorial and lot of other places.
5. If you guys are planning to go to New York, check out times square during the evening, i would recommend you to take pictures with your favourite cartoon characters there. I got one with minion
ÌEEE PES GM 2014 (Washington DC, USA)
Montreal (Canada)
1. I stayed in Montreal from March till end of July. On my way to Montreal, i stayed in Washington for couple of weeks to attend the course on Communication Network Simulation using Opnet. The course was held in Bethesda, Maryland.
2. I got the accommodation in Beaudry very close to the famous Saint Catherine road. However i came to know later that the place where i am staying is famous for some other reasons as well. I wont comment on it except that i loved that place and the hustle and bustle at that place round the clock
3. Working at Ecole Polytechnique was fun. They do have nice labs and equipment.
4. When Luigi and Francisco came to attend the Real-Time conference, i became their guide and we visited almost whole of Montreal.
5. Maxime came for a vacation and it was fun to explore botanical garden and the famous olympic stadium with him.
Research Placement & Real-Time Conference:
I received the KTH Electrical Engineering School Scholarship from the Foundation John and Karin Engbolm to spend 4 months in Montreal at the laboratory of Electric Power Systems at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jean Mahseredjian (developer of EMTP-RV). It was indeed an amazing cultural, working and research experience. I used to spend one day a week at Opal-RT headoffice to work with Luc Andre and Wei Li on developing models for validating Modular Multi Level Converters peformance in different simulation tools like EMTP-RV, MATLAB/Simulink, HyperSim etc.
I also presented in the real-time conference organized by Opal-RT from June 9th-12th. The paper which was presented was "Experiences with RT-HIL Implementation of Excitation Control System, Development of Wide Area Control Systems and Open Source SCADA Setup"
Research Placement Montreal March-July 2014 (Montreal, Canada)
IEEE ISGT North America 2015:
The conference gave me the opportunity to visit the beauctiful Washington DC one more time. This time i was accommpanied by my colleagues Dr. Yuwa and Ms. Wei Li (both from my research group). The weather was a bit harsh (too snowy). The conference was organzied in Grand Hyatt Washington DC. However i opted to stay in Best Western at Rosslyn a few stops away from the metro station of Grand Hyatt Hotel.
I presented two papers in the conference and i wasnt the first author in any paper. One of the paper was about real-time data mediator (C37.118 parser) and the other one was about dynamic compliance testing of PMUs.
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J. Kilter, M. S. Almas, I. Palu and L. Vanfretti, “Experiences with PMU Dynamic Compliance Testing using Standard Relay Testing Equipment”, Innovative Smart Grid Conference (ISGT) North America, Washington DC, USA, Feb 2015
- L. Vanfretti, I. Al-Khatib, and M. S. Almas, “Real-Time Data Mediation for Synchrophasor Application Development Compliant with IEEE C37.118.2”, Innovative Smart Grid Conference (ISGT) North America, Washington DC, USA, Feb 2015
Washington DC (USA)
1. This was my third visit to the Nation's Capital (Washington DC). Only challenging thing was the snowy conditions. I wasnt expecting sub-zero temperature in Washington and arrived from Stockholm with minimum artillary of warm clothes.
2. The day when we arrived at Washington, we visited the famous Capitol, Abraham Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, the Aviation Museum and much more.
3. I was accompanied by my two asian colleagues, so we tried alot of Asian Cuisines, the highlight was the DimSum for sure.
4. The conference itself had a very closed group audiance. There were lot of sessions on PMUs. Even the introductory slide of my presentation (Picture 2 from left in the bottom) showed the keywords used by different researchers to defiine PMU technology and its importance in the evolving smartgrid.
5. I visited the famous George Washington University and bought some souvenirs for myself and my colleagues.
IEEE Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference 2015
(IEEE ISGT), Washington DC, USA 17-20 Feb 2015
IEEE EEEIC (Rome) 2015:
Thanks to the conference organizers who picked up the historical city of Rome as the event venue. I was lucky to participate in this conference as a co-author of 4 publications. The conference was organized at the Sapienza University of Rome. It attracted alot of audience and presenters (possibly because of the location of the conference). For Rome, i can just say two words Magnificiently Amazing.
I presented 4 papers (oral presentations) in two days. So it was a bit too demanding
- N. ur Rehman Malik, M. S. Almas, and L. Vanfretti, “Challenges of Real-Time Parameter Estimation of DFIG using Synchrophasors”, IEEE 15th International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering, June 10-13, Rome, Italy
- L. Vanfretti, M. Baudette, J. L. D-Garcia, A. White, M. S. Almas, and J. O. Gjerde, “A PMU-Based Fast Real-Time Sub-synchronous Oscillation Detection Application”, IEEE 15th International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering, June 10-13, Rome, Italy
- J. L. D-Garzcia, M. Baudette, G. D-Rosario, A. R-Alvarez, M. S. Almas, I. Cairo, and L. Vanfretti, “Validation Experiment Design of a PMU–Based Application for Detection of Sub-Synchronous Oscillations”, IEEE 15th International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering, June 10-13, Rome, Italy
- E. Rebello, M. S. Almas, and L. Vanfretti, “An Experimental Setup for Testing Synchrophasor-based Damping Control Systems”, IEEE 15th International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering, June 10-13, Rome, Italy
Rome (Italy)
1. I was lucky enough to participate in the conference as all the first authors of my publications were a bit accommodated in different assignments. I arrived on the night of 8th June and stayed at Hotel Artorious which was 500 meters away from the venue (University Sapienza). Well collosseum, you can see it from almost everywhere in Rome. Its beautiful.
2. I was accompanied by my colleagues Farhan Mehmood and Jan Lavenius. The conference organized a guided trip to the old town including the colloseum. That was indeed one of the highlight of the whole conference.
3. How can you miss Pizza and Pasta while in Rome. To be honest, i didnt search for any authentic Pizzeria in Rome, it seems like every restaurant has expertise in Pizza. A bit of a Gelato Ice-cream after hunting down a pizza is something that will take you to paradise.
4. Once in Rome, try to visit the famous landmarks both at daytime and at night. In the morning you can appreciate the architecture of the buildings, at night you can feel the vastness, beauty with coloured lights all around, its simply magneficient.
5. It was too sunny. So if you plan to visit Rome in June, take atleast a couple of bottle of water in you back-pack. Good thing is that there are lot of fountains of drinking water in the city. So you can re-fill your bottles.
IEEE 15th International Conference on Enviromental and Electrical Engineering (IEEE EEEIC), Rome, Italy 10-13 June 2015
