The paper is devoted to the digital transformation of the core engineering maintenance processes involved in medium-voltage overhead distribution network infrastructure inspection. The study presents an analysis of digital twin utilization for inspection of the infrastructure of medium-voltage overhead distribution networks. At present, the infrastructure monitoring process is still manual, and its automatization is a challenging task due to the large distances between and small dimensions of the elements involved. The proposed digital twin is employed for 3D infrastructure modeling and complex analysis based on photogrammetry and aerial scanning data processing methods. The paper describes practical use cases for these data-driven methods for specific infrastructure management processes, e.g., scheduled inspection processes, including geometrical parameter measurements and visual infrastructure element defect identification, unplanned inspection processes (state of emergency, post-storm, etc.), and vegetation management processes. The proposed method allows operations to be performed remotely without physical presence in the field. At the same time, data-driven solutions provide objective results and potential automation via machine learning algorithms, which are more profitable economically. As the proposed method allows processes to be performed remotely, these data-driven solutions offer cost-effective results for automation. The digital twin concept is applied to the Latvian medium-voltage overhead distribution network with the support of the Latvian distribution system operator “Sadales tīkls” JSC.

The current work presents a study of the implementation of a quadrature chaos phase-shift keying communication system (QCPSK) based on the employment of different chaos oscillators. The research takes two directions, with one being the study of the chaos synchronization’s noise immunity for several chaos oscillators that are the potential core blocks of the QCPSK system. The correlation coefficient over time is used to estimate the synchronization noise immunity. The second direction is the estimation of the QCPSK system’s baseband model performance in the AWGN propagation channel using the bit error ratio (BER) as the estimation method for several chaos oscillators employed as the core of the QCPSK system’s model.

The current research is dedicated to the experimental study of wireless power transfer and RF-to-DC conversion efficiency using waveforms with a high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR). Three devices: a classical voltage doubler circuits with and without matching network and a commercially available energy harvesting device - Powercast P2110B are selected for the study. The use of a software-defined radio (SDR) for generation of sub-GHz signals allows to achieve high accuracy and customization of waveforms. The analysis of RF-to-DC conversion efficiency is based on the results of measurements of the input average power and DC voltage in laboratory conditions. The impact of the PAPR level and input average power level on the RF-to-DC conversion efficiency is investigated. Moreover, the results of RF-to-DC conversion for high PAPR signals are compared to the case when a low PAPR single-carrier waveform is used.

The current work presents a novel digital chaotic communication system with antipodal chaotic shift keying modulation, implemented in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Such systems provide high security on the physical communication level and can be used in wireless sensor network systems. A modified Chua circuit chaos generator and error linear feedback chaotic synchronization are implemented in FPGA and used to develop a chaotic communication system with digital transmitter and receiver an analog in-between signal transmission. Additionally, a validated mathematical model of the communication system prototype is created in the Simulink environment, which is used to compare the performance of the prototype and its nodes with the simulation and simplify its development. The performance is evaluated using simulation with the additive white Gaussian noise channel and analyzing the bit error ratio.

The current work is devoted to chaos oscillator employment in digital communication systems for IoT applications. The paper presents a comparative performance analysis of two different chaos data transmission systems: frequency-modulated chaos shift keying (FM-CSK) and quadrature chaos phase-shift keying (QCPSK), and a comparison to their non-chaotic counterparts: frequency-shift keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). For both chaotic communication systems, the Vilnius oscillator and substitution method of chaotic synchronization are chosen due to simple circuitry implementation and low power consumption properties. The performance of the systems in the fading channel with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is evaluated. Also, the systems’ performance in the case phase noise is investigated, and the benefits of chaotic waveforms employment for data transmission are demonstrated.

This paper analyzes the quantitative quality parameters of a mobile communication network in a controlled drone logistic use-case scenario. Based on the analysis of standards and recommendations, the values of key performance indicators (KPIs) are set. As the main network-impacting parameters, reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) were selected. Uplink (UL), downlink (DL), and ping parameters were chosen as the secondary ones, as they indicate the quality of the link depending on primary parameters. The analysis is based on experimental measurements performed using a Latvian mobile operator’s “LMT” JSC infrastructure in a real-life scenario. To evaluate the altitude impact on the selected network parameters, the measurements were performed using a drone as transport for the following altitude values: 40, 60, 90, and 110 m. Network parameter measurements were implemented in automatic mode, allowing switching between LTE4–LTE2 standards, providing the opportunity for more complex analysis. Based on the analysis made, the recommendations for the future mobile networks employed in controlled drone flights should correspond to the following KPI and their values: −100 dBm for RSRP, −16 dB for RSRQ, −5 dB for SINR, 4096 kbps for downlink, 4096 kbps for uplink, and 50 ms for ping. Lastly, recommendations for a network coverage digital twin (DT) model with integrated KPIs are also provided.