This study summarizes a critical review on EVs’ optimal charging and scheduling under dynamic pricing schemes. A detailed comparison of these schemes, namely, Real Time Pricing (RTP), Time of Use (ToU), Critical Peak Pricing (CPP), and Peak Time Rebates (PTR), is presented. Globally, the intention is to reduce the carbon emissions (CO₂) has motivated the extensive practice of Electric Vehicles (EVs). The uncoordinated charging and uncontrolled integration however of EVs to the distribution network deteriorates the system performance in terms of power quality issues. Therefore, the EVs’ charging activity can be coordinated by dynamic electricity pricing, which can influence the charging activities of the EVs customers by offering flexible pricing at different demands. Recently, with developments in technology and control schemes, the RTP scheme offers more promise compared to the other types of tariff because of the greater flexibility for EVs’ customers to adjust their demands. It however involves higher degree of billing instability, which may influence the customer’s confidence. In addition, the RTP scheme needs a robust intelligent automation system to improve the customer’s feedback to time varying prices. In addition, the review covers the main optimization methods employed in a dynamic pricing environment to achieve objectives such as power loss and electricity cost minimization, peak load reduction, voltage regulation, distribution infrastructure overloading minimization, etc.

Electric vehicles’ (EVs) technology is currently emerging as an alternative of traditional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles. EVs have been treated as an efficient way for decreasing the production of harmful greenhouse gasses and saving the depleting natural oil reserve. The modern power system tends to be more sustainable with the support of electric vehicles (EVs). However, there have been serious concerns about the network’s safe and reliable operation due to the increasing penetration of EVs into the electric grid. Random or uncoordinated charging activities cause performance degradations and overloading of the network asset. This paper proposes an Optimal Charging Starting Time (OCST)-based coordinated charging algorithm for unplanned EVs’ arrival in a low voltage residential distribution network to minimize the network power losses. A time-of-use (ToU) tariff scheme is used to make the charging course more cost effective. The concept of OCST takes the departure time of EVs into account and schedules the overnight charging event in such a way that minimum network losses are obtained, and EV customers take more advantages of cost-effective tariff zones of ToU scheme. An optimal solution is obtained by employing Binary Evolutionary Programming (BEP). The proposed algorithm is tested on IEEE-31 bus distribution system connected to numerous low voltage residential feeders populated with different EVs’ penetration levels. The results obtained from the coordinated EV charging without OCST are compared with those employing the concept of OCST. The results verify that incorporation of OCST can significantly reduce network power losses, improve system voltage profile and can give more benefits to the EV customers by accommodating them into low-tariff zones.

In this article, a compact four-port MIMO antenna system resonating from 4.7–5.1 GHz on −6 dB criteria is discussed. The proposed antennas are arranged in a perpendicular manner providing diversity with good isolation characteristics. The proposed antenna was fabricated and designed on a commercially available low-cost FR-4 substrate with a relative permittivity of 4.4. The total size of the antenna is 40 × 40 mm², and a minimum isolation of 25 dB was observed at most nearby resonating elements. The proposed antenna was fabricated and tested at an in-house facility, and the measured results agree well with the simulations. The MIMO antenna characteristics, such as the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) among any two radiating elements, have been found to be less than 0.1, and the diversity gain (DG) value evaluated showed that the proposed antenna is well designed. Furthermore, the SAR analysis showed that the desired antenna system is safe for users, with a value of 0.94 W/Kg. The channel capacity (cc) was found to be 18.7 bps/Hz, approximately 2.7 times more than SISO systems. Through its robust and reliable performance and its peak gain of 2.8 dBi, the proposed compact antenna is a good candidate for future 5G devices.

The incredible advancements in data transmission technology have opened up more potentials for data security than ever before. Numerous methods for data protection have been developed during the previous decades, including steganography and cryptography. The security and integrity of medical data have emerged as major barriers for healthcare service systems as the Internet of Things has evolved dramatically in the healthcare business. Communication between two devices securely is a difficult problem. Numerous cryptographic algorithms are already available, including data encryption standard (DES), Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA), and advanced encryption standard (AES). In this paper, we present a hybrid security model for the protection of diagnostic text data contained in medical photographs. The proposed model is built by combining a proposed hybrid encryption system with either a 2D Discrete Wavelet Transform 1 Level (2D-DWT-1L) or a 2D Discrete Wavelet Transform 2 Level (2D-DWT-2L) steganography technique. The suggested model encrypts secret data and hides them using 2D-DWT-3L. As text covers, color and grayscale images are employed. The suggested system’s performance was tested using PSNR, SSIM, MSE, and Correlation. Associated to state-of-the-art approaches, the proposed model masked personal patient data with high capacity, imperceptibility and minimum deterioration in the received stego-image. We use MATLAB to build the proposed mechanism, and measures such as throughput and execution time are used to assess performance.

In this research article, a single-fed dual-band circular polarized (CP) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) for dual-function communication, such as GPS and WLAN, was made. Initially, the proposed design process was initiated by designing a linearly polarized singly fed-DRA. To attain CP fields, the cross-shape conformal metal strip was optimized to excite the fundamental and the high-order mode in the two frequency bands. The metallic strip (parasitic) was utilized on top of the rectangular DRA to improve and widen the impedance and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. This step led to a 2.73% improvement on the lower band and an impact of 6.5% on the upper band while on the other side a significant improvement was witnessed in the AR bandwidth in both frequency bands. A prototype was designed and fabricated in order to validate its operations. The measurement outcomes of the proposed antennas authenticated wideband impedance bandwidths of 6.4% and 25.26%, and 3-dB axial ratios (AR) of 21.26% and 27.82% respectively. The prototype is a decent candidate for a global positioning system (GPS) and wireless local area network (WLAN).

The demand of 5G in modern communication era due to its high data rate, reliable connectivity and low latency is enormous. This paper presents a novel dual band antenna resonating at two distinct bands allotted for 5G services. The proposed antenna is composed of inverted L shape probes comprising a rectangular defected ground structure. The propose antenna covers 3.4–3.6 GHz and 5.4–5.6 GHz spectrum. In propose MIMO system, the efficiency ranges from 52 to 69% with peak gain of 3.1 dBi. The proposed antenna system is sufficiently isolated with minimum value of 13 dB and ECC less than 0.05 among any two radiating elements. Similarly, the channel capacity is found to be 38 and 39.5 at both resonating bands at 20 dB SNR and diversity and mean effective gains lies in acceptable range. The radiation characteristics of the proposed design shows that the proposed antenna is providing good diversity characteristics and SAR values have demonstrated to be safe for user vicinity. The proposed dual band antenna prototype is developed tested. With the measured results obtained, the MIMO system proposed can be seen as vital candidate for 5G LTE band 42 and 46 services.