To obtain the maximum solar radiation from sunrise to sunset, a robust and dynamic tracking system is required for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. However, existing solar tracking systems encounter several issues, such as additional cost and power consumption, complexity in installation and integration, susceptibility to environmental conditions, tracking accuracy, compatibility, reliability, and scalability problems. To address these challenges and to provide an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective solution, a software-defined networking (SDN)-assisted tracking system can be deployed. Therefore, this paper proposes an SDN-enabled solar tracking system that can provide a more scalable, secure, and adaptive tracking platform for solar PV panels. In addition, this proposed framework allows centralized control and real-time monitoring, and virtualized architecture rather than a conventional hardware-based tracker. Besides, a robust panel adjustment algorithm is also developed and MATLAB’s Simulink module is utilized to demonstrate its effectiveness based on I-V and P-V characteristics. Interestingly, simulation results show that our proposed framework has outperformed the traditional tracking system and offers 22% improved energy generation as well as provides a software-based real-time tracking platform.

1. DATE: 6-8 July 2023
Technically Co-Sponsored by: IEEE Electronics Packaging Society
Organized By: Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India
“Optimal Design and Performance Evaluation of Software-defined Solar PV Systems”
Paper ID: 2268
Md. Abu Baker Siddiki Abir
Graduate Student
Institute of Information and Communication Technology
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET)
Khulna-9203, Bangladesh
Nushrat Jahan
Graduate Student
Energy Science and Engineering (ESE)
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET)
Khulna-9203, Bangladesh
Author Co-Author
THE 14th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTING, COMMUNICATION AND
NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES (ICCCNT)

2. OUTLINES
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 1/21
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
2
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
FINAL OUTCOMES
FUTURE WORKS
CONTRIBUTIONS
PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE
STSTEM MODEL

3. INTRODUCTION
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 2/21
Rising Energy
Demand
Energy Crisis
Fossil Fuel
Dependency
Renewable
Energy
•World’s population is growing
•Cities become populated
•Increasing industrialization
•Living standard is developing
Increases of energy demand
Abrupt decrease of fossil energy in supply
Demand for energy exceeds the availability
High energy density
Dominating the world's energy supply
They are ready-made
BUT FOSSIL FUEL WILL BE RUN OUT……

4. INTRODUCTION (Cont..)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 3/21
Transition to Solar Energy
Type: Solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal
energy, and so on…
 Solar energy is sustainable, renewable
 Moreover:
 Reduce climate change
 Environmental advantages
 Energy security
 Long-term sustainability
 Utilizes abundant, clean energy sources
Fig 1. Different types of renewable energy resources [1].

5. INTRODUCTION (Cont..)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 4/21
WHAT IS SOLAR PV PANEL?
 Solar PV panels are those devices which
are used to absorb the sun's rays and
convert them into electricity
 When the sun shines onto a solar panel,
energy from the sunlight is absorbed by
the PV cells in the panel
 This energy creates electrical charges
that move in response to an internal
electrical field in the cell, causing
electricity to flow Fig 2. Solar PV Panel [2].

6. INTRODUCTION (Cont..)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 5/21
WHY PV SOLAR TRACKER?
PV solar trackers adjust the direction
that a solar panel is facing according to
the position of the Sun.
By keeping the panel perpendicular to
the Sun, more sunlight strikes the solar
panel, less light is reflected, and more
energy is absorbed.
Fig 3. Solar PV Panel with solar tracker [3].

7. INTRODUCTION (Cont..)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 6/21
CHALLENGES IN CONVENTIONAL PV SOLAR TRACKER?
 Addition hardware and components
 Tracking accuracy
 Addition power consumption
 Scalability and reliability

8. INTRODUCTION (Cont..)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 7/21
WHAT IS SOFTEARE-DEFINED NETWORKING (SDN)?
SDN describes an architecture that separates
the network control plane and the data plane,
aiming to simplify and improve network
control
Fig. 4. Architecture of SDN.

9. INTRODUCTION (Cont..)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 8/21
Centralized Control
Programmability
Remotely configuration and
management
Scalability
Better network security
Enhanced flexibility, agility, and
reliability
Fig. 5. SDN vs Traditional Networking.
WHY SDN?

10. OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 9/21
Enhance the overall performance, reliability, and efficiency of the solar system
through SDN-enabled tracking system
To Develop a software-defined framework for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels
To Develop a robust algorithm to track the solar panel's maximum power point
(MPP)
To Investigate the electrical properties of the solar PV cell, such as current-
voltage (I-V) and power-voltage (P-V) characteristics

11. CONTRIBUTIONS
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 10/21
A simulation-based analysis is performed to evaluate the I-V and P-V
characteristics of the proposed framework
A software-defined solar PV panel is proposed to capture the maximum
solar radiation
A robust panel adjustment algorithm (RPA) is proposed to track the
maximum power point (MPP)

12. PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 11/21
Fig 5. Architecture of the proposed model.

13. SYSTEM MODEL
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 12/21
Fig. 7. Block Diagram of the proposed model.

14. SYSTEM MODEL (Cont.)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 13/21
𝑰𝒑𝒉 = 𝑰𝒔𝒄 + 𝑲𝒊 𝑻 − 𝟐𝟗𝟖 ×
𝑮
𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎
(𝟏)
𝑰𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = 𝑰𝒑𝒉 − 𝑰𝟎 𝒆𝒙𝒑
𝑽 + 𝑰𝑹𝒔
𝒏. 𝑽𝒕
− 𝟏 −
𝑽 + 𝑰. 𝑹𝒔
𝑹𝒔𝒉
(𝟐)
𝑽𝒕 =
𝒌𝑻
𝒒
(𝟑)
𝑽𝒐𝒄 = 𝒏. 𝑽𝒕. 𝒍𝒏
𝑰𝒑𝒉
𝑰𝟎
+ 𝟏 + 𝑹𝒑𝒔 𝑰𝒑𝒉 (𝟒)
𝑰𝒔𝒄 = 𝑰𝒑𝒉 − 𝑰𝟎[𝒆𝒙𝒑
𝑽𝒐𝒄
𝒏. 𝑽𝒕
− 𝟏] (𝟓)
MATHEMATICAL FORMULA Symbol Name of the parameter
𝑰𝟎 Reverse saturation current
𝑰𝒑𝒉 Photocurrent
𝑰𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 Output current
𝑰𝒔𝒄 Short-circuit current
𝑽𝒐𝒄 Open-circuit voltage
𝑽𝒕 Thermal voltage
𝑹𝒔 Series resistance
𝑹𝒔𝒉 Shunt resistance
𝑮 Irradiance level
𝑻 Temperature
𝑲𝒊 Temperature coefficient
Table 1. Notations used in the analysis

15. SYSTEM MODEL (Cont.)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 14/21
Key performance indicators Value of the parameters
Ambient Temperature, T 25oC
Electron’s charge, q 1.6x10-19C
Boltzmann's constant, k 1.38x10-23J/K
Ideality factor of the diode, n 1.36
Number of cells connected in series, Ns 50
Resistance in series, Rs 0.672ohms
Shunt's resistance, Rp 359.72ohms
Voltage in open circuit, 𝑉𝑜𝑐 0.6V(per cell)
Current in short circuit, 𝐼𝑠𝑐 7.5 A
Table 2. Design parameters of the proposed model
PLATFORM
MATLAB’S SIMULINK module

16. SYSTEM MODEL (CONT..)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 12/20
PROPOSED RPA ALGORITHM
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 15/21
Fig. 8. Flow chat of the proposed algorithm.
Robust Panel Adjustment Algorithm
Step 1: Begin with system initialization
Step 2: Obtaining information from solar sensors.
Step 3: SDN system receives the information via a wireless
link
Step 4: SDN analyzes information in real-time
Step 5: Solar panel's orientation deviates from perpendicular
to the sun's radiation?
Step 6: if yes then SDN controller provides a control signal to
change the panel position
Step 7: if no the MPP is measured
Step 8: Repeat Step 1.

17. PERFOMANCE EVALUATION
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 16/21
Fig. 9. The variation of solar radiation during the sample day.
 The hourly sun irradiation
information in Khulna City,
Bangladesh, is depicted in Fig. 4
on May 23, 2023 [19].
 It is seen that the proposed
framework outperforms the
existing tracking system by 22%

18. PERFOMANCE EVALUATION (Cont.)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 17/21
Fig. 10. Impact of (a) variations in maximum irradiance for I-V characteristics and (b) variations in average
irradiance for I-V characteristics.
(a) (b)

19. PERFOMANCE EVALUATION (Cont.)
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 18/21
Fig. 11.Impact of (a) variations in maximum irradiance for P-V characteristics and(b) variations in average irradiance
for P-V characteristics.
(a) (b)

20. FINAL OUTCOMES
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 19/21
An autonomous and dynamic tracking platform for solar PV panels has
been achieved
The maximum intensity of the sun radiation throughout the day has
been captured
Electrical parameters such as I-V and P-V characteristics of the solar cell
has been increased by 22% compared to the convention tracker
An RPA algorithm based real-time tracking mechanism has been
achieved

21. FUTURE WORKS
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 20/21
Artificial intelligence based algorithms can be applied.
Performance analysis for different seasons.

22. REFERENCES
PRESENTED BY: MD. ABU BAKER SIDDIKI ABIR 21/21
J. L. Holechek, H. M. E. Geli, M. N. Sawalhah, and R. Valdez, "A Global Assessment: Can Renewable Energy Replace Fossil Fuels
by 2050?," Sustainability, vol. 14, no. 8, p. 4792, 2022.
N. M. Haegel and S. R. Kurtz, "Global Progress Toward Renewable Electricity: Tracking the Role of Solar," IEEE Journal of
Photovoltaics, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1335-1342, 2021.
Singh, S. Lee, D. Irwin, and P. Shenoy, "SunShade: Software-defined Solar Systems," in Proc. Seventh International Conference
on Future Energy Systems Poster Sessions (e-Energy '16), New York, NY, USA, 2016.
J. Xie, D. Guo, C. Qian, L. Liu, B. Ren, and H. Chen, "Validation of Distributed SDN Control Plane Under Uncertain Failures,"
IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 1234-1247, 2019.
B. K. Dey, I. Khan, N. Mandal, and A. Bhattacharjee, "Mathematical Modelling and Characteristic Analysis of Solar PV Cell," in
Proc. IEEE 7th Annual Information Technology, Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference (IEMCON), Vancouver, BC,
Canada, 2016.
"SunCalc Sun Position Und Sun Phases Calculator," in SunCalc, www.suncalc.org/#/33.7748,27.839,3/2023.05.30/21:39/1/3,
Accessed on 23 May 2023
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