Recent approaches to non-intrusive load monitoring techniques in residential settings

The concept of Smart Grids is closely related to energy conservation and load shedding concepts. However, it is difficult to quantify the effectiveness of energy conservation efforts in residential settings without any sort of end-use energy information as feedback. In order to achieve that, load monitoring methods are normally used. In recent years, non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) approaches are gaining popularity due to their minimal installation requirements and cost effectiveness. For a NILM system to work, only one sensor at the entry point to a home is required. Fluctuations in the aggregate power consumption signals are used to mathematically estimate the composition of operation of appliances. This approach eliminates the requirement of installing plug-meters for every appliance in the house. In this paper, we provide a review of recent research efforts on state-of-the-art NILM algorithms before concluding with a baseline and overall vision for our future research direction.