A privacy-preserving system architecture for applications raising the energy efficiency

To increase the energy efficiency of devices and appliances in the residential and commercial sectors, a supporting communication system is needed. In this paper we propose a highly scalable, universal system architecture for communication between devices. By utilizing a hierarchical structure, a high level of data security and privacy is realized. Besides integrating devices with existing communication facilities, we also integrate legacy devices by retrofitting them with a communication interface. Application modules running on all involved devices coordinate the tasks of the whole system. An implementation of the proposed architecture is presented and a demonstrator spanning the campus of our university to test the system is described.