Energy Efficiency and Latency Optimization in Wireless Concentrated Solar Power Fields

This paper presents an intelligent segmentation and resource management mechanism tailored for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) systems, aimed at organizing heliostats into segments for efficient wireless communication. Also, a distributed segmentation-head selection process is introduced and a resource management optimization problem is proposed to enhance the energy efficiency of the segment-heads, while achieving the end-to-end latency constraints for closed-loop autocalibration (CLA) and non-closed-loop autocalibration (NCLA) functionalities. By integrating the principles of closeness centrality and considering the heliostats’ energy availability, the proposed mechanism optimizes the formation of heliostats’ segments to support the wireless communication between the heliostats and the central station of the CSP field. Real-data-based experiments validate the effectiveness of the approach in meeting latency requirements for both CLA and NCLA operations, leveraging real data from heliostats’ energy availability and sun-tracking movements.