Hongbo Sun

Hongbo Sun
Hongbo's Quick Links

  • Biography

    Prior to Joining MERL in 2010, Hongbo was a principal applications Engineer at Oracle, and a technical architect at SPL WorldGroup.He is a registered Professional Engineer and has more than 20 years' experience in technical consulting, product development and research on electrical transmission and distribution system planning, analysis, operation, and automation.

  • Recent News & Events

    •  TALK    [MERL Seminar Series 2024] Di Shi presents talk titled AI-assisted Power Grid Dispatch and Control: Optimization, Safety, and Real-world Demonstrations
      Date & Time: Wednesday, November 20, 2024; 1:00 PM
      Speaker: Di Shi, New Mexico State University
      MERL Host: Hongbo Sun
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Optimization
      Abstract
      • This presentation delves into the challenges and advancements in optimizing power system operations through Grid Mind, an innovative, data-driven framework designed to enhance the integration of renewable energy sources. Utilizing advanced learning algorithms, Grid Mind excels in strategic resource allocation and control, significantly improving efficiency and reliability in power systems with high renewable energy penetration. The transformative potential of this AI-assisted technology is highlighted through real-world applications, demonstrating its effectiveness in addressing the complexities of modern power systems. In addition, critical safety considerations and practical deployment challenges are explored, emphasizing the need for robust, secure, and adaptable solutions. This talk also discusses the capabilities of Grid Mind as a distributed, learning-based system optimized for edge devices, marking a significant advancement toward sustainable, safe, and efficient power system operations in an era dominated by renewable energy.
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    •  NEWS    Fast three-phase load-flow analysis algorithms developed by MERL included in MELCO's Smart Grid Demonstration Project
      Date: February 13, 2014
      MERL Contacts: Hongbo Sun; Daniel N. Nikovski
      Research Area: Data Analytics
      Brief
      • Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it has developed energy loss-reduction technology that uses algorithms for fast analysis of three-phase electricity developed by MERL to establish optimal coordination of power-distribution grids for reductions in energy loss and power-generation costs. The technology was achieved under Mitsubishi Electric's Smart Grid Demonstration Project.
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  • Awards

    •  AWARD    Best conference paper of IEEE PES-GM 2020
      Date: June 18, 2020
      Awarded to: Tong Huang, Hongbo Sun, K.J. Kim, Daniel Nikovski, Le Xie
      MERL Contacts: Daniel N. Nikovski; Hongbo Sun
      Research Areas: Data Analytics, Electric Systems, Optimization
      Brief
      • A paper on A Holistic Framework for Parameter Coordination of Interconnected Microgrids Against Natural Disasters, written by Tong Huang, a former MERL intern from Texas A&M University, has been selected as one of the Best Conference Papers at the 2020 Power and Energy Society General Meeting (PES-GM). IEEE PES-GM is the flagship conference for the IEEE Power and Energy Society. The work was done in collaboration with Hongbo Sun, K. J. Kim, and Daniel Nikovski from MERL, and Tong's advisor, Prof. Le Xie from Texas A&M University.
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    •  AWARD    MERL Researchers Won IEEE ICC Best Paper Award
      Date: May 22, 2019
      Awarded to: Siriramya Bhamidipati, Kyeong Jin Kim, Hongbo Sun, Philip Orlik
      MERL Contacts: Hongbo Sun; Philip V. Orlik
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Communications, Machine Learning, Signal Processing, Information Security
      Brief
      • MERL researchers, Kyeong Jin Kim, Hongbo Sun, Philip Orlik, along with lead author and former MERL intern Siriramya Bhamidipati were awarded the Smart Grid Symposium Best Paper Award at this year's International Conference on Communications (ICC) held in Shanghai, China. There paper titled "GPS Spoofing Detection and Mitigation in PMUs Using Distributed Multiple Directional Antennas," described a technique to rapidly detect and mitigate GPS timing attacks/errors via hardware (antennas) and signal processing (Kalman Filtering).
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  • Internships with Hongbo

    • OR0097: Internship - Hybrid AC/DC Power Systems

      Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) in Cambridge, MA, is seeking a highly motivated and qualified individual to join our summer internship program and conduct cutting-edge research on hybrid AC/DC power systems. The ideal candidate should be a senior or junior Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering or a related field, with in-depth knowledge of AC and DC power systems, renewable generation, power electronics, and power system analysis and control. Strong programming skills in MATLAB, Python, or C/C++ are required. The expected duration of the internship is 3-4 months, and the start date is flexible.

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  • MERL Publications

    •  Sun, H., Kosanic, M., Kawano, S., Raghunathan, A., Kitamura, S., Takaguchi, Y., "Proactive Sequential Phase Swapping Scheduling for Distribution Systems with a Finite Horizon", IEEE PES Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference, October 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-149 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Sun2024oct,
      • author = {Sun, Hongbo and Kosanic, Miroslav and Kawano, Shunsuke and Raghunathan, Arvind and Kitamura, Shoichi and Takaguchi, Yusuke}},
      • title = {Proactive Sequential Phase Swapping Scheduling for Distribution Systems with a Finite Horizon},
      • booktitle = {IEEE PES Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = oct,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-149}
      • }
    •  Kosanic, M., Sun, H., Kawano, S., Raghunathan, A., Kitamura, S., "Sequentially Pruning Phase Rebalance Schedule: Load Profile Learning Approach", IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference - Europe (ISGT Europe), October 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-143 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Kosanic2024oct,
      • author = {Kosanic, Miroslav and Sun, Hongbo and Kawano, Shunsuke and Raghunathan, Arvind and Kitamura, Shoichi}},
      • title = {Sequentially Pruning Phase Rebalance Schedule: Load Profile Learning Approach},
      • booktitle = {IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference - Europe (ISGT Europe)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = oct,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-143}
      • }
    •  Zhou, A., Sun, H., Kitamura, S., Nikovski, D., "A Decision-Dependent Chance-Constrained Planning Model for Distribution Networks Under Extreme Weather Events", IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Europe (ISGT-Europe), DOI: 10.1109/​ISGTEUROPE56780.2023.10408310, October 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-133 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Zhou2023oct,
      • author = {Zhou, Anping and Sun, Hongbo and Kitamura, Shoichi and Nikovski, Daniel},
      • title = {A Decision-Dependent Chance-Constrained Planning Model for Distribution Networks Under Extreme Weather Events},
      • booktitle = {IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Europe (ISGT-Europe)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = oct,
      • doi = {10.1109/ISGTEUROPE56780.2023.10408310},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-133}
      • }
    •  Khan, I., Sun, H., Kim, K.J., Guo, J., Nikovski, D.N., "Combined Detection and Localization Model for High Impedance Fault under Noisy Condition", IEEE PES General Meeting, DOI: 10.1109/​PESGM52003.2023.10252992., July 2023, pp. 1-5.
      BibTeX TR2023-093 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Khan2023jul,
      • author = {Khan, Imtiaj and Sun, Hongbo and Kim, Kyeong Jin and Guo, Jianlin and Nikovski, Daniel N.},
      • title = {Combined Detection and Localization Model for High Impedance Fault under Noisy Condition},
      • booktitle = {2023 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM)},
      • year = 2023,
      • pages = {1--5},
      • month = jul,
      • doi = {10.1109/PESGM52003.2023.10252992.},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-093}
      • }
    •  Sun, H., Kitamura, S., Nikovski, D.N., "Fair Blackout Rotation for Distribution Systems under Extreme Weather Events", IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference - Europe (ISGT Europe), DOI: 10.1109/​ISGT-Europe54678.2022.9960699., October 2022, pp. 1-6.
      BibTeX TR2022-132 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Sun2022oct,
      • author = {Sun, Hongbo and Kitamura, Shoichi and Nikovski, Daniel N.},
      • title = {Fair Blackout Rotation for Distribution Systems under Extreme Weather Events},
      • booktitle = {IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference - Europe (ISGT Europe)},
      • year = 2022,
      • pages = {1--6},
      • month = oct,
      • doi = {10.1109/ISGT-Europe54678.2022.9960699.},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-132}
      • }
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  • MERL Issued Patents

    • Title: "Risk-constrained Optimization of Virtual Power Plants in Pool and Future Markets"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 11,887,140
      Issue Date: Jan 30, 2024
    • Title: "Method and System for Fault Location and Protection of Inverter-Dominated Islanded Ungrounded Microgrids"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Chang, Fangyuan
      Patent No.: 11,757,278
      Issue Date: Sep 12, 2023
    • Title: "Transient based Fault Location Method for Ungrounded Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 11,680,977
      Issue Date: Jun 20, 2023
    • Title: "Distribution Fault Location Using Graph Neural Network with both Node and Link Attributes"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 11,674,994
      Issue Date: Jun 12, 2023
    • Title: "Weather-related Overhead Distribution Line Failures Online Forecasting"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Wang, Shengyi; Kim, Kyeong-Jin; Guo, Jianlin
      Patent No.: 11,474,279
      Issue Date: Oct 18, 2022
    • Title: "GNSS-Based Timing Synchronization"
      Inventors: Kim, Kyeong-Jin; Bhamidipati, Sriramya; Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 11,442,173
      Issue Date: Sep 13, 2022
    • Title: "Methods and Systems for A Holistic Framework for Parameter Coordination of Interconnected Microgrid Systems against Disasters"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Huang, Tong; Kim, Kyeong-Jin
      Patent No.: 11,196,256
      Issue Date: Dec 7, 2021
    • Title: "Day-Ahead Joint Generation Scheduling and Bidding Optimization for Power Plants"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 11,055,732
      Issue Date: Jul 6, 2021
    • Title: "Simultaneous Fault Detection and Location of Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Svenda, Vanja; Takano, Tomihiro
      Patent No.: 10,908,203
      Issue Date: Feb 2, 2021
    • Title: "Post-Disaster Topology Detection and Energy Flow Recovery in Power Distribution Network"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Poudel, Shiva
      Patent No.: 10,886,736
      Issue Date: Jan 5, 2021
    • Title: "Methods and Systems for Post-Disaster Resilient Restoration of Power Distribution System"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Poudel, Shiva
      Patent No.: 10,804,736
      Issue Date: Oct 13, 2020
    • Title: "Reducing Substation Demand Fluctuations Using Decoupled Price Schemes for Demand Response"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 10,713,674
      Issue Date: Jul 14, 2020
    • Title: "Power Electronic Converter Based Synchronizer for Generators"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Shah, Shahil
      Patent No.: 10,566,797
      Issue Date: Feb 18, 2020
    • Title: "Systems and Methods for Distributed Synchronization of Micro-grids with Multiple Points of Interconnection"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Shah, Shahil
      Patent No.: 10,566,793
      Issue Date: Feb 18, 2020
    • Title: "Battery Energy Storage Systems based Fast Synchronization Machine for Power Grids"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Wang, Gang
      Patent No.: 10,505,369
      Issue Date: Dec 10, 2019
    • Title: "System and Method for Decentralized Energy Production"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Keerthisinghe, Chanaka
      Patent No.: 10,504,195
      Issue Date: Dec 10, 2019
    • Title: "Energy Production and Frequency Regulation Co-Optimization for Power Generation Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 10,418,822
      Issue Date: Sep 17, 2019
    • Title: "A Fully Distributed Filtering For Load-Based Dynamic State Estimation"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Minot, Ariana
      Patent No.: 10,355,483
      Issue Date: Jul 16, 2019
    • Title: "Dynamic State Estimation of Power Distribution System"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Feng, Guangyu
      Patent No.: 10,211,634
      Issue Date: Feb 19, 2019
    • Title: "Automatic Power Generation Control in Micro-Grids"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Wang, Zhao
      Patent No.: 10,148,089
      Issue Date: Dec 4, 2018
    • Title: "Distributed Reactive Power Control in Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 10,096,998
      Issue Date: Oct 9, 2018
    • Title: "Method for Predicting a Voltage Collapse in a Micro-Grid Connected to a Power Distribution Network"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Wang, Zhao
      Patent No.: 9,971,371
      Issue Date: May 15, 2018
    • Title: "Distributed Estimation and Detection of Anomalies in Control Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Minot, Ariana
      Patent No.: 9,961,089
      Issue Date: May 1, 2018
    • Title: "System and Method for Operating an Electric Power System with Distributed Generation and Demand Responsive Resources Based on Distribution Locational Marginal Prices"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Zhang, Bowen
      Patent No.: 9,960,604
      Issue Date: May 1, 2018
    • Title: "Dynamic and Adaptive Configurable Power Distribution System"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Wang, Yishen
      Patent No.: 9,876,356
      Issue Date: Jan 23, 2018
    • Title: "Method for Analyzing Faults in Ungrounded Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 9,835,673
      Issue Date: Dec 5, 2017
    • Title: "Decoupled Three-Phase Power Flow Analysis Method for Unbalanced Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Dubey, Anamika
      Patent No.: 9,640,994
      Issue Date: May 2, 2017
    • Title: "State Estimation for Power System Using Hybrid Measurements"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Wang, Zhenhua
      Patent No.: 9,627,886
      Issue Date: Apr 18, 2017
    • Title: "Method for Determining Power Consumption of Loads in Ungrounded Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 9,488,682
      Issue Date: Nov 8, 2016
    • Title: "Method for Fault Location Analysis of Ungrounded Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Tan, Zhenyu
      Patent No.: 9,476,931
      Issue Date: Oct 25, 2016
    • Title: "Locating Multi-Phase Faults in Ungrounded Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo; Dubey, Anamika
      Patent No.: 9,476,930
      Issue Date: Oct 25, 2016
    • Title: "Method for Locating of Single-Phase-to-Ground Faults of Ungrounded Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 9,316,679
      Issue Date: Apr 19, 2016
    • Title: "Method for Locating Faults in Ungrounded Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 9,279,847
      Issue Date: Mar 8, 2016
    • Title: "Hybrid Three-Phase Power Flow Analysis Method for Ungrounded Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 8,965,593
      Issue Date: Feb 24, 2015
    • Title: "Power Flow Analysis for Balanced Power Distribution Systems"
      Inventors: Sun, Hongbo
      Patent No.: 8,326,594
      Issue Date: Dec 4, 2012
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