An Embedded Deep Learning NILM System: A Year-Long Field Study in Real Houses

Nonintrusive load monitoring (NILM) systems are used to identify the energy consumption patterns of individual devices in an electrical system, but broadening their market availability is a significant challenge. In this article, an NILM system using edge processing is proposed, in which energy consumption data are processed directly on the device installed at the monitored facility. Specifically, it uses a sequence-to-point approach based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) implemented on an Arm Cortex-M7 microcontroller. This article also reports the results of an extensive 12-month testing phase. The NILM system was installed in two real houses in central Italy to evaluate its installation and potential application in real-world scenarios. This study presents a promising solution that enables the widespread adoption of NILM systems by reducing their implementation cost and complexity and addresses the privacy concerns associated with cloud-based data processing. The results of our real-world testing provide compelling evidence of the potential of the proposed NILM system in various applications, including smart homes, building automation, and industrial energy management.