Moustafa Chenine

ICT Architecture Impact on Wide Area Monitoring and Control Systems' Reliability

Timely and accurate data with high resolutions holds great promise for more responsible and advanced power grid operations. The research has been focusing on design of monitoring and control scheme given the assumptions that the supporting information and communication technology (ICT) systems are capable of providing data and perform control with sufficient quality. A relatively less addressed aspect is the dependency of wide-area monitoring and control (WAMC) systems on their supporting ICT architecture which is usually a compromise between various concerns, such as data quality, interoperability, or security. Without an appropriate ICT architecture design, the projected WAMC system functionalities run the risk of being jeopardized. This paper begins with a presentation about possible delays brought by complex data-transfer and processing processes. Analytical experiments are conducted with purposes to quantify the maximum delay and input signals sensitivity toward delay on a typical WAMC application where the control of static var compensation (SVC) is coordinated with generator excitations using phasor measurements. Given the characteristics of this particular control scheme, two possible ICT architectures that provide data with different qualities are compared concerning the reliability of this WAMC application. This paper concludes by proposing a generic ICT architecture, enabling efficient WAMC systems implementation in terms of data quality.

Modeling and Simulation of Wide-Area Communication for Centralized PMU-Based Applications

Phasor-based wide-area monitoring and control (WAMC) systems are becoming a reality with increased research, development, and deployments. Many potential control applications based on these systems are being proposed and researched. These applications are either local applications using data from one or a few phasor measurement units (PMUs) or centralized utilizing data from several PMUs. An aspect of these systems, which is less well researched, is the WAMC systems dependence on high-performance communication systems. This paper presents the results of research performed in order to determine the requirements of transmission system operators on the performance of WAMC systems in general as well as the characteristics of communication delays incurred in centralized systems that utilize multiple PMUs distributed over a large geographic area. This paper presents a summary of requirements from transmission system operators with regards to a specific set of applications and simulations of communication networks with a special focus on centralized applications. The results of the simulations indicate that the configuration of central nodes in centralized WAMC systems needs to be optimized based on the intended WAMC application.

Survey on priorities and communication requirements for PMU-based applications in the Nordic Region

Phasor based Wide Area Monitoring and Control Systems (WAMC) promise to offer more accurate and timely data on the state of the power system, thus, increasing the possibilities to manage the system at a more efficient and responsive level and apply wide area control and protection schemes. This paper presents results of a survey on communications and technical requirements for applications based on Phasor Measurement Units (PMU). The survey was carried out in the Nordic Region with participants from Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and researchers. The survey focused on documenting the stage of research and development among TSOs and researchers in the Nordic Region, as well as, their plans and visions for the future. This includes planned PMU deployments and prioritization of PMU based applications. Furthermore, a significant part of the survey was an elicitation of communication requirements for applications based on PMU data. In the paper, an examination of the time requirements for these applications in terms of delays and samples per second and comparison similar published specifications is provided.

Data accuracy assessment using enterprise architecture

Errors in business processes result in poor data accuracy. This article proposes an architecture analysis method which utilises ArchiMate and the Probabilistic Relational Model formalism to model and analyse data accuracy. Since the resources available for architecture analysis are usually quite scarce, the method advocates interviews as the primary data collection technique. A case study demonstrates that the method yields correct data accuracy estimates and is more resource-efficient than a competing sampling-based data accuracy estimation method.

Modeling and simulation of wide area monitoring and control systems in IP-based networks

Phasor based Wide Area Monitoring and Control Systems (WAMC) is becoming a reality with increased international research and development. Many aspects of these systems are being addressed and researched. These systems depend largely on high performance communication architecture. This paper addresses the analysis of PMU systems and communication architectures by utilizing simulation tools to implement and analyze models. Specifically, focusing on the transmission of Phasor samples to the Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC) and control signals from the WAMC systems back to substations devices. This done by implementing shared and dedicated communication network scenarios to analyze delays. This is the first step to analyzing the performance and scalability of the IT infrastructure to support PMU-based Systems.

SmarTS Lab — A laboratory for developing applications for WAMPAC Systems

At the core of the development of “Smart Transmission Grids” is the design, implementation, and testing of synchronized phasor measurement data applications that can supplement Wide-Area Monitoring, Protection, and Control Systems (WAMPAC). Nevertheless, the development of new PMU data-based WAMPAC applications has been relatively slow. The great potential of WAMPAC systems is being limited by this, and efforts are needed so that new applications can be developed. The slow rate of development of these applications is strongly related to, among other factors, the application development approach used. This article starts by discussing the needs and approaches for developing WAMPAC applications that exploit synchronized phasor measurements, and illustrates how one of these approaches has been achieved. A preliminary work carried out to develop and implement a Smart Transmission System Laboratory (SmarTS Lab), a hardware and software-based system for developing and analyzing “Smart Transmission Grids” paradigms and applications for WAMPAC systems, are described. The laboratorys conceptual architecture and hardware and software implementation are presented, and some of its components are described. Finally, the article illustrates proof-of-concept examples of how PMU data-based applications can be developed.

Implementation of an experimental wide-area monitoring platform for development of synchronized phasor measurement applications

Synchrophasor-based Wide-Area Monitoring and Control Systems (WAMC) are becoming a reality with increased international research and development. Several monitoring and control applications based on these systems have been proposed, and although with a relative small adoption, they are currently supporting the operations of some large transmission system operators. It is expected that the continued research and development of phasor data applications will enable the miracle of “Smart Grids” at the transmission level. The authors have realized that this can be achieved in timely fashion only if a research and development platform is developed to simultaneously address issues regarding information and communication infrastructures, and phasor data applications. This paper discusses the preliminary development, and deployment of an experimental wide-area monitoring and control platform in which several basic applications have been implemented, and that in the future will allow for the implementation and testing of envisioned applications. At its current stage, the platform allows both online monitoring and off-line analysis. In the future, it will be the cornerstone to a wider platform enabling research on phasor data applications that intrinsically account for ICT aspects.

Virtualization of synchronized phasor measurement units within real-time simulators for smart grid applications

Synchronized phasor measurement units (PMUs) provide GPS-time tagged, high-sampling rate, positive-sequence voltage and current phasors. When placed in high-voltage substations in power networks, PMUs can provide real-time information that is necessary for the development of Smart Transmission Grids software applications whose main objective is to improve the power systems monitoring, control and protection. The development of these applications, particularly for use within control centers for on-line purposes, is limited by the availability of and access to real-time PMU data and other information. One attractive approach for application development is the use of real-time simulators to which PMUs can be interfaced as hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) devices to harvest PMU data. However, this approach has technical and economical limitations, which can be tackled by the virtualization of PMU devices. This article describes the development of an entirely software-based synchronized phasor measurement unit for use within real-time simulators to emulate a large number of real-life PMUs, which in turn can be used for creating new phasor-based applications.

Interfacing Power System and ICT Simulators: Challenges, State-of-the-Art, and Case Studies

With the transition toward a smart grid, the power system has become strongly intertwined with the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. The interdependency of both domains requires a combined analysis of physical and ICT processes, but simulating these together is a major challenge due to the fundamentally different modeling and simulation concepts. After outlining these challenges, such as time synchronization and event handling, this paper presents an overview of state-of-the-art solutions to interface power system and ICT simulators. Due to their prominence in recent research, a special focus is set on co-simulation approaches and their challenges and potentials. Further, two case studies analyzing the impact of ICT on applications in power system operation illustrate the necessity of a holistic approach and show the capabilities of state-of-the-art co-simulation platforms.

Enterprise Architecture Analysis for Data Accuracy Assessments

Poor data in information systems impede the quality of decision-making in many modern organizations. Manual business process activities and application services are never executed flawlessly which results in steadily deteriorating data accuracy, the further away from the source the data gets, the poorer its accuracy becomes. This paper proposes an architecture analysis method based on Bayesian Networks to assess data accuracy deterioration in a quantitative manner. The method is model-based and uses the ArchiMate language to model business processes and the way in which data objects are transformed by various operations. A case study at a Swedish utility demonstrates the approach.