Algorithms for communication control and automation in a power system network using IEC 61850 standard

Abstract

Distributed energy resources are important components of the smart grid architecture. They play a key role in utilizing renewable energy sources and realizing the benefits of decentralized energy production. However, the distribution over geographically wide areas and the dynamic structures associated with distributed energy resources have imposed several challenges on utility systems. The IEC 61850 standard has established comprehensive information models and communication services that have achieved a great deal in solving interoperability issues between substations and distributed energy resources systems. Moreover, the IEC 61850 standard has simplified the design and engineering process when integrating new equipment by standardizing the information model for most distributed energy resources’ devices. The standard has recommended the extensible messaging and presence protocol for communication over wide area networks due to its scalability and cybersecurity capabilities. Nevertheless, more challenges are associated with communications over wide area networks such as the increased cost of network bandwidth required for handling large volumes of data generated from distributed energy resources’ sites and extended latency times. The research project addresses these challenges by building over mentioned standards and implementing the edge computing concept to communication systems of distributed energy resources. Edge computing refers to a concept where data analysis and decision-making capacity are shared amongst the network’s endpoints “edge”. It is a concept that is driving the Internet of things initiative which enables bringing central intelligence closer to data sources to reduce decision latency and response times. Hence, the proposed solution involves designing a model of an intelligent gateway that performs initial analytics on distributed energy resources sites’ data. The gateway model is based-on IEC 61850 standard and utilizes the specified communication protocols which are the generic object-oriented substation event and the manufacturing messaging specifications for local area networks. Furthermore, the gateway model integrates the local area connection into a wide area network utilizing IEC 61850-8-2 XMPP standard. The primary aim of the research study focuses on investigating the impact of implementing an edge computing algorithm on the communication quality of service considering latency and bandwidth usage as performance indicators. The algorithm is designed to perform data fusion to reduce traffic on the communication network. Additionally, the research study takes a closer look at IEC 61850-8-2 XMPP-based communications to review the data exchange and cybersecurity mechanisms. The experimentation results have shown a significant enhancement of communication performance through the reduction of bandwidth and latency which was evaluated using the Wireshark packet-capturing software.