Virtual Digital Substation Test System and Interoperability Assessments

Interoperability testing and analysis tools provide a means for achieving and assuring the integrity of multivendor intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) data exchanges. However, the testing and analysis are very time consuming and error prone, and these problems worsen when a substation becomes large and complex during the engineering process, commission, replacement, maintenance, and extension. To address this challenge, this paper presents a virtual digital substation test system (VDSTS) with interoperability analysis tools for assessing and identifying the engineering challenges for the multiple-vendors digital substation. This VDSTS consists of three parts: (i) A virtual digital substation modelling for generating real-time digital substation primary plant operation and fault conditions, (ii) a standard IEC 61850-based substation protection, automation, and control (PAC) system architecture with multivendor IEDs and bay solutions, and (iii) multivendor Substation Configuration description Language (SCL) tools and in-house built data visualisation tool. The study focuses on the interoperability testing of sampled values (SV), generic object-oriented substation events (GOOSE), and manufacturing message specification (MMS) communication services, as defined in IEC 61850. The main issues identified are compatibility issues of SCL tools, protocol implementation issues, different information models, and application limitations. The outcomes will help utilities to reduce the risks associated with the general rollout of digital substations.

Application of a Smart Grid Interoperability Testing Methodology in a Real-Time Hardware-In-The-Loop Testing Environment

Interoperability testing is widely recognized as a key to achieve seamless interoperability of smart grid applications, given the complex nature of modern power systems. In this work, the interoperability testing methodology proposed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre is applied to a specific use case in the context of smart grids. The selected use case examines a flexibility activation mechanism in a power grid system and includes DSO SCADA, Remote Terminal Unit and flexibility source, interacting to support a voltage regulation service. The adopted test bed consists of a real-time power grid simulator, a communication network emulator and use case actors’ models in a hardware-in-the-loop setup. The breakdown of the interoperability testing problem is accomplished by mapping the use case to the SGAM layers, specifying the Basic Application Profiles together with the Basic Application Interoperability Profiles (BAIOPs) and defining the design of experiments to carry out during the laboratory testing. Furthermore, the concepts of inter- and intra-BAIOP testing are formalized to reflect complementary interests of smart grid stakeholders. Experimental results prove the applicability of the methodology for testing the interoperability of large-scale and complex smart grid systems and reveal interesting features and possible pitfalls which should be considered when investigating the parameters responsible for the disruption of a system interoperability.

Cloud-based Middleware for Syntactical Interoperability in Internet of Things

Heterogeneity of protocol communications, data formats, data structure, and hardware specifications on the Internet of things can lead to an Interoperability problem. The solution provides middleware that capable to work in heterogeneity communications, data formats, etc. This paper proposed. A cloud-based middleware that provides a communication interface to receive data from sensor nodes based on Restful and CoAP. Received data then stored in heterogenous IoT data storage based on the NoSQL database. From experiment and testing, interoperability testing methodology was used. The result shows proposed middleware can receive data from both protocols. The received data could store based on structure data or unstructured data on IoT data storage.

Third-party transfers in WLCG using HTTP

Since its earliest days, the Worldwide LHC Computational Grid (WLCG) has relied on GridFTP to transfer data between sites. The announcement that Globus is dropping support of its open source Globus Toolkit (GT), which forms the basis for several FTP client and servers, has created an opportunity to reevaluate the use of FTP. HTTP-TPC, an extension to HTTP compatible with WebDAV, has arisen as a strong contender for an alternative approach. In this paper, we describe the HTTP-TPC protocol itself, along with the current status of its support in different implementations, and the interoperability testing done within the WLCG DOMA working group’s TPC activity. This protocol also provides the first real use-case for token-based authorisation for this community. We will demonstrate the benefits of such authorisation by showing how it allows HTTP-TPC to support new technologies (such as OAuth, OpenID Connect, Macaroons and SciTokens) without changing the protocol. We will also discuss the next steps for HTTP-TPC and the plans to use the protocol for WLCG transfers.

Design of Experiments in the Methodology for Interoperability Testing: Evaluating AMI Message Exchange

Interoperability is a challenge for the realisation of smart grids. In this work, we apply the methodology for interoperability testing and the design of experiments developed at the Smart Grids Interoperability Laboratory of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission on a simple use case. The methodology is based on the Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM) of CEN/CENELEC/ETSI and includes the concept of Basic Application Profiles (BAP) and Basic Application Interoperability Profiles (BAIOP). The relevant elements of the methodology are the design of experiments and the sensitivity/uncertainty analysis, which can reveal the limits of a system under test and give valuable feedback about the critical conditions which do not guarantee interoperability. The design and analysis of experiments employed in the Joint Research Centre (JRC) methodology supply information about the crucial parameters that either lead to an acceptable system performance or to a failure of interoperability. The use case on which the methodology is applied describes the interaction between a data concentrator and one or more smart meters. Experimental results are presented that show the applicability of the methodology and the design of experiments in practice. The system is tested under different conditions by varying two parameters: the rate at which meter data are requested by the data concentrator and the number of smart meters connected to the data concentrator. With this use case example the JRC methodology is illustrated at work, and its effectiveness for testing interoperability of a system under stress conditions is highlighted.