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

Abstract

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

On Conceptual Structuration and Coupling Methods of Co-Simulation Frameworks in Cyber-Physical Energy System Validation

“…In the case of CPES, most of the time, a power system simulator is coupled with the communication system simulator. This configuration is intuitive, concise and efficient and is often realized via sockets or direct integration to ICT simulator, as of survey result in [44].…”

“…A HLA-based simulation consists of federates (participating simulators) and Run-Time Infrastructure (RTI), which provides an API for bidirectional communication from and to federates. The advantage of HLA is the possibility of highly paralleled simulations for large-scale systems; whereas its disadvantage is the introduction of additional time-synchronization issues [44]. Thus, we can register various researches focusing on the optimization aspect of the synchronization techniques in HLA [79,80].…”

Using power-hardware-in-the-loop experiments together with co-simulation for the holistic validation of cyber-physical energy systems

“…This does not reflect real scenarios whereas the long geographic distance between different, networked devices may cause unexpected delays and signal losses resulting in an unexpected and faulty control behavior. Therefore, the communication network is usually separately analyzed using dedicated software tools in order to study the effect of realistic latencies, packet losses or failures in the ICT/automation system [8]. Communication simulators facilitate also cybersecurity related investigations, such as denial-of-service protection, confidentiality and integrity testing.…”

CIM compliant multiplatform approach for cyber-physical energy system assessment

“…As a result, this does not depict the real situation where a long-distance communication channel may produce undesired delay and signal loss and may cause mal-operation for timely control. Thus, in order to study the effects of communication platforms on the dependability and performance of the supervisory and control systems as well as the scale of the ICT infrastructure needed to invest to meet the requirements, the communication network are often carried out separately using dedicated simulator software [11]. Also, these communication simulators simplify cyber-security related studies such as denial-of-service protection, confidentiality and integrity checking, that are rather important but not always simple for the power and energy community.…”