research interests
In my research I investigate software architectures for distributed SmartGrid automation. Its novelty is in the combination of two industrial standards: IEC 61499 Functional blocks for embedded and distributed control system design and IEC 61850 Communication Networks and Systems in Substations. The concept is to apply the distributed autonomous components, which collaborate to control power grid. The approach taken here is knowledge-based agent architecture. According to this concept, agents need to share a common understanding of syntax and semantics of information to be exchanged, in other words they need to ‘speak’ same language to guarantee correct interaction and understanding. And here IEC 61850 plays a crucial role in multi-agent automation of power substation. It appears as a universal protocol for the agents’ interaction; following the standard agents have same representation of the shared environment (power system) and internal structure. Thus, applying the IEC 61850 standard, a multi-agent model of power system acquires all essential features of the knowledge-based agent architecture. By modeling LNs by IEC 61499 and enhancing them with “intelligence” rather than logic the distributed power system control acquires an executable model with formal semantics.. Logical node is designed to be an automation agent. It acts autonomously and collaborates with the peers towards the common aim of the whole system. The integration of IEC 61850 with IEC 61499 simplifies the LNs distribution across the networking control devices and enables a cyber-physical design based on the power system architecture and layout (described in the SCD form, which is a part of IEC 61850). This is thanks to, which offers reconfiguration ability and distributed architecture –main advantages of the multi-agent concept. This approach has been investigated, developed and validated by simulation in a simple case study during my Master studies. Extensive testing has shown that, in every case, supply has been successfully restored on a non-faulty section of the feeder. The research has resulted in two articles published and presented on two IEEE conferences. The work has raised interest and received positive responses from academia and industry. The result of Master research has layed out a strong basis for the further development of this approach and offers innovative way of Power System automation. Further investigation is exciting, as the new concept leads to a wide range of challenges to overcome and opportunities to explore.
