Multi-agent testbed for emerging power systems

Controls in power systems such as national utility grids, microgrids, and shipboard electrical infrastructures are evolving and conventional testbeds are inadequately outfitted for effective design, development, and testing. In particular, conventional power system control testbeds typically lack appropriate computational and data communication tools to quickly and accurately represent advanced control architectures. In this paper, we discuss experiences with a distributed control testbed by incorporating general purpose computational platforms and a more extensive data communications infrastructure. These components enhance the testbed by providing access to key technologies expected to be prevalent in emerging power systems and also simplify the implementation of sophisticated control architectures. Evaluation of the improved capabilities of the testbed is provided through two studies. The first explores the control capabilities for a shipboard power system through the use of hierarchical and distributed control structures. The second investigates the effect of data communication latencies on a control algorithm through a test case involving synchronization of multiple generators.