AAHPNES: A Hierarchical Petri Net Expert System realization of adaptive autonomy in Smart Grid

While Smart Grid (SG) expectations call for automation of power distribution systems, disregarding human factors in the Distribution Automation (DA) systems can make it more problematic than beneficial. Thus, human factors and automation systems should be considered simultaneously. However, the interaction of humans and automation systems involves high level of complexity due to sophisticated human behavior and automation system dynamism. This complexity can be managed using Human-Automation interaction (HAI) techniques in order to achieve an optimized DA system. Earlier we have introduced a novel framework for the realization of Adaptive Autonomy (AA) concept in the power distribution network using expert systems. This research presents a hierarchical expert system for the realization of AA, using Petri net, referred to as AAHPNES. The presented expert system uses functional characteristics of Petri nets to model experts' judgments in the form of IF-THEN rules. The practical list of environmental conditions and superior experts' judgments are used as the expert systems database. As revealed by the results, the presented AAHPNES can effectively determine the proper level of automation for changing the performance shaping factors of the Human-Automation Interaction (HAI) systems in the smart grid environment.