Application of ultra-local models in automatic generation control with co-simulation of communication delay

This paper applies ultra-local models (also labeled intelligent PID) to Automatic Generation Control (AGC) for a Multi-Area power system in the presence of communication delay. The AGC model is built in Simulink/Matlab and co-simulated with Network Simulator 2 (NS2) through PiccSIM, a simulation platform for (wireless/wired) networked control systems. A careful comparison is made between the performance of intelligent-P (iP) controller and conventional PI controller under the co-simulation environment of AGC with time-varying communication delay. The results show the two controllers are largely equivalent for relatively small frequency deviations. However, intelligent-P performs better than conventional PI under more severe system variations. The avoidance of integration in the iP controller makes anti-windup algorithm unnecessary, which enhances the applicability and the simplicity of controller tuning.