Redundant Star Topology based Control Network Architecture for Guaranteeing Reliable Operation of HVDC-MMC Systems

In this paper, we introduce an efficient network architecture for controlling and monitoring a set of submodules (SMs) in MMC-HVDC systems. The proposed network architecture adopts a redundant star topology in order to minimize the optical fiber cable requirements and the number of the fiber-optic transceivers installed in the arm controller while guaranteeing reliable data exchange between the arm controller and SMs. Based on the proposed network architecture, we propose the uplink and downlink frame structure to meet the data exchange requirements of MMC-HVDC systems and perform link budget analysis to show its effectiveness in terms of received signal strength and. In addition, we analyze the failure probability of the proposed control network to evaluate its reliability in comparison with other existing network topologies for the MMC-HVDC systems.