Experience in Real-Time Simulation of the Power System with 5G Communication

The increasing integration of inverter-based resources (IBR) and various other devices in the power system requires fast, reliable, and scalable communication technologies, such as 5G, for their stable control and operation. Having a 5G-enabled real-time simulator (RTS) setup facilitates evaluating the performance of power systems with 5G communication. This paper designs an experimental 5G-enable testbed. A microgrid testbed is developed at Virginia Tech (VT) in Blacksburg, VA, to perform real-time case studies. 5G communication is provided by the 5G testbed at the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative in Arlington, VA. The distance between the two testbeds is about 265 miles. Some of the challenges for implementing the testbed are the lack of 5G radio peripherals in the VT microgrid testbed, different testbed locations, different testbed network domains, and lack of application-layer software programs. This work provides solutions to solve the aforementioned challenges. The performance of the proposed setup is evaluated via real-time simulation case studies on a test system with two IBRs, indicating a stable performance with improved damping characteristics under a load step change and a three-phase fault.