Data Communications Issues For Power System Management

Digital power management, the ability to manage and configure ac-dc power supplies and dc-dc converters, is being adopted at a rapid rate. There are many choices to be made when implementing a digital power management system [1][2]. The choice of transport (data link and physical layers) is very important. Choosing the wrong transport for the application can create endless problems with the system. This paper starts with a brief history of digital power management. It then reviews the requirements for data communications for digital power management. Knowing the requirements, several of the more common implementation issues are discussed along with recommendations for avoiding those problems. From there, a summary of common data communications buses along with the advantages and disadvantages for power system management is given. The paper concludes with recommendations data communications in power system management for on-board power systems, within a single chassis, for inter-chassis communication and for facility or campus level communication.