A real-time platform for validating continuous wide-area control systems

This paper describes a real-time hardware-in-the-loop test platform designed and developed specifically for validation and testing of continuous wide-area control systems. This setup allows one to include all of the necessary hardware for control, measurement, communications, and protection. This paper focuses heavily on the inclusion of measurement and communications hardware, which are not considered in existing real-time test platforms with control hardware-in-the-loop. The system consists of a Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS), multiple PMUs, a protocol gateway, and physical controllers. Particular attention is given to the protocol conversion necessary to provide remotely generated synchrophasor data to a controller requiring analog measurements. A case study demonstrating continuous wide-area controls using synchrophasor data is presented. Test results show that the inclusion of actual measurement and communications hardware can reveal the specifics of crucial implementation problems that might not be easily addressed simply using control hardware with assumed delays.