Sensor web for interoperability in power systems

Electrical systems are highly interrelated. A disturbance in one utility of a region can influence the stability of other utilities. Proper monitoring and critical information exchange in real time is the only solution to prevent an outage in this highly vulnerable system. But, the disparity in protocols used in the power industry and lack of infrastructure of information exchange are proving to be hindrance to achieve a reliable deregularized industry. In this research, an emerging Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards-based sensor web technology has been adopted for achieving interoperability in the power systems. Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) and Common Information Model (CIM) provide a solution to heterogeneity of data and lack of central repository of the sensor data for proper action, in case of a contingency. The sensor data from utilities, published in CIM format, are exposed via Sensor Observation Service (SOS). This provides a standard method for discovering and accessing sensor data between utilities, which facilitates the rapid response to handle contingences. In addition, the application of SWE in power industry pushes power industry one step closer towards automation.