GECO: Global Event-Driven Co-Simulation Framework for Interconnected Power System and Communication Network

TLDR

The vision of a smart grid relies on pervasive digital communication, and as wide‑area measurements and control are deployed, communication delays increasingly influence power system dynamics, necessitating integrated study of the two as a cyber‑physical system. The paper proposes the GECO framework for co‑simulating power systems and communication networks. GECO synchronizes the two systems using a global event‑driven mechanism. Its accuracy is tunable to the time‑scale of the phenomena studied, enabling realistic evaluation of wide‑area measurement and control schemes.

Abstract

The vision of a smart grid is predicated upon pervasive use of modern digital communication techniques to today's power system. As wide area measurements and control techniques are being developed and deployed for a more resilient power system, the role of communication network is becoming prominent. Power system dynamics gets influenced by the communication delays in the network. Therefore, extensive integration of power system and communication infrastructure mandates that the two systems be studied as a single distributed cyber-physical system. This paper proposes a power system and communication network co-simulation framework (GECO) using a global event-driven mechanism. The accuracy is tunable based on the time-scale requirements of the phenomena being studied. This co-simulation can improve the practical investigation of smart grid and evaluate wide area measurement and control schemes. As a case study, a communication-based backup distance relay protection scheme is co-simulated and validated on this co-simulation framework.