RTI actively contributes to the North American SynchroPhasor Initiative (NASPI) effort to define the new standard for interconnected power generation.
The US Power industry is undergoing a major transformation to use a modern, Internet Protocol (IP) based network infrastructure. There are many diverse aspects of this transition which will ultimately lead to the next-generation Smart Grid envisioned by the US Department of Energy (DoE).
RTI is providing key technological enablers for this transformation.
The desired attributes of modernization resulting in a responsive, self-healing, secure, efficient grid will require a high-performance, real-time and dynamic distributed network. This intelligent network must adapt to changing conditions and scale enormously as the Smart Grid becomes more pervasive. This is precisely the kind of challenge that RTI has been tackling for the last two decades.
Inside the plant, legacy PLCs and OPC-based non-deterministic network equipment is being replaced by low-cost COTS computers and network hardware. To future-proof their investment and avoid vendor lock-in, power plant network architects are adopting an Open Architecture approach. Power Generation facilities are turning to DDS because of its real-time publish-subscribe (RTPS) based messaging and rich Quality of Service (QoS) policies.
Outside of the traditional large centralized plant, a new approach is slowing taking hold which will quietly revolutionize the power generation industry. In contrast to large, centralized power generation facilities such as gas turbine, nuclear, coal and large hydro plants, distributed generation often takes advantage of local renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, or even tidal action.
This creates a new set of challenges, because the addition of more power generation sources adds complexity to ensuring efficient and highly-available transmission and distribution of power across the overall grid. Distributed generation facilities therefore require secure, reliable, and low-latency communications with other nodes on the grid.
Under the direction of the US DoE, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) are investigating new smart grid networking standards. Other existing standards are being revised to accommodate newer technologies.
These standards address the object model and data messages to be communicated; RTI provides the critical messaging infrastructure along with valuable services such as real-time data distribution, event processing, data Filtering, routing, bridging, recording and security capabilities.
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