IEEE Electrification - December 2022 - 74

IMD, and may be connected to a local intelligent electronic
device (IED) as well as remote devices. The sensors
are usually installed in the field on utility poles or
in vaults. The platform filters and digitizes the values
and can provide the processed measurements to an IED.
The processed data are packaged into various data formats
and are available to centralized controllers or
other SIMPLE platforms.
Figure 8 presents the SIMPLE platform's block diagram
and the data flow architecture. The medium-voltage
physical voltage/current sensors provide analog
signals to the IMD box. The analog measurement values
are read and converted to digital values and time
stamped by a high-accuracy analog-to-digital converter
(or a matched optical signal processor for the OVT). The
sensor algorithm processes the raw data, applying
appropriate filtering and compensation to provide corrected
voltage and current signals. The voltage and current
signals are processed utilizing National Instrument
power measurement libraries. The filtered, corrected,
and processed data are passed to the local IED either as
low-energy analog signals after being converted by the
digital-to-analog convertor, or as an IEC 61850-9-2 sample
value data stream, the choice of which is determined
by capabilities of the IED.
In addition, the SIMPLE platform
is also capable of executing
advanced applications. The processed
data are fed into advanced
applications for further utilization
and actions.
The data to be exchanged
between the devices and the frequency
and speed with which they
need to occur will vary from one use
case to another (see Figure 9). SIMPLE
supports the communication interface
with a local IED, central controller,
adjacent IMD, or SIMPLE or IED
via multiple communication protocols.
The supported protocols include
x DNP 3.0
x IEC 61850-8-1
x IEC 61850-9-2 (sampled value)
x IEEE C37.118-2 [power management
unit (PMU)]
x OpenFMB: The SIMPLE platform
can incorporate into the field
message bus as a part of the
OpenFMB architecture. OpenFMB,
as a reference architecture
and framework for distributed
control and interoperability,
can be implemented via
the Data Distribution Service
(DDS) middleware protocol.
74
IED
The SIMPLE platform, in particular, has been designed
to support DDS publish/subscribe messaging.
SIMPLE devices are both highly versatile and highly
configurable in terms of the applications they can support.
In addition to data filtering, correction, and packaging
data for transferring to upstream and downstream devices
via appropriate protocols, SIMPLE can be programmed to
perform different smart grid applications. The advanced
applications of SIMPLE are categorized into the following
two main groups:
1) Distribution circuit monitoring
■ monitor voltage and power flow across the distribution
system
■ obtain data for root-cause analysis, maintenance,
and pre-event analysis
2) Automatic resource control
■ local dispatch of each DER or distribution asset to
manage local power flow
■ coordinate dispatch of DERs and distribution assets
to manage feeder power flow
■ local control of each DER or distribution asset to
regulate local voltage
■ coordinate control of DERs and distribution assets
to regulate feeder voltage.
Central Controller
Other SIMPLE
Platform(s)
Digital-to-Analog
Conversion
Signal Processing
Communications
Advanced
Applications
Sensor Algorithm
Analog-to-Digital
Conversion
MV Physical
Sensor
(RD, OVT, CT, ...)
Figure 8. The SIMPLE platform's block diagram and data flow. MV: medium voltage; OVT: optical voltage
transformer; CT: current transformer.
IEEE Electrification Magazine / DECEMBER 2022
Additional Data
Filtering
Communications
Low-Level Analog
Internal Data Flow
IMD Hardware and
Software Environment

IEEE Electrification - December 2022

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