IBM Research

Implementing Transactive Control:Loosely-Coupled Integration and Interoperability

Ron AmbrosioGlobal Research Executive, Energy & Utilities Industry

Senior Technical Staff Member

IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY

Chairman Emeritus & Member, U.S. Dept. of Energy GridWise Architecture Council

Chairman, U.S. National Inst. of Standards and Technology SGIP Architecture Committee

Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC 1 Special Working Group on Smart Grid

Transactive Control System Characteristics

• A loosely-coupled approach for managing responsive energy assets

• Spans large geographic regions

• Spans many organizational and implementation domains

• Transactive signal flow must minimize latency

05/18/11

Reduced set of Regional Nodes

Example Embedded Supply Transactive Control Node

State-Transition Model of a Transactive Node

05/18/11

Transactive Control System(TC Node, Network TC Node , TIS, TFS)

Physical/Operational Control System(SCADA, PLC, Embedded System/Devices, Industrial Control Network,

Existing Operational Control Centers)

Physical Electrical Power Grid/System(Bulk Gen, Transmission Network, Distribution System, Loads)

This HLSA

focus on

transactive

control system

at PLIP Level

(EIOC and

Subproject

Initial Nodes)

to support the

regional

demonstration

TC Application may pass through different

architecture layers

Transactive control as

Interoperability fabric

to Integrate

different smart grid

applications

No

n-T

C

Or

Ex

isti

ng

Ap

pli

ca

tio

ns

Transactive Control Based Application(Constrain Management and Optimization of BG, Renewable,

Transmission, Distribution, DG, Demand Response)

Data Storage &

Streaming

Regional Objective

Optimization

/ Analytics

Regional System / Operation

Model & Simulation

Regional Communication & Network

External Data / ServicesSub-Project Sites

Initial Nodes

Cro

ss L

ayer

Fu

ncti

on

User Interfaces

Regional TC Nodes

Sub-Project TC Nodes

& Responsive Assets

Sub-Utility Project Initial TC Nodes

Regional Bulk

Generation/Transmission

Modeling/Simulation

External Data Access & Interfaces

Sub-Project TC Nodal Proxies:

Regional Renewable

Generation Modeling

Forecaster

…

IN-1 …

Data Storage, Logging

and Archiving

External Data Inputs (EI 202-232)-Regional Weather, Wind, Solar, Availability and Forecast ..

-Regional Generation, Transmission capacity and schedule

-Non-power constraints, Price of fuel, Fish

-Interchange Schedule, System settings, local measurement

Real-time data

streaming & processing

…

Physical & Operational Control System (Control Center, SCADA, PLC, HGW, etc…)

Physical Power Grid: Gen(s), Trans(s), Distrib(s)., Loads(s)

External public network

ExperimentersPLIP TC System

Network

Monitor

Inte

rop

era

bilit

y a

nd

Se

cu

rity

Tim

e S

yn

ch

. A

nd

Se

qu

en

ce

Sys

tem

Mo

nit

or

Te

sti

ng

an

d P

rovis

ion

NP-1 NP-2 NP-m

IN-2 IN-m

(EI 224)(EO101–108)(EI 202-232)

Regional Bulk

Cost/Incentive

Model

Zonal Model

User Interface/Web, Portal

Regional

Objectives

Zonal (BA)

Objectives

Regional TC Nodes (supply, constraints, etc.):

RTC-1RTC-2

RTC-3

RTC-nRTC

n-1

…

(EI 203,

210)

Sub-Utility Project Initial TC Nodes

Regional Bulk

Generation/Transmission

Modeling/Simulation

External Data Access & Interfaces

Sub-Project TC Nodal Proxies:

Regional Renewable

Generation Modeling

Forecaster

…

IN-1 …

Data Storage, Logging

and Archiving

External Data Inputs (EI 202-232)-Regional Weather, Wind, Solar, Availability and Forecast ..

-Regional Generation, Transmission capacity and schedule

-Non-power constraints, Price of fuel, Fish

-Interchange Schedule, System settings, local measurement

Real-time data

streaming & processing

…

Physical & Operational Control System (Control Center, SCADA, PLC, HGW, etc…)

Physical Power Grid: Gen(s), Trans(s), Distrib(s)., Loads(s)

External public network

ExperimentersPLIP TC System

Network

Monitor

Inte

rop

era

bilit

y a

nd

Se

cu

rity

Tim

e S

yn

ch

. A

nd

Se

qu

en

ce

Sys

tem

Mo

nit

or

Te

sti

ng

an

d P

rovis

ion

NP-1 NP-2 NP-m

IN-2 IN-m

(EI 224)(EO101–108)(EI 202-232)

Regional Bulk

Cost/Incentive

Model

Zonal Model

User Interface/Web, Portal

Regional

Objectives

Zonal (BA)

Objectives

Regional TC Nodes (supply, constraints, etc.):

RTC-1RTC-2

RTC-3

RTC-nRTC

n-1

…

(EI 203,

210)

Data Storage &

Streaming

Regional TC Nodes

Regional Objective

Optimization

/ Analytics

Regional System / Operation

Model & Simulation

Regional Communication & Network

External Data / ServicesSub-Project Sites

Initial Nodes

Cro

ss L

ayer

Fu

ncti

on

s

User Interfaces

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation12 05/18/11

Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber-Physical Systems refer to the linking of physical world interaction with

information systems. Control Systems and Sensor Networks provide the physical

world interface.

Transactive Control is a cyber-physical system.

Physical World

Analytics/Computation

Embedded Control

Sensing & Actuating

Business Information

System

Physical World

Real-Time

(Delay SensitiveTransactional

D1D2

Information Systems

Computation, App. Logic/Analytics Embedded Devices ActuatorSensor

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Interoperability Frameworks are a key Enabler

Cyber-Physical System environments are highly

heterogeneous

– Multiple organization domains

– Multiple computing domains: embedded to enterprise

– Multiple communication networks and technologies

This, in a nutshell, is why interoperability is so

critical to smart grids

– And why application-level interoperability frameworks are

the correct approach – we’ll always have to deal with the

heterogeneity described above

13 05/18/11

14

Organizational

8: Economic/Regulatory Policy

7: Business Objectives

6: Business Procedures

Political and Economic Objectives as

Embodied in Policy and Regulation

Strategic and Tactical Objectives

Shared between Businesses

Alignment between Operational Business

Processes and Procedures

Informational

5: Business Context

4: Semantic Understanding

Awareness of the Business Knowledge

Related to a Specific Interaction

Understanding of the Concepts Contained

in the Message Data Structures

Technical

3: Syntactic Interoperability

2: Network Interoperability

1: Basic Connectivity

Understanding of Data Structure in

Messages Exchanged between Systems

Mechanism to Exchange Messages between

Multiple Systems across a Variety of Networks

Mechanism to Establish Physical

and Logical Connections between Systems

GWAC Stack Interoperability Categories

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation

ISO/IEC 18012-2 Application Interoperability Framework:IBM Internet-scale Control Systems (iCS)prototype

18 May, 2011

Application (7)

Network (3)

Data Link (2)

Physical (1)

Presentation (6)

Session (5)

Transport (4)

Application

Network

Data Link

Physical

Layer Mg

mt

Sys. Mgmt. Interop Application

Application

Network

Data Link

Physical

Layer Mg

mt

Sys. Mgmt.Interop Application

Application

Presentation

RGIP

Application

Presentation

RGIP

RGIB

System A connection System B connection

Premises Gateway

ISO/IEC 18012

Interoperability specification domain

Manufacturer-provided interworking Function

ISO/IEC 15045

Premises Gateway

Specification domain

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation16 05/18/11

Internet Control System (iCS) – Design Approaches Model business components and processes as

control elements and decision-loops

Virtualization of physical sensor/actuator/control devices through object/component, model-driven approach

Introducing Middleware/Application Service concept and technology to physical control Domain

Scalability from embedded control to enterprise server environment

Built in hybrid interaction interfaces for each control element:

– Asynchronous event /messaging (pub/sub, point-to-point)

– Synchronous service function invocation, request/response

Separation of application logic (software components and links) from computational infrastructure (system hardware and network topology)

Separation Concerns

– Functional/widget builder (physical model, control algorithm, sensor data access/control, etc…)

– Application domain expert(function composition, integration, application component/solution development, etc…)

– Application system administrator(application provision, deployment, performance, maintenance, etc…)

SensingRuntime Environment

Control

Model

Sensors

Control

Actuators

Human Interaction

Control Element

Composition

Physical or Business

Target/Process

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation17 05/18/11

Component Model: Control Element (iCS Building Block)

All application components in iCS are modeled as Control Element; there are

three basic types of Control Elements:

– Sensor: source or sender of events, output only;

– Controller: processor of events, both input and output;

– Actuator: sink or receiver of events, input only;

All three types of control elements can also modeled with service interfaces

Benefits:

– Simplified application component model that preserves the characteristics of

traditional control systems, yet can be used to model most business information

components and processes

– Well suited for abstraction and composition of physical, operational or business

components

– Well suited for an asynchronous event programming model

– Can be easily and fully described with XML schema information models

Control

Element

Sensor Controller Actuator

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation

How the iCS Platform Manages Application Code

18 05/18/11

<<iCS Control-Processing Element>>

Control Element

Input E/M Queue

Model Processor

Application Module

Inputs

Description

Table

i1

i2

i3

i4

Outputs

Description

Table

Inp

ut

Da

ta P

oin

ts o1

o2

Output E/M Queue

Timer

SchedulerThread Pool

Event

Correlation

Configuration

Properties,

Parameters

Configuration

Properties,

Parameters

Ou

tpu

t D

ata

Po

ints

FSM

I/O D

ata

/Ev

en

t

Me

ss

ag

e In

terfa

ce

Se

rvic

e-In

vo

ca

tion

Inte

rfac

eI/O

Da

ta/E

ve

nt

Me

ss

ag

e In

terfa

ce

Se

rvic

e-In

vo

ca

tion

Inte

rfac

e

iCS Control Element: Three basic types: Sensor, Control

and Actuator Model Objects

Every Control Element has the following constructs:

• Input(s) of events

• Output(s) events

• Event Queue: Input/Outputbuffer

• Published Service Interfaces

• Model Processor:

• Internal event processing control

• Model Algorithm:

• application function block

• Timer (optional): ticker, watchdogs, timestamps, …

• Global Object Properties

Construct of Control Element:

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Application Model

19 05/18/11

Controller

Sensor

Actuator

Controller

iCS Application:

A collection of Control Elements

Composed and bound with Event/Message path or service interfaces

Composition of Control Elements

iCS Application Deployment and Distribution:

Deploy Control Elements to one or more iCS RT(s)

Distribute and deploy iCS RT to physical network of computers/devices

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation20 05/18/11

Communication Model: iCS Event Bus All Control Elements communicate /

interact with each other through two interfaces

– Asynchronous I/O-based events

– Synchronous service invocation

Event Bus Model is used for asynchronous I/O-based event passing

– Local Control Elements pass events through iCS runtime in-memory event broker

– Event passing to remote Control Elements is done through iCSRuntime routing with event broker network and is transparent to the Control Element (local/remote transparency)

– Event routing paths are defined using iCS Binding Map XML schema, which defines the application graph

iCS Node N1

iCS Node N2

Control Element

Event Bus broker

Remote inter-node

event routing

Local intra- node

event routing

A

B

C

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation21 05/18/11

Separation of Concerns

Physical Infrastructure

Component Model

Application Logic

Control Element

(Sensor/Actuator/Controller)

Application

Function Block

Rules

Process Flow

States

XML

Markup

Definition /

Declaration

Controller

Sensor

Actuator

Controller

Control Elements

(Sensor, Control and Actuator)

Event/Data Msg., or Services

Flow Path

Physical

Network

Physical Transducers

(sensor/actuator)

Physical Computing Node

Message

Broker Message

Broker Message

Broker

Service

BrokerService

BrokerService

Broker

Application

Solution Develper

Component

Developer

User / Admin. Separation of domain

knowledge/logic from application integration logic (application graph)

Separation of logical application topology from physical computation/network topology

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Implementing Transactive Control with iCS

22 05/18/11

-TN function application logic is “wrapped” as an iCS Control Element – a Transactive Node Object

- A Transactive Node Object is declared and described by using the iCS Control Element XML schema

- Inputs/outputs are declared, including TIS/TFS signals to/from neighbor TN(s)

- Each iCS Runtime instance hosts and manages one or more Transactive Node Objects and the event I/O

- Multiple iCS Runtimes instances will be deployed into the network of distributed physical computing platforms

- TIS/TFS signal flow through the event bus is managed by the iCS Runtime instances

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Composition of Transactive Control Nodes

Composition of Transactive

Nodes to build the Transactive

System

Topology of Transactive nodes

is specified by an iCS binding

map – an XML document that

describes the input/output

network of iCS Control Element

connections

The topology composition of

Transactive Nodes is

independent of the physical

computer network topology.

23 05/18/11

N02

Transactive Node

L04

L03

L02

L04

L03

L02

N01L02

L01

L02

L01

Transactive Node

N03L04 L04

Transactive Node

N04

Transactive Node

L05

L03

L01

L05

L03

L01

L04

L01

L03

L02

L04

N01

N04

N02N03

L05 N06N05

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Summary of benefits provided by a properly designed interoperability framework (ISO/IEC 18012-2 implementation – iCS)

Access (measurement and

control) local conditions of

responsive assets

managed

Send and receive TIS/TFs

signal from one or more

neighbor Transactive

Control Module(s) in

network

Process, generate,

calculate, compute and

forecast TIS/TFS with a

local Transactive Model

Algorithm

24 05/18/11

• Ability to compose Transactive Control from collection of Transactive nodes using declarative language

• Ability to deploy Transactive Nodes over physical computer and control nodes, maintaining independence of logical application topology from physical compute/network topology

• Ability to interoperate and integrate with exiting legacy systems (physical or cyber systems)

• Ability to managing Transactive Nodes in a distributed environment

• Ability to collect data from Transactive Nodes in a distributed environment

Basic Transactive Control needs supported

Additional benefits (i.e., simplifying developers’ job)

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation25

IBM Research

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Ron Ambrosio

Global Research Executive

Energy & Utilities Industry

Ron Ambrosio/Watson/IBM@IBMUS

rfa@us.ibm.com

+1 914-945-3121

IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

P.O. Box 218

1101 Kitchawan Rd. / Route 134

Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

Contact