Network and power-grid co-simulation framework for Smart Grid wide-area monitoring networks

This paper presents a co-simulator framework for wide-area Smart Grid monitoring systems based on phasor measurement units (PMU). The communication network framework is based on the North American Synchrophasor Initiative Network (NASPInet) specification. To understand the performance and to facilitate design of wide-area monitoring based Smart Grid applications, there is a need for a simulator that has both power system and communication system capabilities. In this paper, we present a co-simulation framework developed using two existing public-domain simulators (OpenDSS and OMNET++ for power systems and communication networks simulation respectively). This framework has been implemented at IIT Madras for public use. A hybrid state estimation application, a voltage monitoring application and a renewable energy integration application are implemented over this framework, as example of simulator usage. The simulator software has been made available for public download on http://sourceforge.net.