Fault-tolerant Loadshedding using a Decentralized Software Platform

Worked with open source Resilient Information Architecture Platform for Smart Grids (RIAPS), an integrated communications and control framework for distributed component-based software development and deployment to design fault-tolerant control algorithms. This work investigated the fault management architecture that is required across the physical, platform and application layers to design fault-tolerant systems. The various fault detection and mitigation services that the platform can provide to the application developers which can then combine with the application logic were investigated. The application of the said features and services were then demonstrated on a practical loadshedding application which was augmented with fault-tolerance features within the control logic. The setup was implemented on a modified IEEE 13 bus distribution system simulated using Gridlab-D, with A distributed priority-based load disconnection and reconnection algorithm being executed on a set of 32 embedded boards, each controlling a load. The performance of the loadshedding logic was evaluated subject to various faults in the computing infrastructure.

Our work was published in the Journal of Systems Architecture, Volume 109