Smart grid communication assessment and co-simulation tool

A system to model a smart grid communication system, comprising:

• a memory to store data and computer executable instructions;
• a processor to execute the computer executable instructions, wherein the computer executable instructions comprise:
• receiving, at the processor, a configuration of an electrical utility network to simulate a plurality of electricity power assets;
• generating a topographical model with terrain and elevation data of a geography, wherein the topographical model comprises path loss information relating to signal attenuation of a wireless channel as a function of distance for the wireless channel with respect to one or more aspects of the terrain and elevation data;
• receiving, at the processor, a first configuration of a network of communication devices in the geography, wherein the first configuration identifies at least one of a plurality of communication protocols and at least one smart grid application disposed on the communication devices;
• and
• generating a first set of simulated communication data based on an operating behavior of the plurality of electricity power assets over a period of time under a first condition and based on the path loss information for the wireless channel in the topographical model, wherein the first set of communication data represents a network performance of the first configuration of the network of communication devices under the first condition, wherein the network performance is based on a wireless communication characteristic of a communication link between the network of communication devices and a communication infrastructure device,
• constructing a scoring index from raw statistics relating to a smart grid application supported by the smart grid communications system, the raw statistics comprising latency or reception rate, wherein the scoring index is indicative of the successfulness of the network performance of the first configuration of the smart grid communications system for supporting the application,
• wherein the processor creates a model of a smart grid communication system based on the path loss information for a wireless channel with respect to the one or more aspects of the terrain and elevation data based at least in part on the constructed scoring index;
• and
• visualizing differences between the first configuration and other configurations based on the scoring index of each configuration.

A method for simultaneously simulating a plurality of smart grid applications under a plurality of configurations for an electrical utility network and a smart grid communication system in a geographic area, the method comprising;

• receiving, at a processor, topology information of a plurality of smart field devices of the electrical utility network, wherein the topology information comprises path loss information relating to signal attenuation of a wireless channel as a function of distance for the wireless channel with respect to one or more aspects of the terrain and elevation data;
• receiving, at the processor, a terrain and elevation data of the geographic area;
• receiving, at the processor, a communication specification for the plurality of smart field devices;
• simultaneously simulating the operation of the plurality of smart grid applications and communication system technology for each device in the electrical utility network, based on the topology information and the terrain and elevation data topographical model;
• determining performance statistics based on a quality of a wireless communication link from each of the plurality of smart field devices to a communication infrastructure device of the smart grid communication system;
• producing visualization information of each of the wireless communication links between the plurality of smart field devices and the smart grid communication system;
• constructing a scoring index from raw statistics relating to a smart grid application supported by the communication specification, the raw statistics comprising latency or reception rate, wherein the scoring index is indicative of the successfulness of the communication specification of the smart grid communications system for supporting the application;
• creating a model of a smart grid communication system based on the path loss information for a wireless channel with respect to the one or more aspects of the terrain and elevation data based at least in part on the constructed scoring index of an associated simulation;
• and
• visualizing differences between the configurations based on the scoring index of each configuration.