Outcomes, Insights, and Best Practices from IIC Testbeds: Microgrid Testbed
the two machines may be from different
vendors. Presently, RTI is working on porting
the DDS communication protocol to work on
TSN Ethernet.
testbed. Based upon their experiences, they
developed an IIRA mapping document which
influenced the IIRA itself, a living document,
evaluated continually and republished
periodically to incorporate the learnings
from testbeds and real world deployments.
Thirdly, OpenFMB, a data framework for
IP/IoT messaging protocols, has been
adopted by many utility companies that
want to freely choose between multiple
vendors and ensure it is going to work in
their network without having to “rip and
replace” everything. Some devices in the
earlier demonstrations of the Microgrid
Testbed were adapted to OpenFMB.
The IIRA mapping document was published
as a white paper covering how the IIRA
adapts to the smart grid, building awareness
of the IIoT technologies in that market that
fit naturally into what is defined as the smart
grid or the microgrid utility space. Future
deliverables include reference guides of this
nature that will steer other vendors into
looking at these open, interoperable ways of
building product.
You can also combine them all to have TSN,
DDS, and OpenFMB all on the same network.
OpenFMB deals with the data model (what
data types devices and applications share
with each other) and how to securely send
the data between applications and devices.
Referring to the IIRA diagram that the team
has been following, there is not one
protocol, so it could be DDS. It could be
AMQP, MQTT, any of the other IP/IoT
protocols.
In its current state, in the lab, the Microgrid
Testbed recognizes security as a concern. As
they move to an open field deployment and
adopt the requirement of protecting the
microgrid from internal or external threats,
security will be a primary concern and they
will look to the IIC Security Working Group
and the Industrial Internet Security
Framework (IISF) for guidance.
Looking at the state of today, there are two
dominant communication protocols for
utility companies: DNP3 and 61850. DNP3 is
used heavily in North America. 61850 is a
growing standard that much of Europe is
adopting right now. At the device level, there
is Modbus and Serial. Many standards. With
these existing standards and the new ones
just discussed, microgrid solutions must
include bridging and gateways to allow the
conversation with the utilities around their
existing deployments.
Communication with the Security Working
Group is already underway because it is
necessary to plan for the security
requirements. The Security Working Group
assists in conducting a threat assessment –
identifying threats and the types of
vulnerabilities that are most important, such
as denial of service, physical access, Trojan
horse, etc. The testbed team will work with
each utility to ask the questions and conduct
the initial assessments as they move toward
deployment.
T ECHNICAL R EFERENCES
S UMMARY
The IIC’s Industrial Internet Reference
Architecture (IIRA) influenced the Microgrid
Testbed. The Microgrid Testbed team
focused on applying the IIRA to their
IIC Journal of Innovation
National Instruments, RTI, Cisco and their
partners are working together to help take
IIoT technologies to the power grid of the
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