MRI: Development of Grid of Nanogrids (GNG) Testbed

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Recent advancements in artificial intelligence and the internet of things will impact future infrastructure profoundly. One can imagine a smart city with interconnected transportation, utilities and smart buildings. Each component would be capable of working independently and able to resist physical and cyber-attacks. Smart buildings can be considered as a grid of nanogrids capable of forming a larger network. The potential of grid-based networks has become a national priority and attracted the attention of many experts in both industry and academia. This project will develop a hybrid and modular testbed that represents grid-forming smart buildings. Instrumentation development will be a collaborative effort between the electrical and computer engineering and computer science departments at Kansas State University. Although the testbed is designed for research on electricity infrastructure for future cities, it could be reconfigured for other applications such as testing marine and emerging airborne electrical propulsion systems. Hence, it can be applicable to a wide range of emerging applications and test scenarios. The PIs will develop a new course on cybersecurity and resiliency of modern power distribution systems. The wide availability of the testbed, coupled with related coursework, will attract students from underrepresented communities.The proposed testbed provides the capability to examine various hypotheses and research ideas on nanogrid controls, hardware, software, communications and security protocols, and standards, under all possible envisioned operating conditions of the power distribution grid, including faults and anomalies in both islanded and networked modes. The "Grid of Nanogrids" testbed features a highly scalable, modular, and reconfigurable architecture consisting of a real-time simulator platform for creating customized power networks designed by local and remote users, a single-phase feeder nanogrid, a three-phase nanogrid implemented in hardware, a modular self-learning inverter, and the capability of extending the number of hardware-in-the-loop nanogrids. The proposed testbed will immediately enable the PIs and their collaborators to advance their research agendas in fields such as power grid cybersecurity, energy management, supervisory control, and situational awareness. The testbed will be designed to support remote access for outside researchers to facilitate advancing current work in the design and implementation of smart buildings and power networks for smart cities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.