The digitalization of electrical substations and the increasing integration of converter-interfaced renewable generation are accelerating the adoption of software-defined protection, monitoring, and control functions deployed on general-purpose computing platforms. Before field deployment, these virtualized applications require extensive validation under realistic operating conditions, including communication disturbances, power system transients, fault scenarios and time-critical requirements. In this context, Real-Time Digital Simulation (RTDS) provides an effective environment for Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing and performance assessment.
This contribution presents the validation methodologies followed in CIRCE, where protection, monitoring and signal-processing functions are implemented as containerized microservices running on edge computing platforms. RTDS is used as the core testing infrastructure to generate electromagnetic transient scenarios, publish IEC 61850 Sampled Values (SV), exchange GOOSE messages, and evaluate end-to-end performance of virtualized applications operating in real time. Different HIL configurations have been developed to assess functionality, accuracy, resilience, scalability, and communication latency.
Several representative applications are presented. First, a Software-Defined Analog Processing Module is evaluated using IEC 61850 SV streams generated by RTDS. Second, a virtualized multicriteria faulted-phase selector for transmission networks is tested under different operating conditions. Third, a virtual Phasor Measurement Unit is assessed against synchrophasor performance requirements using RTDS as both signal source and synchronized reference. Finally, artificial intelligence applications for transformer fault identification, DC-grid fault detection, and advanced phase selection are trained with RTDS-generated datasets and evaluated through HIL testing.
The experiences demonstrate that RTDS-based HIL methodologies provide a robust framework for the validation and deployment of next-generation protection, monitoring, and AI applications in digital substations.
Presented by: Maria Teresa Villen & Anibal Antonio Prada Hurtado, CIRCE Technology Center