This thesis describes the design and construction of the test-bed system as well as its implementation to simulate the distributed control scheme. Some important elements of the system incorporate flexible power system network hardware and a data acquisition (DAQ) system to evaluate the issues that could trigger cascaded failures.
The objective of this research was to create an integrated simulation environment that represents the power system devices, the control, the protection, and the communication subsystems in the same simulation environment. We have utilized this simulator to conduct system studies and evaluate the interaction between power system components under steady-state and transient operation. The results of these studies have been used to enhance the system's ability to identify, and respond to the system's dynamic transients; improving the survivability and robustness of the power system during and after a disturbance by utilizing distributed control strategies. Experiments demonstrated in this thesis show the applicability of the developed simulator to conduct system studies and to evaluate the proposed distributed control infrastructure. The results show the advantages of utilizing distributed control and the impact in the system security and reliability.
