Developing a Simulation Framework for Integrating
Multi-Agent Protection System into Smart Grids
P.Peidaee,A.Kalam,M.Hadidian Moghaddam
College of Engineering & Science
Victoria University
Melbourne, Australia, 8001
pejman.peidaee@vu.edu.au, Akhtar.Kalam@vu.edu.au, Mohammad.hadidianmoghaddam@live.vu.edu.au
Abstract— Although the concept of smart grid has been
inspiring for applying complex algorithms and strategies in
operating of power systems, but verification of these algorithms
are presumed on reliable and accurate simulation framework.
To address this significant aspect of the smart grid, a simulation
framework is developed through interfacing between
MATLAB/SIMULINK with Java Agent Development
Environment (JADE). Furthermore, based on the proposed
simulation framework a multi-agent protection system (MAPS)
has been identified where different agent types collaborate in
system protection tasks. The main objective of this paper is to
highlight the requirements for an effective simulation
framework to integrate MAPS into future smart grids.
Index Terms-- Multi-Agent System (MAS), Protection System,
SIMULINK/JADE interface, Simulation Framework, Smart
Grid.
I. INTRODUCTION
Future power supply industry is expected to utilize
computational intelligence and Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) to operate power system
networks. Consequently, the concept of smart grid has been
introduced where power system operation is dependent on
interaction between power system components and
information exchanges through communication
infrastructures. Although many advantages have been
highlighted for operation of smart grids but, the main
drawback in deploying smart grids is concerned with the lack
of reliable and effective simulation tools that can model the
complexities in operation of the smart grids[1]. So far, there
have been various initiatives and techniques developed by
different institutes and researchers in smart grids[2-4].
However, with advancement in computational intelligence and
possibilities of applying complex strategies in operating smart
grids, Multi Agent System (MAS) are becoming reliable and
efficient approach in dealing with complexities in operating
smart grids. As a branch of Distributed Artificial Intelligence
(DAI), MAS have been applied in different domains in power
system operation such as energy managements and demand
side responses[5-7]. Basically few studies have been
conducted for integrating MAS into protection systems which
has an important role in maintaining reliable and safe
operation of the power systems[8-10]. In this paper a
protection system based on MAS is proposed where a
simulation framework is developed to integrate multi-agent
protection system into a power system network. The structure
of this paper is as follow. In section II, MAS and its
framework, standard are discussed and explained in order to
highlight some of its unique and significant characteristics for
solving large scale and complex problems in the real world. In
section III a simulation framework is developed where
domain-specific simulation capabilities are employed through
interfacing between MATLAB/SIMULINK and Java Agent
Development Environment. Later in section IV, simulation
results for the proposed simulation framework with respect to
its constituent agent types are presented. Finally contribution
of the paper in smart grid research is discussed in conclusion
section.
II. MULTI-AGENT PROTECTION SYSTEM (MAPS)
Protection system in power distribution network is a
crucial task to maintain reliable and safe operation of the
electric power supply. However, introduction of sustainability
measures and market deregulation, for operating of power
system networks, has led to subsequent complexities in
system protections[11, 12]. Therefore, following these
changes, protection strategies and settings are required to be
adjusted according to operating condition of the power
system[13]. Given the challenges ahead in operation of future
power systems, many researches have highlighted MAS and
its capability as a solution to tackle these issues. There are
some specific characteristics for MAS, which has been
identified as a promising approach to cope with protection
challenges in future power systems[14, 15].
A. Distributedness
Generally, power distribution networks covering
geographically wide area and have various components that
need to communicate with each other. The bottleneck in
communication network will occur when conventional central
management systems are used to collect information from
different power system components and process it in network
control center. However, distributed decision making based on
local measurement information and message passing between
power system components can relieve network bandwidth and
reduce network traffic. Moreover, the risk of cascaded failure
or collapse of the power system can be reduce as the decision
making is localized and can isolate the faulty section of the
system while the healthy parts of the system are operating[14].
B. Cooperation
The ability to exchange information through
communicative language has been the main advantage for
MAS. In fact, in MAS, agents enabled to imitate social
behavior similar to human and for this purpose a domain-
specific ontology is defined which can be assumed as a
dictionary for requesting specific information or action from
other agents. Moreover, based on Foundation of Intelligent
Physical Agents (FIPA) standard MAS can provide necessary
services and actions for the agent community as they can
request for different services. This in turn highlights another
advantage in employing MAS in contrast to hardwired
communication systems or preconfigured communication
nodes. Therefore, with the MAS the communication of the
agents are loosely couples and this makes the system to be
fault tolerant and robust against any faulty agent in the system.
These characteristics of the MAS can be unique for a decision
making process which relies on different varying parameters
for its problem solving. Consequently, adopting protection
strategy for power systems with the varying operating
condition and protection settings can lead to adaptive
protection systems, which is hold through communication
between various agents with different tasks[15].
development environment where MATLAB/SIMULINK and
Java Agent Development Environment (JADE) have been
used to develop power system network and MAS respectively.
Although TCP/IP protocol suite ensures reliable and secure
communication interface, but the simulation framework is
required to synchronize and coordinate data exchange between
the SIMULINK & JADE. In order to address this significant
aspect of the simulation framework an interfacing layer
consisting of different agent types with specific tasks is
introduced. Figure (1), illustrates the architecture for the
simulation framework proposed in this paper.
Figure 1. Communication interface between SIMULINK and JADE
A. Interfacing Agents
Interfacing agents are defined to ensure real-time data
exchange between the two simulation environments. In fact
the inputs and outputs of each specific simulation domain
have to be synchronized at each simulation step while
SIMULINK and JADE are running independently. Three
different types of agents with different tasks have been
introduced to synchronize data exchange between the two
simulation environments.

C. Scalability
In software engineering the concept of the scalability is
interpreted as a system that can be developed easily or extend
to do the same specific tasks or actions for a larger system.
Basically, in scalable design, as long as the nature of the tasks
or actions are similar the system can be expanded with
consistent performance and less development expenses[14].
Hence, in large-scale systems such as power system networks
where certain tasks or services are defined for each power
system component, application of MAS can improve the
scalability of the system. For example, in protection system,
coordination of the protective relays is dependent on fault
location, fault current level and direction of the fault current.
Figure 2.Establishment of real-time data exchange utilizing interfacing
Therefore, it is possible to define various agent types to
agents
coordinate the operation of the relays through communications
between agents and adjustment of the protection settings in Figure (2) illustrates the use case for interfacing agents, which
relays. exchange data between SIMULINK and JADE environment.
As it is shown in figure 2, Synchronization, Measurement and
III. SIMULATION FRAMEWORK Output are the three different agent types, which cooperate
Hence, the discussion regarding MAS and its potentials for with each other to exchange real-time data between the two
system protection, this section focuses on development of a separate simulation environments. In the following sections,
simulation framework to integrate multi-agent protection tasks and behaviors of the interfacing agents are explained.
system into power system network. The proposed 1) Synchronization
methodology is to establish TCP/IP communication interface
between power system simulation tool and the multi-agent
 The task of Synchronization agent is to establish a TCP/IP
communication interface and exchange simulation data
between the SIMULINK and JADE. However, to ensure a
real-time simulation framework the inputs and outputs of the
two simulation environment has to be updated in each time
step of the simulation. Therefore, following the establishment
of the communication link by Synchronization agent, data
received from SIMULINK environment is sent to
Measurement agent to update measurements data in MA
protection system in JADE. On the other hand, data received
from the output agent is sent to SIMULINK environment. The
data exchange loop between SIMULINK and Multi-agent
protection system is updated at each simulation time step.
Figure3 illustrates the sequence of exchanging data between
JADE and SIMULINK, processing multiple messages and
updating output data can affect the simulation speed and
introducing delays in output data passed to the SIMULINK.
In order to prevent delays in output data sending to
SIMULINK, an Output agent is defined which receives
output data messages from MA protection system and update
the output data message. Consequently, the Output agent
sends an updated output message to Synchronization agent to
be sent to SIMULINK. Figure4 illustrates the sequence of
the messaging between the MA protection system and Output

Figure 4. Updating SIMULINK data through Output Agent

agent.

B. Protection Agents
In conventional power systems, protection settings are
adopted through comprehensive analysis of the power system
Figure 3. Sequence diagram representing message passing between
operation, taking into account factors such as topology of the
interfacing agents
network, fault current levels and selectivity in protection
Multi-agent protection system and SIMULINK environment. settings. With the complexities in operation of smart grids
Furthermore, a GUI has been developed which allow the users due to variation of fault current levels and bidirectional power
to configure interfacing agents for exchanging desired inputs flow protection settings should be adjusted with respect to the
and outputs between the SIMULINK and MAPS. operating condition of the power system. Therefore, within
the context of smart grids and utilization of the ICT,
2) Measurement
implementing complex algorithms for tackling protection
Measurement agents are defined to provide real-time
challenges can become a viable strategy for system
inputs from electrical components to MAPS. This means for
protection. Therefore, in this section a protection system
each MAS residing on an electrical component a
based on MAS is introduced where different agent types are
measurement agent exists which receives SIMULINK data
proposed to adjust protection settings corresponding to
through measurement message from Synchronization agent.
operating condition of the power system. As it is seen in
The measured data for each electrical component is passed to
figure (5), three agent types are defined to cooperate for
the agents that are participating in decision making for the
protection settings. As it has been shown in figure3,
measurement agents are the link between the synchronization
agent and their corresponding MAPS. Basically,
measurement agents are used to simulate real world scenario
where data from CTs and VTs are hardwired to protection
relay terminals or sent in sampled value measurement from
phasor measurement unit (PMU) via process bus.
3) output
Similar to Measurement agent the Output agent is a link Figure 5. Different agent types proposed for MAPS
between the Synchronization agent and the MAPS. However,
the main objective for devising Output agent is to avoid devising protection settings. In the following section different
bottleneck in data exchange between the Synchronization agent types and its tasks in MAPS are explained.
agent and the SIMULINK environment. Agents in JADE
environment are run in separate threads and can receive 1) Coordination
multiple messages from other agents. Thus, for the The main task for the coordination agent is to prevent from
Synchronization agent managing data exchange loop between false tripping by identifying faults within the protection zone
of the agents. In this way protection, system can establish the
selectivity for protection system by isolating faulty section
while it can operate as a backup protection for the neighboring
relays. In this design, coordination data has to be provided and
configured during the configuration step. Usually coordination
data constitutes upstream and downstream of each relay which
is assigned by ID number in the form of a data model for
coordination agent. Moreover, to communicate between
coordination agents with neighboring IED nodes coordination
ontology is developed which can be used to notify both
upstream and downstream relays to coordinate their operation
as the operating condition of the power system varies.
2) Fault detection
Aside from coordination between CBs, fault detection
agent is defined which can be responsible for monitoring
power flow conditions and decision-making, and sending
protection settings to output agent. The fault detection agent
can provide fault current settings (adjust) and blocking or
unblocking directional trip according to the coordination
agent information and changes in the operation condition of
the network. The process of the decision-making is based on
exchanging power flow information between the upstream
and downstream CB nodes. Therefore, depending on the
changes in the direction of the power flow in upstream and
downstream nodes coordination of the protection relays need
to be updated.in addition to that considering the
intermittencies in DER the fault current level can vary
frequently which demand adjustment for the pickup value in
relays. Figure 5 illustrates messaging sequence in a MA
protection system for adjusting protection settings of the
relays.
3) Communication
The communication agent has been developed to enable
the extensibility of the MA protection system for
interoperation with different layers or services concerned
with the operation of the power system network, which can
have an effect on protection other explicitly or implicitly.
These can setting points for secondary control system such as
active and reactive power or operating set points send by
electricity market or even direct trip signals from substation.
Designing of the communication agent is devised by taking
into account a future proof MA protection for smart grid
where efficient operation of the power system relies on
interaction between different levels of the EMS. Figure 6
illustrates the interaction of different layers in operation of a
smart grid.
Figure 6.Interaction of MAPS with different layers in smart grids
IV. SIMULATION & RESULTS
So far, the proposed methodology to integrate MAS into
power system network has been discussed. In this section
verification of the results for simulation framework between
SIMULINK and JADE is investigated. There are two main
aspects, which are crucial to address accuracy and reliability
of the simulation results. The first one is the availability of
real-time measurement data exchange, which validates
simulation results against real-world scenario for operation of
the power system components. The second aspect is
concerned with the integration of the MAPS and its capability
to interface with SIMULINK environment in an efficient and
reliable as it happens through ICT infrastructure in smart grid.
In the following simulation, results for each of the
aforementioned aspects are represented.
A. Real-time Measurement
As a crucial characteristic for simulating MAPS is the
availability of real-time data from SIMULINK environment,
which relies numerical computation of differential equation
governing power system components. As it is obvious
(discussed) the accuracy and reliability of the MAPS is
dependent on availability of the real-time measurement data
from SIMULINK environment. Therefore, a loop back
mechanism is defined to evaluate the concurrent data
exchange between the synchronization agent and SIMULINK
through TCP/IP connection.to verify that a time series of a
sinusoidal signal generated in SIMULINK is exchanged with
JADE environment and looped back via Synchronization
agent. Comparing original time series generated in
SIMULINK and received from JADE environment, there is no
mismatch between the two time series. Figure 7 illustrates
perfect match between the times series exchanged between
SIMULINK and JADE environment. This guarantees that the
simulation environment matches to real-world scenario where
CTs and VTs measured data are available based on real-time
measurement.
Figure 7. Real-Time data exchange between SIMULINK and Synchronization
agent
 B. SIMULINK/MAPS Interface
In section III, a message passing mechanism was
introduced to update protection settings and measurement data
in both SIMULINK and MAPS environment respectively.
However, to verify a reliable and efficient collaboration
between interfacing agents a typical scenario is designed
where measurement agent receives the measurement update
from SIMULINK environment. Following that, the output
agent receives the measurement update and update the
SIMULINK data through Synchronization agent. Figure 8
illustrates a snapshot of messaging sequences between
interfacing agents. As it is seen in figure 8, interfacing agents
collaborate to form a loop to exchange data between
SIMULINK and MAPS. Although it should be noted that the
data exchange loop is just for verification of collaboration
between interfacing agents. In fact for the proposed MAPS the
Output agent will updated through messages received from
fault detection agents and update SIMULINK data through
Synchronization agents.
Figure 8.Snapshot from JADE environment representing message passing
sequence between interfacing agents
Figure 9 compares original time series data generated in
SIMULINK environment against updated time series received
form MAPS environment.
Figure 9. Comparison of the time series data exchange loop between SIMULINK
and MAPS
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, two significant challenges in development
and deployment of the future smart grids have
been investigated. In the first part a simulation framework has
been proposed in to address challenges regarding effective
power system analysis tool for simulating smart grid
operations. Furthermore, in the second part of the paper,
MAPS was introduced as a potential solution to tackle
inherent complexities in system protection where unique
characteristics of the MAS can be exploited. Finally,
simulation results have been verified for the proposed
simulation framework interfacing SIMULINK and JADE
environment.
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