AESC has been developing and applying intelligent agent technology since 1997. During that time AESC has developed
and tested a variety of agents that operate as multi-agent systems (MAS) that:
- Smart*DER
Monitor site and distributed energy resource (DER) conditions and schedules operation of DER assets in response to dynamic pricing signals (Smart*DER). Is capable of operating a single site or coordinating the operation of "a portfolio" of multiple sites. - Power Neighborhood
Enable collaboration/coordination of DER assets amongst multiple sites within a localized region (distribution feeder) using a web-based auction and bilateral transactions. - Distributed Grid Management
Coordinate grid activities with renewable generation and storage system assets
Agent Type | Description |
Smart*DER | |
Portfolio Manager | Manages and coordinates operations of multiple buildings in a campus, microgrid or similar environment. |
Owner Interface | Handles communication between the Smart*DER agency and the owner / user via a graphical user interface (GUI). Coordinates implementation of user commands and inputs. Coordinates the actions of a site within a portfolio of sites. |
Data Manager | Controls storage and retrieval of data used within the MAS. |
Facility Interface | Responsible for routine collection and recording of site data. Serves as the MAS interface to all of the facility sensors as well as the DER asset sensors and associated controls. Monitors and implements DER operating schedules. |
Internet | Interface to all Internet-based information sources. |
Data Analyst | Provides analysis services for: load forecasting, schedule generation, bid evaluation and bid generation, report generation. |
Remote Data Collection | Allows for automated data collection from a remote site/MAS. |
Power Neighborhood | |
Site Manager | Represents the interests of a building owner/operator within the Power Neighborhood. Performs situation assessment, auction and transaction management, monitors and manages DER assets. |
Substation | Manages/monitors the Power Neighborhood auction and provides connectivity to the local utility. |
Distributed Grid Management | |
Subtransmission | Manages/monitors activity (i.e., capacitor status, line status, voltages, currents, etc.) within a specific "control area" of a subtransmission system. |
Generation Resource | Manages/monitors activity of one or more generation resources, including conventional or renewable generation as well as storage systems within a specific "control area" of a transmission or subtransmission system. |
AESC Agent Functionality
An intelligent software agent can be as simple or complicated as the application requires, and
allows. Agents are typically designed to achieve efficiency in communications and also to meet
the computational constraints of the host hardware/operating system. Typically, all agents
operating within a MAS share a common operating system and communication protocol; beyond that
each agent can contain a variety of functions and communication protocols as needed to fulfill
its role within the MAS. To this end, AESC has developed a wide variety of agent functions that
can be implemented singularly or in combination to achieve the necessary agent capability. The
most important of these functions includes:Communication
- Connectivity via:
- TCP-IP sockets,
- Remote Method Invocation (RMI), and
- Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
- Protocols supported:
- Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA)
- Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML)
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
- Extensible Markup Language (XML)
- Apache Active MQ messaging protocols
- eDNA (product of InStep Software) data retrieval protocols
- Security methods supported:
- Authentication using Public Key Cryptography Standard (PKCS)
- Encryption using symmetric encryption with TripleDES algorithm
Database Management
- Database query generation compatible with most common databases including:
- Microsoft Access and SQLServer,
- DB2,
- MySQL,
- Oracle, and
- Other databases supported via JDBC drivers.
Data Analysis
- Data validation - Missing or partial data, user configurable range validation
- Forecasting -
On-going site electric load (near- and medium-term)
Local area wind generation (near-term) - DER asset (distributed generation) performance -- Assessment and tracking
- Report generation - Analysis of hourly and daily results with ability to export CSV-formatted text files.
Auctions
- Auction status - Monitoring of auction sessions to identify bidding opportunities
- Bid retrieval and submittal
- Session generation and submittal
- Bid evaluation and generation
- Bilateral transaction generation, negotiation and recording/tracking
Autonomous Operation
- Agent state monitoring / awareness
- Agent state configuration management
- Agent auto restart, state recovery and synchronization
Graphical User Interface (GUI) Support
- Browser-based - GUI access by way of an Applet
- Stand alone - GUI access by way of an application installed locally.
- Web-based - Java-based application that allows full-featured Java client applications to be launched, deployed, and updated from a standard Web server.
- Custom interface to third-party GUI platforms is available
Hardware Platform
AESC's Java-based agent software is compact and can operate on virtually any hardware platform
capable of running a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The nature of agent-based, distributed control
dictates that agent software will oftentimes be located remotely at a site or in conjunction
with DER equipment. For these applications, AESC is proud to announce that we have successfully
ported and operated our agent technology on an affordable and compact automation computer
suitable for operation in commercial/industrial environment. The following basic features can
be upgraded to suit a variety of applications:
- Dimensions:7.5" x 4.2" x 1.4"
- Temperature range:14 ~ 131° F
- CPU:AMD Geode LX800 500MHz CPU
- Network:Two RS-232 and two isolated RS-232/422/485 with automatic flow control
- Two 10/100 Base-T RJ-45 ports
- Digital/IO:8-ch Isolated DI and 8-ch Isolated DO with counter and timer
- Operating System:Windows® CE 5.0 & 6.0, Windows XP Embedded SP2, and Linux ready solution
Contact us today to discuss how one of our existing or customized intelligent agents can help you manage your energy use.