AGILE: Autonomous Grids – Identification, Learning, and Estimation

NREL's adaptable software tool, AGILE, simplifies the management of large sensor data sets and offers a universal bridge to common analysis platforms.

Energy system operators and researchers analyzing grid performance have benefited from the technological advancements in sensor and measurement systems. With more recorded data points at increasingly higher resolution and fidelity, advanced sensors systems help improve the reliability of the modern power grid and integrate renewable energy sources. However, extracting information from this firehose of data can be challenging.

Autonomous Grids – Identification, Learning, and Estimation (AGILE) provides a platform for operators and researchers to sort through and aggregate large amounts of grid sensor data with ease.

Functionality

NREL software researchers developed the AGILE platform to streamline access to data stored in various repositories. The AGILE data bridge connects tools over a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) instead of integrating tools with unique application programming interfaces into a single common interface. The TCP transport layer creates a standard interface between the data repository, data sharing, and data analysis components of the most widely used analysis platforms.

Features

Aggregates data from multiple repositories in a common interface without needing to modify programming platform configurations (in MATLAB, Python, etc.) or pull in libraries
Allows data stored in InfluxDB and Kafka to be streamed or subscribed to on any application that can make a TCP connection
Simulates data from specific time windows as if being reported in real time
Built on top of Javascript and the Node.js runtime and deployed in a containerized fashion
Draws from native libraries for greater flexibility, high performance, and rapid iteration of the application during testing.