RTI Wins Department of Energy Funding to Research Smart Grid Security Leveraging the Data-Distribution Service (DDS) Standard

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 7, 2016) - Real-Time Innovations (RTI), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity platform company, today announced it received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support continuing smart grid research that utilizes the Data-Distribution Service™ (DDS™) standard.

Today's power grid relies on a centralized architecture that faces challenges in effectively managing the high penetration of intermittent Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), such as solar and wind, which can produce rapid variations in generation and demand behavior. As this architecture evolves to accommodate and integrate new DER installations, secure, low-latency, and distributed control at the edge of the grid will be needed. This creates new challenges in scalability and reliability, while increasing the network footprint exposed to cyber threats.

In collaboration with the DOE, RTI has been selected to develop a solution that could potentially enhance and secure the cyberphysical communications infrastructure of the next-generation U.S. smart grid. RTI is building upon its real-time commercial connectivity software, RTI Connext® DDS, to develop an open, fault-tolerant, and decentralized solution that can interface with existing grid systems. RTI is also woking closely with national labs, utilities, research groups, manufacturers and standardization bodies to ensure relevance and alignment.

"As the assimilation of distributed energy resources continues to drive grid modernization, secure data transmission and processing at the edge is critical," said Paul Pazandak, Research Team Lead at RTI. "We appreciate the DOE's continued support and investment in advancing smart grid technologies. The DOE funding we've received is a recognition of the DDS standard as a key ingredient in securing the modern grid."

This project will incorporate features of Connext DDS Secure, including advanced resiliency, legacy compatibility, extensibility and high-performance. Connext DDS Secure serves as a software data bus for grid edge cyberphysical systems, which is a crucial element in securing today's microgrids. RTI's technology is the first IIoT standards-compliant connectivity framework to deliver the security, performance and safety required for deployment of these critical IIoT systems. RTI's Advanced Research Team will build upon the rigorously-vetted technology of RTI Connext DDS to develop a secure, resilient, multi-protocol and platform-agnostic solution for the next-generation Smart Grid. A demonstration will utilize Green Energy Corp's Green Bus® -- an open source multi-protocol telemetry control platform designed to enable interoperability and coordination between remote devices, energy automation applications, and human operators.

"As a consumer of RTI's Connext DDS Secure and an OpenFMB Architect, I am encouraged to see this research being funded," said John S. Camilleri, CTO of Green Energy Corp. "We look forward to supporting RTI with our GreenBus® Platform in developing trustworthy best practices around configuration management."

RTI will also apply its experience with the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) to this project. The SGIP's Open Field Message Bus™ (OpenFMB™) framework, which was recently ratified in March as an industry standard by the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB), applies IIoT technology approaches to the power grid. OpenFMB is a reference architecture and framework for distributed intelligence that leverages existing IIoT standards, such as DDS, Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and Advanced Message Queue Protocol (AMQP) to federate data between field devices and harmonize them with centralized systems. RTI recently demonstrated the compatibility of its DDS solution to the OpenFMB standard in partnership with Duke Energy's Coalition of the Willing demonstration project at its Mt. Holly microgrid testbed, showcasing both grid edge device interoperability and the subcycle communication latencies needed for microgrid control applications.

"As the founder and co-chairman of the OpenFMB task forces at SGIP and NAESB, I am delighted to see the Department of Energy investing into advanced security research that aligns with the Open Field Message Bus framework," said Dr. Stuart Laval, Manager of Technology Development at Duke Energy. "This is certainly a promising milestone with respect to the growing industry adoption of IIoT protocols in grid-edge applications that necessitiate local intelligence to more quickly, securely and accurately manage distributed energy resources in the power system." 

"Security is the foremost concern of grid operators as technologies are developed to enable the next generation of smart grid functionality," said Sharon Allan, President and CEO, SGIP. "We appreciate RTI's involvement in OpenFMB™ and look forward to continuing to work with RTI to advance secure communications and apply them to industry leading initiatives."

RTI will offer live demonstrations of OpenFMB running on Connext DDS Secure at the SGIP 2016 Grid Modernization Summit, which begins today and continues through Nov. 10 in Washington, D.C.

For more information on RTI's work with the DOE, OpenFMB and the smart grid, please visit http://bit.ly/2bbHZhc. 

About RTI

RTI provides the connectivity platform for the Industrial Internet of Things.

Our RTI Connext® messaging software forms the core nervous system for smart, distributed applications. RTI Connext DDS allows devices to intelligently share information and work together as one integrated system. RTI was named "The Most Influential Industrial Internet of Things Company" in 2014 by Appinions and published in Forbes.

Our customers span the breadth of the Internet of Things, including medical, energy, mining, air traffic control, trading, automotive, unmanned systems, industrial SCADA, naval systems, air and missile defense, ground stations, and science.

RTI is committed to open standards, open community source and open architecture. RTI provides the leading implementation of the Object Management Group (OMG) Data-Distribution Service™ (DDS™) standard.

RTI is the world's largest embedded middleware provider, privately held and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

RTI, Real-Time Innovations, RTI Data Distribution Service, Connext and 1RTI are registered trademarks or trademarks of Real-Time Innovations, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies.