Middleware Architecture for Ensuring QoS and Reliability in IP-based Power System Communications

This paper shows the design of a middleware for IP-based power system communication networks and evaluated results. The middleware ensures the quality of service (QoS) and reliability in three types of communications; mobile agent, message exchange and streaming data. The IP-based networks for power system operation and maintenance enable wide-area remote operation for SCADA and realize remote maintenance for facilities to promote flexible and efficient work. The networks are required to support real-time communications and take measures to avoid overloading and failures. These should ensure QoS and reliability for each application. However, as it is difficult for present IP network equipment to adapt to these requirements, we designed the middleware to satisfy them. We also implemented and evaluated this