EPOCHS: integrated commercial off-the-shelf software for agent-based electric power and communication simulation

We report on the development of the Electric Power and Communication Synchronizing Simulator (EPOCHS), a distributed simulation environment. Existing electric power simulation tools accurately model power systems of the past, which were controlled as large regional power pools without significant communication elements. However, as power systems increasingly turn to protection and control systems that make use of computer networks, these simulators are less and less capable of predicting the likely behavior of the resulting power grids. Similarly, the tools used to evaluate new communication protocols and systems have been developed without attention to the roles they might play in power scenarios. EPOCHS utilizes multiple research and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems to bridge the gap. EPOCHS is also notable for allowing users to transparently encapsulate complex system behavior that bridges multiple domains through the use of a simple agent-based framework.