VILLASnode: An Open-Source Real-time Multi-protocol Gateway

The Journal of Open Source Software, vol. 10, pp. 8401

Abstract

VILLASnode is a multi-protocol gateway, designed to facilitate real-time data exchange between various components of geographically-distributed real-time experiments.Components can be testbeds, digital real-time simulators, software tools, and physical devices.It is designed for the co-simulation of power system and related energy applications.VILLASnode was originally designed for the co-simulation of electrical networks, but since then was further extended to cover a larger variety of use cases and domains.VILLASnode serves as the gateway that connects components across different infrastructures by providing a set of protocols and customized third-party implementations, e.g., different simulators.It enables seamless collaboration in research and testing environments while safeguarding the intellectual property of the infrastructures.The components of every infrastructure appear as a black box.The infrastructure does not need to share models or confidential information.VILLASnode is a set of Linux command line tools and shared library.It can be installed from source or via a OCI container.It is written in C/C++ and designed in a modular and extensible way.

Authors 5

1. Steffen Vogel Aachen Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

   OPAL-RT Germany GmbH

2. Niklas Eiling Aachen Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

3. Manuel Pitz Aachen Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

4. Marija Stevic Aachen Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

   OPAL-RT Germany GmbH

5. Antonello Monti Aachen Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems

   RWTH Aachen University · Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology, Aachen, Germany

   Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University, Germany