A Conceptual Visualization of Industrial Control Systems: Electrical Power System

Abstract

The latest progress in industrial control systems is to implement information technology solutions to support such features as administrative control based on network-based information connectivity. This paper focuses on an electrical power grid as a sample of such systems. A fundamental understanding of grid information hierarchy is essential to meet new challenges due to increasing needs of grid efficiency, flexibility, and control, and greater security risks and reliability challenges for large cyber-physical systems. Methods used in visualizing and representing electrical grids are an important tool for achieving comprehension and facilitating control (e.g., UML use cases). The problem is that current high-level representation grids are a heterogeneous mix of diagrams (e.g., UML use cases) flowcharts, graphs, technical drawings, and maps that do not furnish a base on which to discuss the characteristics, uses, behavior, interfaces, requirements, and standards of the grid. This paper proposes a solution in the form of a conceptual diagrammatic specification of grid architecture and applies it to the electric grid in the state of Kuwait. The approach is the skeleton of a method based on generic stages that make up any process and embraces input, processing, creation, and output. It provides a base that can be supplemented with extra notions from various current diagrammatic methods. The results indicate the viability of the proposed method as a foundation for zooming in and out on specifications of the grid in a uniform way.
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