VOLTTRON 2030.5 Agent

The VOLTTRON 2030.5 agent facilitates communication between the PlatformDriverAgent and a 2030.5 server, using the IEEE 2030.5(2018) protocol. The agent’s primary role is to manage data exchange between the PlatformDriverAgent and the 2030.5 server. It creates MirrorUsagePoints and readings on the 2030.5 server and dispatches control actions to the message bus during DERControl events.

The following diagram illustrates the data flow for the 2030.5 agent, from the PlatformDriverAgent to the 2030.5 server:

        sequenceDiagram
  Agent->>Server: Creates MirrorUsagePoints
  Server-->>Client: 201 OK
  Agent->>PlatformDriverAgent: Subscribes to Device Data
  PlatformDriverAgent->>Agent: Agent Receives Device Data
  Agent->>Server: Posts MeterReadings(Device Data)
  Agent->>PlatformDriverAgent: Publishes Event Controls

To see this process in action, please try out the Agent Demo.

Agent Configuration Files

The IEEE 2030.5 Agent operates based on the output from the PlatformDriverAgent. This design allows the agent to remain protocol-agnostic regarding the DER’s actual communication protocol. For testing purposes, we provide sample registry and device point files. These files generate changing numbers for some points and maintain steady set points, similar to a typical piece of equipment. The agent requires a mapping from the platform driver point to a 2030.5 point to identify which points are relevant to the 2030.5 protocol.

Example Platform Driver Files

A platform driver manages communication with hardware, publishing and setting points using the hardware’s specific protocol (e.g., BACnet, Modbus, DNP3, etc.). The following example uses a fake driver to generate sine and cosine function values, as well as some steady-state points for setting/getting from the 2030.5 agent.

demo/devices.inverter1.config

{
    "driver_config": {},
    # note requires inverter1.points.csv to be in the platform.driver configuration store.
    "registry_config":"config://inverter1.points.csv",
    "interval": 5,
    "timezone": "US/Pacific",
    "heart_beat_point": "Heartbeat",
    "driver_type": "fakedriver",
    "publish_breadth_first_all": false,
    "publish_depth_first": false,
    "publish_breadth_first": false,
    "campus": "devices",
    "building": "inverter1"
}

vctl config store platform.driver ed1 demo/devices/devices.inverter1.config

demo/inverter1.points.csv

Point Name	Volttron Point Name	Units	Units Details	Writable	Starting Value	Type	Notes
Heartbeat	Heartbeat	On/Off	On/Off	TRUE	0	boolean	Point for heartbeat toggle
EKG1	BAT_SOC	waveform	waveform	TRUE	sin	float	Sine wave for baseline output
EKG2	INV_REAL_PWR	waveform	waveform	TRUE	cos	float	Sine wave
EKG3	INV_REACT_PWR	waveform	waveform	TRUE	tan	float	Cosine wave
SampleBool3	energized	On / Off	on/off	FALSE	TRUE	boolean	Status indidcator of cooling stage 1
SampleWritableBool3	connected	On / Off	on/off	TRUE	TRUE	boolean	Status indicator
SampleLong3	INV_OP_STATUS_MODE	Enumeration	1-4	FALSE	3	int	Mode of Inverter
ctrl_freq_max	ctrl_freq_max			TRUE		int
ctrl_volt_max	ctrl_volt_max			TRUE		int
ctrl_freq_min	ctrl_freq_min			TRUE		int
ctrl_volt_min	ctrl_volt_min			TRUE		int
ctrl_ramp_tms	ctrl_ramp_tms			TRUE		int
ctrl_rand_delay	ctrl_rand_delay			TRUE		int
ctrl_grad_w	ctrl_grad_w			TRUE		int
ctrl_soft_grad_w	ctrl_soft_grad_w			TRUE		int
ctrl_connected	ctrl_connected			TRUE		boolean
ctrl_energized	ctrl_energized			TRUE		boolean
ctrl_fixed_pf_absorb_w	ctrl_fixed_pf_absorb_w			TRUE		int
ctrl_fixed_pf_ingect_w	ctrl_fixed_pf_ingect_w			TRUE		int
ctrl_fixed_var	ctrl_fixed_var			TRUE		int
ctrl_fixed_w	ctrl_fixed_w			TRUE		int
ctrl_es_delay	ctrl_es_delay			TRUE		int

vctl config store platform.driver inverter1.points.csv demo/devices/inverter1.points.csv --csv

Agent Configuration

An example configuration file is at the root of the agent directory (example.config.yml)

# These are required in order for the agent to connect to the server.
cacertfile: ~/tls/certs/ca.crt
keyfile: ~/tls/private/dev1.pem
certfile: ~/tls/certs/dev1.crt
server_hostname: 127.0.0.1

# the pin number is used to verify the server is the correct server
pin: 111115

# Log the request and responses from the server.
log_req_resp: true

# SSL defaults to 443
server_ssl_port: 8443

# Number of seconds to poll for new default der settings.
default_der_control_poll: 10

MirrorUsagePointList:
  # MirrorMeterReading based on Table E.2 IEEE Std 2030.5-18
  - device_point: INV_REAL_PWR
    mRID: 5509D69F8B3535950000000000009182
    description: DER Inverter Real Power
    roleFlags: 49
    serviceCategoryKind: 0
    status: 0
    MirrorMeterReading:
      mRID: 5509D69F8B3535950000000000009183
      description: Real Power(W) Set
      ReadingType:
        accumulationBehavior: 12
        commodity: 1
        dataQualifier: 2
        intervalLength: 300
        powerOfTenMultiplier: 0
        uom: 38
  - device_point: INV_REAC_PWR
    mRID: 5509D69F8B3535950000000000009184
    description: DER Inverter Reactive Power
    roleFlags: 49
    serviceCategoryKind: 0
    status: 0
    MirrorMeterReading:
      mRID: 5509D69F8B3535950000000000009185
      description: Reactive Power(VAr) Set
      ReadingType:
        accumulationBehavior: 12
        commodity: 1
        dataQualifier: 2
        intervalLength: 300
        powerOfTenMultiplier: 0
        uom: 38

# publishes on the following subscriptions will
# be available to create and POST readings to the
# 2030.5 server.
device_topic: devices/inverter1

# Nameplate ratings for this der client will be put to the
# server during startup of the system.
DERCapability:
  # modesSupported is a HexBinary31 representation of DERControlType
  # See Figure B.34 DER info types for information
  # conversion in python is as follows
  #   "{0:08b}".format(int("500040", 16))
  #   '10100000000000001000000'  # This is a bitmask
  # to generate HexBinary
  #   hex(int('10100000000000001000000', 2))
  #   0x500040
  modesSupported: 500040
  rtgMaxW:
    multiplier: 0
    value: 0
  type: 0

DERSettings:
  modesEnabled: 100000
  setGradW: 0
  setMaxW:
    multiplier: 0
    value: 0

# Note this file MUST be in the config store or this agent will not run properly.
point_map: config:///inverter_sample.csv

See the inverter_sample.csv file.

In the inverter_sample.csv file we have columns such as the following excerpt. The Point Name corresponds to an all message published to the device_topic. Only the points with both the Parameter Type and the Point Name are used when publshing/setting points to the platform.driver.

Point Name	Parameter Type	Notes
ctrl_connected	DERControlBase::opModConnect	True/False Connected = True, Disconnected = False
ctrl_energized	DERControlBase::opModEnergize	True/False Energized = True, De-Energized = False
ctrl_fixed_pf_absorb_w	DERControlBase::opModFixedPFAbsorbW

Agent Installation

The 2030.5 agent can be installed and started using an activated terminal from the root of the volttron git repository. Here are the steps:

Open a terminal and navigate to the root of the volttron git repository.
```
cd /path/to/volttron
```
Activate the virtual environment for volttron.
```
source env/bin/activate
```

Update the config store for the 2030.5 agent. Note we use the identity inverter1

vctl config store 'inverter1' 'inverter_sample.csv' 'services/core/IEEE_2030_5/inverter_sample.csv' --csv

Install and start the 2030.5 agent using the vctl command. The --start option starts the agent immediately after installation. The --agent-config option specifies the configuration file for the agent. The --vip-identity option sets the identity of the agent on the VOLTTRON message bus.
```
vctl install services/core/IEEE_2030_5 --start --agent-config services/core/IEEE_2030_5/example.config.yml --vip-identity inverter1
```

This completes the installation and startup of the 2030.5 agent.

2030.5 Protocol

The 2030.5 protocol uses a REQUEST/RESPONSE pattern meaning that all communication with the 2030.5 server will start with a REQUEST being sent from the client.

Communication

The 2030.5 protocol starts with requests to the server for determining the DERProgram and DERControl that the client should be using. Once the default and scheduled DERControls are known then the client can act according to the 2030.5 server’s requirements.

The following diagram illistrates the request and response from the client to the server.

        sequenceDiagram
  Client->>Server: /dcap
  Server-->Client: DeviceCapabilities
  Client->>Server: /edev
  Server-->Client: EndDeviceList(1) /* found */
  Client->>Server: /edev/0
  Server-->Client: EndDevice
  Client->>Server: /edev/0/fsa
  Server-->Client: FunctionSetAssignmentList
  Client->>Server: /edev/0/fsa/0
  Server-->Client: FunctionSetAssignment
  Client->>Server: /edev/0/fsa/0/derp
  Server-->Client: DERProgramList
  Client->>Server: /derp/0
  Server-->Client: DERProgram
  Client->>Server: /derp/0/derc
  Server-->Client: DERControlList
  Client->>Server: /derp/0/dderc
  Server-->Client: DERDefaultControl
  Client->>Server: /derp/0/derca
  Server-->Client: DERControlList

After the DERControls are found the client needs to poll the server for updates. Depending on the function set, the poll rate could be different.

Agent Limitations

This agent is not a fully compliant 2030.5 client, meaning it does not support all of the function sets within the 2030.5 standard. It provides the following function sets:

End Device
Time
Distributed Energy Resources
Metering
Metering Mirror

As time goes on it is likely that this list will be extended through user support.