LV Cloud - Enterprise-level IoT monitoring solution for energy grids
Challenge
The goal was to create an IT system that will work as a user interface for a number of VisNet® Hub, ALVIN® equipment and a couple more devices. The challenge This IoT application and its web-based interface needed the ability to process and aggregate a large number of measurements and events, all while working in real time. How did we handle this? You will find all the technical details below.
Solution
LV Cloud is a software solution that collects, processes and aggregates data from different types of devices, including Reclosers, TDRs, GUARDs and VisnetHubs. Based on the collected data, it is possible to trace malfunctioning or physically damaged grids and immediately decide whether it needs to be fixed by a team of engineers or if it will fix itself. This brings many benefits to both energy companies and their clients. How did the IoT application development process go? To meet the challenges mentioned above and develop the performant IoT enterprise-level solution, we built Ruby and Ruby on Rails applications using a microservices architecture. There is a separate microservice assigned to each type of device, which increases scalability and makes the management, development and maintenance processes much easier. Thanks to this approach, we can easily detect the error and quickly respond to it. Any necessary fixes are made without affecting other microservices. Each device collects different types of data, including low voltage, high voltage, power, current, temperature of the device, temperature inside and outside the substation, and humidity. There are between 600,000 and 1,500,000 events and measurements a day sent from devices to the application with an MQTT broker. Microservices receive, process and then broadcast the data via a Kafka streaming platform. Parsed measurements are received by the main application and saved to a MongoDB database. These huge amounts of data could be useless if they were unreadable and difficult to interpret. That’s why we have chosen Vue.js in the frontend development, with Highcharts to present the data neatly. Our choice of Vue.js (combined with jQuery library) was also because of its performance and suitability to build stable, large-scale solutions. This combination guaranteed the acceleration and facilitation of the development process. Some of the LV Cloud features collecting and analyzing data supplied from devices alarms/warnings/notifications of disturbing changes failure references accurate distinction of single events from prefaults detailed information about events and prefaults generating summaries and reports presenting the event log of the device and their waveforms Features from the user's perspective a list of all the equipment commissioned within the system basic information about all the kit installed, such as color coded status, if it’s active, last dial in data etc. text messages triggered by events related to reclosers - opened, closed or blocked the system displays the status of each device
Results
Developing smart grid solutions has helped many Distribution Network Operators, as well as the industry in general, begin to understand, plan and implement practical solutions for future networks. LV Cloud application is already used by a couple of companies around the world. It helps them to minimize costs and allows informed decisions to be made exactly when needed. This helps to provide continuous energy supply, reduce the response time and avoid financial penalties for power outages. 4 types of devices 600k - 1,5m measurements and events a day 2,4k connected devices
Want fresh marketing stories in your inbox?
Get the weekly email that makes you a marketing genius.
Stay informed and inspired, for free.