At LF Energy Summit 2024, Tom Arthur, CEO of Dianomic, presented a session on “An Intelligent Edge for Energy Automation: FledgePOWER in RTE Substations, JEA’s IIOT & 61850.” The talk revolved around the crucial role of edge computing in managing operational technology (OT) data within energy automation and how FledgePOWER, an open source Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) platform, integrates with legacy and modern systems. Key insights from the talk follow, and a full video is at the end of the post.
Key Themes and Takeaways:
- Understanding Data Management
Arthur highlighted the stark contrast between IT and OT approaches to data management. He emphasized that, unlike IT’s practice of centralizing data in a data lake, OT demands a smart edge for handling the complexities of real-time data. This includes challenges such as data transformation, unit normalization, and contextualization before integration with applications like machine learning, digital twins, and security protocols. - The Role of FledgePOWER
FledgePOWER, part of the LF Edge project under the Linux Foundation, emerged as a solution for addressing the unique data needs in energy automation. It enables the collection, transformation, and aggregation of various data types, including sensor, vibration, and radiometric data. Importantly, FledgePOWER supports multiple industrial protocols like DNP3, Modbus, and IEC 61850, which are essential for integrating OT systems with modern cloud infrastructures. - The Brownfield and Greenfield Challenge
A notable point from the session was the permanent coexistence of Brownfield (legacy systems) and Greenfield (new systems) environments in OT. Arthur stressed that capital equipment, such as transformers with decades-long lifespans, will always require backward compatibility with modern computing technologies. FledgePOWER helps abstract the data from legacy systems to ensure continuous integration and modernization of OT environments. - Real-World Applications: JEA and RTE Substations
The session showcased practical use cases of FledgePOWER at Jacksonville Energy Authority (JEA) and RTE substations in France. For JEA, FledgePOWER facilitated data collection from substations and the integration of real-time data into both their on-premise historian and cloud-based systems like AWS. Similarly, RTE used FledgePOWER to modernize its substations, aggregating data from multiple sources into a unified system that allows for efficient management of assets and protocols. - Enabling Edge Intelligence for Automation
Arthur emphasized that edge computing is the foundation of enabling intelligent automation in energy systems. FledgePOWER supports processing and transforming data at the edge before sending it to the cloud or on-premise systems. This approach ensures lower latency and real-time decision-making for critical operations, such as managing industrial centrifuges, sensors, and other high-fidelity devices. - Open Source and Community-Driven Innovation
Echoing the values of open source collaboration, Arthur compared FledgePOWER’s evolution to historical tech milestones like the development of TCP/IP in the 1980s. He emphasized that community-driven projects, rather than centralized standard bodies, now lead innovation. FledgePOWER, along with other open source initiatives, is fostering the digital transformation of the energy sector.
