IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2017 - 42

Figure 10. An LED lighting fixture design with a dc power input.

(a)

(b)
Figure 11. Lighting condition (a) before and (b) after the LED
installation.

Figure 12. Aris Wind's LED streetlight.

connections. Figure 13(a) compares the ambient lighting in
front of the Keating Nanogrid with and (b) without the Aris
unit installations. This area of the IIT campus is the cross
road for on-campus students who use the campus sporting
facilities in the evening, and it is imperative for the university to keep this area lit at night. Furthermore, these streetlights enable USB charging at remote locations as well as the
installation of sensors and cameras for enhancing security
and improving the reliability and the resilience of the neighborhood in critical conditions.

with a sensor board for measuring voltage, current, and
temperature. BMS-200 reports the monitoring information
to the Keating Nanogrid controller via Modbus transmission control protocol/internet protocol. Conext Combox
monitors and integrates the operating conditions of Schneider power converters via Xanbus, a proprietary communication protocol developed by Xantrex, and then sends
signals to the Keating Nanogrid controller via Ethernet. The
Keating Nanogrid controller communicates with Solectria
power inverters and LED light fixtures directly via Ethernet
and ZigBee, respectively. Based on all the collected information, the Keating Nanogrid controller can make more efficient decisions to control the SOC levels of battery modules,
adjust the brightness of LED lighting, and ensure the economic and secure operation of the nanogrid.
The OSIsoft PI system is employed to equip the Keating
Nanogrid controller with the supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) system for monitoring and regulating
the nanogrid operation. Figure 15 shows the Keating
Nanogrid SCADA system, developed at IIT, which is based
on the OSISoft PI platform that synchronizes and integrates the data transmitted to and from the Keating
Nanogrid controller via diverse communication protocols.
In particular, PI Coresight is an intuitive web-client visualization tool that offers access to the real-time information
in a fast, easy, and secure manner so that a nanogrid operator can gain sufficient insights into nanogrid conditions
based on data-driven analyses.

Control and Management
of the Keating nanogrid
Communication Infrastructure
of the Keating Nanogrid
The Keating Nanogrid, demonstrated as an islandable entity, may possess its own specific frequency and voltage
requirements, and thus an efficient and reliable communication would be indispensable to its operations. Figure 14
presents the communication infrastructure embedded in
the Keating Nanogrid; here, the controller, as the nanogrid
communication hub, interacts with the IIT Microgrid controller via Ethernet, while communicating with nanogrid
field devices via diverse communication protocols. BMS-200
is the battery-monitoring system that parses, processes,
and stores the data collected from the M-line battery modules via CANbus, while the battery modules are integrated

I E E E E l e c t r i f i c ati o n M agaz ine / j un e 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2017