The paper presents a Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) platform for testing and evaluating networked control algorithms for microgrid applications. The developed platform supports the testing of control approaches with high communication bandwidth requirement and includes real-time simulation and emulation of both power and communication grids. The platform operability is demonstrated using a one-zone Medium Voltage DC (MVDC) shipboard power system with a distributed voltage control implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based control platform.

When the control functions of various types of power electronics systems are examined, a significant degree of common functionality emerges, irrespective of the target application. It is possible to define hierarchical control architectures for these systems using common interface definitions between control system divisions or layers. Such definitions enable the use of common designs for multiple applications and the use of commercially available electronics and communications modules allowing cost reduction in power electronics applications. This paper presents various partitioning strategies of a hierarchical control architecture for use in high power electronics control systems and defines various parameters/functions that need to be handled within each layer, and those that need to be communicated between the layers. Each layer has characteristic processing and communication speed requirements, irrespective of the final applications.

When employed in systems with higher frequency variability and nonideal supply voltage, the synchronization method used in grid-connected power electronic converter control systems must be considered. A method is presented here that achieves synchronization implicitly through the use of a discrete Fourier transform in combination with the computation of an effective admittance. It is shown that the method is suitable for systems with high frequency variability as well as for systems with nonideal supply voltage including heavy voltage asymmetry.