

OpenPDC - Open Source Data Router of the Smartgrid - jpatanooga
http://openpdc.codeplex.com

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sophacles
This is pretty awesome. For those unaware of happenings in Smart Grid space
here is a quick synopsis of why this is a big deal. First some background:

A PDC is software/device that collects PMU data. A PMU is a device that takes
high precision measurements of Voltage, Current, Phase angle, etc at intervals
and keeps a GPS timestamp with each data measurement. Enough of this data
allows for some very cool analysis of the power grid, finding inefficiencies,
detecting problems before they become blackouts, fine tuning various bits of
equipment, etc.

So why is this particular project awesome?

OpenPDC also helps researchers, in several ways. First, it provides working
implementations of protocols actually being used, which makes simulation and
emulation of SmartGrid networks much easier. Second, it allows for researchers
to access and use data from many sources via a common API, allowing them to
focus on the real problems. Finally it provides an easy way for researchers to
get their results to others, via a common code base. Oh yeah, finally + 1, it
includes Hadoop code, allowing easy parallel processing of large piles of data
produced by PMUs.

The above opens up another point as well. There currently exist only closed,
proprietary implementations of standard protocols. There are many known
incompatibilities between these implementations, so OpenPDC allows for these
to be documented in code, as well as for the vendors to have a nice reference
implementation. The existence of such also makes market entry a bit easier for
new companies selling products in the Power Grid space, and competition is
good.

Another very cool aspect of this, as someone else pointed out, is that it is
the Government open sourcing their software. This is a very nice step in a
good direction -- I like the results of my tax dollars being available to me.

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gsteph22
The fact that our government is moving towards Open Source to power not only
the "Smart Grid", but the lifeblood of our country, is huge. It took some
ballsy, persistent work to get this done.

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yardley
Agreed. It's rare to see a project of this caliber and impact released into
the open source community. TVA should be applauded for making this release a
reality.

The impact to the power sector and the potential acceleration of development
efforts related to the smart grid is tremendous. I'd love to see this project
continue to gain traction and get some true momentum in the power sector
software development community behind it.

It's a game changer.

