An IEEE 1588 performance testing dashboard for power industry requirements

The numerous time synchronization performance requirements in the Smart Grid necessitate a set of common metrics and test methods. The test methods help to verify the ability of the network system and its components to meet the power industry's accuracy, reliability and interoperability criteria for next-generation substations. In order to develop viable metrics and test methods, an IEEE 1588 Testbed for the power industry has been established. To ease the challenges of testing, monitoring and analysis of the results, a software-based testing dashboard was designed and implemented. The dashboard streamlines the performance testing process by converging multiple tests for accuracy, reliability and interoperability into a centralized interface. The dashboard software enables real-time visualization and analysis of the results. The paper details the design and implementation of the IEEE 1588 Power Industry Performance Testing Dashboard as well as an update of the preliminary findings from the testbed.