Network management based on assessment of topological robustness and criticality of assets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10778529-B2
Application number	US-201816000818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2018
Priority date	Mar 23, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2020
Grant date	Sep 15, 2020

Abstract

A system and method of managing a network that includes assets are described. The method includes modeling the network as a directed graph with each of the assets represented as a node and determining alternative paths to each node from each available corresponding source of the node. The method also includes computing upstream robustness of each node, computing upstream robustness of the network, and computing downstream criticality of each node. Managing the network and each asset of the network is based on the upstream robustness and the downstream criticality of each node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory, storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit to perform a method of managing an electrical network that includes electrical assets, the method comprising:
determining paths of the electrical network between each of a set of nodes of the electrical network;
computing upstream robustness of each of the set of nodes, upstream robustness of a particular node being based on a number of paths from different nodes to the particular node, a plurality of the upstream nodes supplying the particular node makes the particular node more robust than a single upstream node supplying the particular node;
computing downstream criticality of at least a subset of the set of node, downstream criticality of a particular node of the at least a subset of the set of nodes being based on a number of atlas from different nodes from the particular node a plurality of the downstream nodes supplied by the particular node makes the particular node more critical than a single downstream node being supplied by the particular node; and
managing the electrical network and at least a subset of electrical assets of the electrical network based on the upstream robustness and the downstream criticality of each node.

2. The computer program product according to claim 1 , further comprising classifying each node in the directed graph, wherein the classifying each node includes classifying each node as a source asset, a target asset that directly serves a customer of the electrical network or an auxiliary asset that delivers a resource of the electrical network from or to at least one target asset.

3. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the computing the upstream robustness of each node includes computing inter-path independency and intra-path independency for each node.

4. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the computing the upstream robustness of the electrical network is based on the upstream robustness of each of the nodes.

5. The computer program product according to claim 1 , further comprising assessing topological redundancy of each node based on determining a total number of alternative paths to the node from the sources of the node.

6. The computer program product according to claim 1 , further comprising determining an effected disjoint path count of each node based on an inter-path independency of each path from the sources of the node to the node.

7. The computer program product according to claim 1 , further comprising determining an average effective distance from the sources of each node to the node in terms of a number of intervening assets.

8. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the computing the downstream criticality of each node includes removing the node from the electrical network to generate a reduced electrical network and determining upstream robustness of the reduced electrical network, and the method further comprises determining an impact of the removing the node based on a number of disconnected customers in the reduced electrical network.

9. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the managing the electrical network based on the upstream robustness and the downstream criticality of each node includes increasing maintenance frequency of a first node with a lower upstream robustness than a second node and increasing maintenance frequency of a third node with a higher downstream criticality than a fourth node.

10. The computer program product according to claim 1 , further comprising an edge between a pair of the nodes represents a flow of electric power between a pair of the assets corresponding to the pair of the nodes.

11. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream robustness of each node is computed in accordance with the alternative paths.

12. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream robustness of each node is directly proportional to a disjointedness of the alternative paths.

13. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream robustness of each node is inversely proportional to a number of nodes between each node and each source node of each of the alternative paths.

14. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream robustness of the electrical network measures an aptitude of the electrical network to continue operation.

15. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the downstream criticality of each node is computed as a drop in the electrical network upstream robustness resulting from removal of each node.

16. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the asset is a source of a second asset having a low upstream robustness relative to other assets of the assets.

17. A network management system to manage assets of the network, the management system comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory storage medium readable by the processor and storing instructions for execution by the processor to perform a method of managing an electrical network that includes electrical assets, the method comprising:
determining paths of the electrical network between each of a set of nodes of the electrical network;
computing upstream robustness of each of the set of nodes, upstream robustness of a particular node being based on a number of paths from different nodes to the particular node; a plurality of the upstream nodes supplying the particular node makes the particular node more robust than a single upstream node supplying the particular node;
computing downstream criticality of at least a subset of the set of nodes, downstream criticality of a particular node of the at least a subset of the set of nodes being based on a number of paths from different nodes from the particular node, a plurality of the downstream nodes supplied by the particular node makes the particular node more critical than a single downstream node being supplied by the particular node; and
managing the electrical network and at least a subset of electrical assets of the electrical network based on the upstream robustness and the downstream criticality of each node.

Assignees

• Utopus Insights Inc

Inventors

• Aggarwal Aanchal
• Chaudhary Harsh
• Koç Yakup
• Kim Younghun
• Kumar Tarun
• Raman Abhishek

Classifications

• H04L41/145 Primary

  involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network · CPC title

• H04L45/22

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04L45/1283

  with disjoint links · CPC title

• H04L43/0811

  by checking connectivity · CPC title

• Y04S40/00

  Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them · CPC title