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NETWORK / 30 / MARCH 2017 The University of Manchester is already home to the largest high-voltage laboratory in a UK university. It has been at the cutting edge of research into electrical power systems for 50 years. Now, as the industry becomes increasingly complex and intelligent control devices are introduced at every level of the system, another facility at the university is helping shape the future. The real-time digital simulator (RTDS) at the power and energy division in the school of electrical and electronics engineering is one of the leading multi-core-processor- based digital simulation and power systems automation test facilities. The lab combines the best of Manchester's existing and new capabilities to meet increasing global energy demand while minimising the environmental impact and limiting the cost of future power and energy systems. The lab also researches enhanced multifunctional integration of physical power networks with advanced communication protocols and complex control. It has a "PB5-architecture"-type real- time digital processing platform for power systems simulation. It also has a track record in protection and controls automation. The RTDS is a technology platform for conceptualising, developing and integrating, prototyping and testing a range of power systems transmission and distribution networks in a real-time closed-loop environment. These include: • Conventional protection and controls schemes for power systems. • Wide-area monitoring for protection and controls, real-time high-level smart grid simulation environments for distributed generation and renewable energy storage hybrid systems. • Special implementations of digital substation automation using the communication protocols of IEC 61850-8- 1/9-2 process bus architectures. • Conventional DNP3/IEC 60870-5- 104 SCADA interface systems and IEEE C37.118.1 PMU synchrophasor performance testing. • GPS synchronisation infrastructure using 1PPS, IRIG-B and IEEE 1588 compliance, with full digital simulation design and implementation. • Alongside physical testing, work at the RTDS SMARThub includes providing training. The RTDS lab will be a key enabler for expanding and diversifying multifunctional and multivariable research schemes at Facilities • Parallel processing modular design system. • Giga transceiver workstation interface (GTWIF) for interconnecting parallel processing hardware to an external computer workstation interface via Ethernet LAN. • Giga transceiver network communication interface (GTNET) for protocol emulations of process and control bus automation using standards such as IEC 61850, DNP3, IEEE C37.118.1. • External time synchronisation interface (GTSYNC) for external GPS timestep synchronisation application, a high- precision, flexible and expandable analogue and digital I/O GT-interface capability. • GTAI/GTAO/GTDI/GTDO capability with 12-channel isolated 16-bit analogue and 64-channel isolated digital input/output interface. • Global bus hub (GBH) for multiple simulation rack interface capability under common synchronisation timestep for simulations. • Inter-rack communication switch (IRC) for direct digital data communication between multiple simulation racks. • A fibre-enhanced backplane feature for reaching microsecond timestep simulations up to 1.4–2.5µs and a total of up to 90 nodes per PB5 processor computing power each operational at 1.7GHz for enhanced power network solution modelling capacity. • The facility has six RTDS simulator racks with integrated capacity of 30 PB5 core processors and five modular multi-level converter (MMC) support units combined with Manchester's Omicron relay test benches, merging unit performance test benches and multiple data acquisition systems. A flexible and integrated closed-loop hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation and controls automation facility for dynamic performance testing and prototyping of power and energy transmission and distribution systems under wide-area protection and control architectures. Control systems