Real-Time Innovations (RTI), an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity platform company, said Monday it received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support continuing smart grid research that utilizes the Data-Distribution Service (DDS) standard.

In collaboration with the DOE, RTI has been selected to develop a solution that could potentially enhance and secure the cyberphysical communications infrastructure of the next-generation U.S. smart grid.

RTI is building upon its real-time commercial connectivity software, RTI Connext DDS, to develop an open, fault-tolerant, and decentralized solution that can interface with existing grid systems, the company said. RTI is also woking closely with national labs, utilities, research groups, manufacturers and standardization bodies to ensure relevance and alignment.

“As the assimilation of distributed energy resources continues to drive grid modernization, secure data transmission and processing at the edge is critical,” said Paul Pazandak, Research Team Lead at RTI.

Today’s power grid relies on a centralized architecture that faces challenges in effectively managing the high penetration of intermittent Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), such as solar and wind, which can produce rapid variations in generation and demand behavior.

As this architecture evolves to accommodate and integrate new DER installations, secure, low-latency, and distributed control at the edge of the grid will be needed. This creates new challenges in scalability and reliability, while increasing the network footprint exposed to cyber threats.

This project will incorporate features of Connext DDS Secure, including advanced resiliency, legacy compatibility, extensibility and high-performance. Connext DDS Secure serves as a software data bus for grid edge cyberphysical systems, which is a crucial element in securing today’s microgrids, said RTI.