Virtual and programmable industrial network prototype deployed in operational Wind park

Project Information

VirtuWind

Grant agreement ID: 671648

DOI

10.3030/671648

Project closed

EC signature date 15 June 2015

Start date 1 July 2015

End date 30 June 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 6 340 044,28

EU contribution

€ 4 874 899,50

Coordinated by

SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - VirtuWind (Virtual and programmable industrial network prototype deployed in operational Wind park)

Reporting period: 2016-07-01 to 2018-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Issue addressed in the project:
Green, renewable Energy is fundamental to European growth. A large portion of this will come from wind energy. Reducing the production costs of wind energy will accelerate this technology and its adoption. Being capital intensive, the future of renewable energy resources, especially wind energy, will depend on the ability of this industry to continue to achieve cost reductions over time to compete with conventional energy resources.

Importance for Society:
By envisioning lower capital expenditure and operational expenditure costs in control network infrastructure, VirtuWind will play an important role in assisting wind energy sector to achieve cost reductions. To this end, VirtuWind’s strong collaborative partners will define and execute pilot tests in an operational wind park by mid of 2018. VirtuWind will advance the development of QoS enabled Software Defined Networks in an industrial environment and establish Europe as competence centre for these technologies. VirtuWind proposes radical changes via innovative application of SDN & NFV in reducing capital invest in turbine control components and reduces operations & maintenance costs over the lifetime of the turbines. Simplified installation, operation and maintenance via centralized, highly available and secure control are the key unique selling propositions of this project.

Overall objectives:
The main aim of VirtuWind is to develop a Software Defined Networking (SDN) & Network Function Virtualization (NFV) ecosystem for industrial domains, based on open, modular, and secure communication framework, leading to a prototype demonstration for intra-domain and inter-domain scenarios in real wind parks as a representative use case of industrial networks, and quantify the economic benefits of the solution. The objectives of the project are:
Objective 1: Realize industrial-grade Quality of Service (QoS) for intra-domain SDN solution
Objective 2: Guarantee inter-domain QoS for SDN based multi-operator ecosystem
Objective 3: Reduce time and cost for service provisioning and network maintenance
Objective 4: Assure security-by-design for the SDN and NFV ecosystem
Objective 5: Field trial of intra- and inter-domain SDN and NFV prototype
Objective 6: Collaborate with related 5th Generation Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP) projects and contribute to relevant standards

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Reporting period: 01.07.2015 - 30.09.2015
WP1: Kick-Off meeting was held 09./10. July 2015 in Munich, Participated in 5G PPP event (5G PPP SB/TB meeting)
WP2: With detailed analysis of 12 use cases, D2.1 was successfully submitted
WP6: Website for Virtuwind is up and running, Flyer/leaflet/poster design started; Preparation of VirtuWind for standardization activities during the project runtime
Achievements / Output: Deliverable 2.1 released 30.09.2015 & submitted to EC in time

Reporting period: 01.10.2015 - 31.12.2015
WP1: 2nd consortium meeting conducted 25./26. November in London, Submitted D1.2 D1.3 D1.4; D1.1 in preparation
WP2: Consolidated list of VirtuWind requirements and High level architecture draft design of overall system architecture, Created initial draft of D2.4 with Techno-economic framework defined
WP6: Preparation of VirtuWind participation on the MWC 2016 is ongoing, List of planned dissemination venues / events updated, Website updated with Fact sheet.

Reporting period: 01.01.2016 - 31.03.2016
WP1: 1st technical workshop on VirtuWind Architecture and Scenarios conducted in January 2016, D1.1 finalized and submitted.
WP2: submitted deliverable D2.2
WP3: Contributions for 2nd technical workshop planned and preparations started.
WP4: Work Package organization and planning & Implementation framework definition (procedures and tools), Started State of the Art analysis for inter-domain architectures, protocols and implementations
WP6: Deliverable 6.1 finalized and submitted, Successful participation in MWC 2016 (EU booth),
Achievements / Output: VirtuWind demonstration at MWC 2016, Barcelona; Milestone M1 accomplished.

Reporting period: 01.04.2016 - 31.06.2016
WP1: Conducted 3rd consortium meeting and 2nd technical workshop in April.
WP2: Conducted on-site measurements in wind park, Completed Deliverable D2.3 on time.
WP3: Technical sessions conducted during 2nd technical workshop.
WP4: Task 4.1 active. Planning for T4.2 started
WP6: Deliverable 6.2 submitted, VirtuWind to participate in the 2nd Global 5G Event in Rome, Submission of VirtuWind contribution to 5G Annual Journal, ERCIM journal article accepted for publication
Achievements / Output: State of the art testing in wind park in Brande, Deliverable D2.3 and D6.2 submitted to EC

Reporting period: 01.07.2016 - 30.09.2016
WP1: Conducted 4th consortium meeting, Prepared for and conducted year 1 review at EC, On-boarding of advisory board members started
WP2: Task 2.4 successfully completed, design of final architecture
WP3: Delivered feedback on architecture updates to WP2
WP4: Submission of D4.1 and organization of implementation framework and development team.
WP6: Conducted “1st Exploitation workshop” during VirtuWind consortium meeting in Shannon, Preparation of event in Rome, submission of Windfarm use-case to IETF DetNet group.
Summary Achievements / Output: Year 1 project review conducted, Deliverables submitted as per plan

Reporting period: 01.10.2016 - 31.12.2016
WP1: Conducted 5th consortium meeting, Finalized NDAs for on boarding advisory board members
WP2: D2.5 completed and uploaded to EU Portal as planned, WP2 officially completed and closed.
WP3: D3.1 submitted Initial setup of HW infrastructure for trial completed, configuration and installation ongoing
WP4: Completed the application interface design, and successfully submitted Deliverable 4.2
WP6: 2nd exploitation workshop, Refinement of D6.1and D6.2 by addressing the EU reviewer comments and re-submission, VirtuWind IIoT demo and SFC demo in the “5G Global” Event in Rome, November 9th – 11th, 2016.
Summary Achievements / Output: D3.1 and D4.2 are submitted on time; Deliverable D6.1 and D6.2 resubmitted, VirtuWind demo at the 2nd Global 5G event in Rome.

Reporting period: 01.01.2017 - 30.06.2018
Key highlights:
* The consortium presented initial results (Architecture and planned trials) of the project to the first Advisory Committee meeting on 19th Jan 2017.
* Development of Intra-and inter-domain SDN controller
* Initial setup of VirtuWind microcloud at UhreWind windpark
* 3 trial scenarios were tested in 3 separate timeframes (July'17, Feb'18, Apr'18)
* VirtuWind demo showed at industrial fair - WindEurope'17 and EuCNC 2017 & 2018.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Progress beyond the state of the art:
5G core technologies like SDN and NFV are used extensively in Data Centers; but their applicability in other domains is limited due to their current design and functionality. VirtuWind aims to extend SDN and NFV with industrial-grade QoS capabilities along with applying security-by-design principles to the solution.

VirtuWind’s impacts are given in deliverable D1.7 as the portal only allows 7480 characters including periodic highlights.

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