Displaying items by tag: energy, smart grid,

SparxSystems CE: Award for Smart Grid Technology

Salzburg University of Applied Sciences recently received a Best Paper Award for its SGAM Toolbox for model-based engineering and evaluation of “smart grid” architectures. The Toolbox is an innovative extension developed for Enterprise Architect, the popular modeling platform produced by Sparx Systems.

Vienna, Oct. 11, 2016 - An essential part of the coming energy revolution is the realization of an intelligent power network, the so-called “Smart Grid”. Back in 2014 the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences introduced its SGAM Toolbox, an add-in for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect that enables model-based development and evaluation of Smart Grid architectures. June of this year saw the presentation of the now further-developed Toolbox at the 11th International IEEE Conference “System of Systems Engineering” in Kongsberg, Norway, where the scientific whitepaper entitled “A Standards-based Approach for Domain Specific Modeling of Smart Grid System Architectures” received the Best Paper Award.

Carried out by a team at the Josef Ressel Center for User-Centric Smart Grid Privacy, Security and Control at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and the “OFFIS Institute for Information Technology” in Oldenburg, Germany, substantiates – for the first time – the compatibility of European and American concepts for the realization of Smart Grid. According to Hans Bartmann, CEO of SparxSystems Software Central Europe: “We heartily congratulate the team for their well-deserved recognition, and for clearly showing that American and European Smart Grid models are indeed compatible. We are glad that Enterprise Architect has played an important role in this analysis and, consequently, was instrumental in advancing the conversion of our power grids into sustainable energy sources. Incidentally, the SGAM Toolbox remains available for download at no cost!”

Compatibility of Smart Grid architectures identified

The research group “Secure Architectures and Modeling” at the Josef Ressel Center concerns itself with the development of secure Smart Grid systems architectures. In 2014 they cooperated with the “OFFIS Institute for Information Technology” to create their own domain-specific modeling language as an add-in for Enterprise Architect including the European “Smart Grid Architecture Model” (SGAM). Based on the resulting SGAM Toolbox, in the current version a model of the American “NIST Logical Model“ reference architecture was created with which the compatibility of European and American concepts could be proven. Christian Neureiter, a project contributor at the Josef Ressel Center, comments: “This award by the systems engineering community is not mere recognition of the work of the Josef Ressel Center, but rather a confirmation of the applicability and the practical benefits of its results. This is also another example of how Enterprise Architect has established itself as a widely-accessible tool offering a wide range of modeling, documentation and extension options. Naturally, this award has motivated us to continue our research in this direction!”

Images:

Image 1: Director Dominik Engel (right), Christian Neureiter (middle), Goran Lastro (left) and Mathias Uslar (not in picture) of OFFIS in Oldenburg are pleased to receive the Best Paper Award (credit: Salzburg University of Applied Sciences)

Fig. 1: Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM; credit: CEN/CENELEC/ETSI)

About the Josef Ressel Center for User-Centric Smart Grid Privacy, Security and Control at the Salzburg University of Applied Science

Intelligent power networks, or Smart Grids, are the electrical power grids of the future. However, they can only become a reality if they can find acceptance among users. This is where visible and trustworthy measures are required to ensure users’ data privacy, data security and control. The research conducted at the Josef Ressel Center focuses on relevant technical solutions: Mechanisms, processes, algorithms...computer programs in the broadest sense. Legal and social aspects are observed wherever necessary, with evaluation being carried out under the supervision of social scientists.

About the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences

The Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (“Fachhochschule Salzburg GmbH“) employs around 320 persons at its campus locations in Urstein and Kuchl in Austria. Around 2,700 students attend 17 Bachelors’ and 10 Masters’ Degree courses in the fields of engineering, social and business sciences, design, media & art, and health sciences. Learn more at http://www.fh-salzburg.ac.at/en/

About Sparx Systems

Sparx Systems, founded in Australia in 1996, is the producer of Enterprise Architect – one of the most successful UML modeling platforms in the world. Enterprise Architect enables the conceptualization and creation of software systems, business process models and models of any process or system. Enterprise Architect is valued by over 380,000 users for its high level of performance at an unbeatable price. Enterprise Architect is an intuitive modeling environment geared towards teamwork, supporting organizations in analyzing, designing and creating comprehensibly traceable, well-documented systems. It enables organizations to concentrate and present the work of teams and departments, regardless of size or geographic distribution.

In order to offer the growing number of Enterprise Architect customers the best level of service in their own language and timezone, in 2004 SparxSystems Software Central Europe was established to serve the German-speaking world and adjacent markets with Sparx EA licenses, training and consulting.

Please find more information at http://www.sparxsystems.eu/