Collaborative Research: Electronic Analog & Hybrid Computing for Power & Energy Systems

This project will develop computing methods that aim to make the electric grid more reliable, efficient, and sustainable. The grid has evolved tremendously in the past decades with the rapid adoption of distributed energy resources, such as solar and wind, and electric vehicle charging. These trends have introduced a plethora of new problems in optimization, control, and simulation of the grid that have posed challenges to conventional computing approaches, which are primarily digital in nature. The project team will develop new tools for the modeling, analysis, design, and benchmarking of alternative computing approaches, namely electronic analog and hybrid computing, with the ultimate aim of facilitating the implementation of critical algorithms and tools for the future electric grid that are not practical or feasible with the prevailing digital computing paradigm. The potential advancements in computing technologies will benefit a variety of other industrial sectors, such as transportation and manufacturing, and drive advances in computing and semiconductor technology broadly. We will explore a number of fundamental questions related to electronic analog and hybrid computing systems, including a unified and system-theoretic assessment of their design, stability, performance, and robustness, motivated by their potential role in enabling applications for future power and energy systems. We propose three approaches to our project: i) modeling and analysis, ii) design automation, and iii) performance assessment. Through our research program, we will develop comprehensive modeling and analysis methods that will yield accurate, stable, and predictable electronic analog and hybrid computers. We will leverage these insights to develop an open-source design automation library and toolchain that will enable users to easily synthesize various controllers, optimizers, or simulators as an analog or hybrid computer. Finally, we will develop a first-principles performance assessment tool that will clarify the benefits of utilizing analog or hybrid computers, identify the particular applications for which their benefits can be fully realized, and enable principled and quantitative comparisons among analog, hybrid, and digital computers to be made.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.