Distributed Resource Allocation Using One-Way Communication with Applications to Power Networks
For power grid operators, this work addresses bandwidth limitations in coordinating large numbers of devices by eliminating the need for two-way communication, though the approach is incremental.
The paper proposes a distributed coordination scheme for power grids using only one-way communication, adapting a dual descent optimization algorithm. It provides conditions for feasibility and convergence, demonstrating via simulations that one-way communication can be viable for smart grid operation.
Typical coordination schemes for future power grids require two-way communications. Since the number of end power-consuming devices is large, the bandwidth requirements for such two-way communication schemes may be prohibitive. Motivated by this observation, we study distributed coordination schemes that require only one-way limited communications. In particular, we investigate how dual descent distributed optimization algorithm can be employed in power networks using one-way communication. In this iterative algorithm, system coordinators broadcast coordinating (or pricing) signals to the users/devices who update power consumption based on the received signal. Then system coordinators update the coordinating signals based on the physical measurement of the aggregate power usage. We provide conditions to guarantee the feasibility of the aggregated power usage at each iteration so as to avoid blackout. Furthermore, we prove the convergence of algorithms under these conditions, and establish its rate of convergence. We illustrate the performance of our algorithms using numerical simulations. These results show that one-way limited communication may be viable for coordinating/operating the future smart grids.