Academia – Research

RESEARCH

Accessible and Reliable Tools for Your Academic Research

Universities are rapidly adopting Hardware-in-the-Loop technology in their research laboratories, providing a major advantage to their students and researchers. It is no coincidence that OPAL-RT’s real-time simulation systems are currently used in nearly half of the world’s universities with an electrical engineering department. Thanks to over 20 years’ experience in HIL and our affordable and durable products, OPAL-RT is the trusted partner of professors, researchers and students around the world.


Our simulation systems can be used in a variety of applications, and leveraged for different-sized projects. OPAL-RT strongly believes that our involvement in university research is helping shape a future of new and better technologies.


The Perfect Partner for Your Research

Accelerate Engineering Designs, Validation, and Publication of results

Real-time simulators such as the ones manufactured by OPAL-RT are widely used and recognized in the industry as a standard method of validation of engineering concepts. Experiments made with real-time simulators are also increasingly considered high-quality scientific work and are commonly published in conferences and transactions of well-known organizations such as IEEE or CIGRE. Use our products for your research, publish a variety of technical papers and as a result, attract a higher number of students to your university. See all technical papers in the Resource Center.



Accessibility and Affordability

OPAL-RT’s mission of providing every engineer with real-time simulation products extends to universities. The aim is to provide affordable products to be used in research projects, to be accessible to all students and leveraged to several projects. View OPAL-RT’s simulation systems available for your projects.




Joint Research Project

OPAL-RT is proud of having experts in several domains who are available to help you with your research paper. We invest in joint research projects in universities around the world that study, test, and validate new concepts and technologies. The papers are published jointly and included in the technical paper database in the Resource Center on our website.



Assistance with Grants and Financing

There are several types of government financing available to Universities and their research projects. When you partner with OPAL-RT, we make ourselves available to assist you in your application, to explain the differences between the organizations that provide these grants, and overall to provide customized assistance according to your needs. Contact OPAL-RT to discuss your future collaborative projects.

A Product for All Types of Applications

OPAL-RT’s solutions for research projects extends to all types of applications, such as microgrid, cybersecurity, renewables integration, wide area monitoring, and more.

Cybersecurity

OPAL-RT is dedicated to providing open, real-time simulation for power systems. The company’s platforms meet and exceed the new requirements of power systems professionals as the industry focuses increasingly on cybersecurity.

Microgrid

More complex systems mean more elaborate testing and the increased need for accurate data. Digital simulation in real-time enables researchers to study multiple scenarios in near-real conditions without risk, prior to deployment in the field.

Modular Multi-Level Converter (MMC)

MMC is a distinctive topology offering distinct advantages, but also presents many new challenges. OPAL-RT’s testing platform is sufficiently versatile to support development and testing throughout the entire MMC production cycle.

Power System Controls

HIL has enabled effective testing of a wide variety of control systems, including HVDC, SVC, FACTS, PSS, TCSC and WAMPAC.

OPAL-RT provides comprehensive HIL, SIL, and RCP solutions for the most sophisticated and demanding power system controls.

Protection Systems

HIL testing enables engineers to test real protection systems equipment under a wide-range of disturbance scenarios, while capturing interactions between protection systems and a simulated power system.

Wide Area Monitoring Protection and Control

As synchrophasor technology with Phase Measurement Units (PMU) becomes the focus of Wide Area Monitoring, Protection and Control applications within the power systems industry, real-time simulation is an increasingly critical asset to innovation.

Power Generation

OPAL-RT has developed a powerful, compact and portable real-time simulator for conducting AVR, PSS and speed governor tests on actual, functioning, generating units and/or control modules in laboratories.

Onboard Power Systems

Onboard power systems have advanced significantly with the adoption of More Electrical Aircraft (MEA), All Electric Ships (AES) and electric high-speed rail within industry. OPAL-RT provides advanced solutions for the extensive testing required by these innovations.

Discover our Solutions for Education

Our simulation systems are also used by professors for education purposes. We provide universities cutting-edge, customizable and affordable resources and courseware that include software, hardware and customizable exercises.

Customer Success Stories

The École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS) developed experimental RCP simulation models with an OP1200 MMC Test Bench to validate new control algorithms.


Rapid Control Prototyping enables development of control for novel converter topologies and HVDC networks at Imperial College London.

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Learn more about the unique smart grid lab and energy storage bed at Newcastle University.

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