Policy decisions and research insights depend on reliable, high quality data. Without accurate, protected and timely data, decisions can be flawed, research can be stymied, and energy assets can be put at risk.

ACEP's Data and Cyberinfrastructure Management team (DCM, aka "Data Ducts") offers both technological and organizational solutions that avoid these risks, helping build capacity in Alaska and linking ACEP to wider data initiatives at the university, state and federal levels.

The DCM team supports ACEP research with cutting edge tools and advice. Our team includes software developers, mathematicians, spatial analysts, economists, open science enthusiasts and experts in information security and the deployment of computer infrastructure.

Together, we create stable and secure pipelines for data from collection to publication, and create mentoring opportunities for students and early career professionals in the energy domain.

Please contact us at UAF-acep-data-leads@alaska.edu.

ACEP's Data and Cyberinfrastructure Management team.
Photo by Yuri Bult-Ito/ACEP
ACEP's Data and Cyberinfrastructure Management team.

DCM Manifesto

The ACEP DCM team supports secure access to well documented and easily reusable energy data in Alaska.

The code we share and maintain is well documented, reusable, clean, concise, secure and version controlled.

We value our humanness, integrity, organization, and seek to cultivate trust in the workplace. 

We focus on the work that matters.

Supporting all phases of the data lifecycle

DCM offers assistance with:

  • Planning: Data Management Plans (DMP), including compliance for sensitive data
  • Collection: 
    • Informational support and data recovery from existing online resources
    • Data pipelines and automation, including infrastructure deployment
  • Processing: Quality assurance (QA/QC) and data integrity
  • Analyzing: Visualizations (including GIS) and statistical analysis
  • Preservation: Metadata preparation and repository identification
  • Sharing: Reports and websites, with data access control for private assets 
  • Reuse: Encouragement through data cataloging and storage
Data life cycle graph
Credit: University of Reading, UK

Cyber-Physical Testbeds

Utility Collaborations

See caption below image.
Photo courtesy of Vanessa Raymond/ACEP
DCM team members Solomon Himelbloom, Nicole Mah, and Tuva Granoien (alum.) visit KEA, who is a partner in our ARCTIC Energy Testbed.

The ARCTIC Energy Testbed is shorthand for the ARCTIC program’s Innovation Hub and Energy Testbed pilot programs, which deploy sensors within utilities' existing networks.

Goals include:

  • Connecting to and expanding utilities' existing meter infrastructure and networks;
  • Integrating data management and control platforms; and
  • Developing new pathways for research and technology testing within microgrids.

All this while maintaining operational capabilities and maintaining or improving cybersecurity.

Laboratory Testing

See caption below image.
Photo by Yuri Bult-Ito/ACEP
This data diode is a small portion of the CAMIO lab.

In support of our Alaska utilities, ACEP constructed an in-house development environment known as the Cyberphysical Advanced Metering infrastructure Information-technology Operational-technology (CAMIO) lab.

The CAMIO lab's learning and testing platform holistically allows understanding, exploration and innovation within IT/OT networks. This experimentation demystifies advanced metering infrastructure, aka smart meters, for students, researchers and partners. Additionally, it equips the DCM team with the tools, techniques and mindset required to confidently set up, manage and secure real-world networks.

DCM Leadership

 

DCM Team