ALP-CONNEX Overview
Summary
ALP-CONNEX is an Intelligent Grid Integration Platform — a managed OT/DER integration platform for grid operators, energy suppliers, aggregators, and operators of large-scale distributed energy resources. The platform provides the technical foundation for:
- Flexibility Markets & Demand Response — Connecting flexible consumers, storage systems, EV charging infrastructure, and distributed generators to control systems and market platforms
- Low-Voltage Monitoring — Real-time acquisition and forwarding of measurement data from the distribution grid to higher-level systems
- Control Center Integration — Protocol translation between IoT/OT devices and SCADA systems (PSIcontrol, Vivavis HIGHLEIT, Siemens, etc.)
- AI-Assisted Operations — An optional AI service provides operators with plain-language explanations, anomaly indicators, and prioritized action recommendations directly on top of the live process image
The platform is modular by design and can be extended with additional protocols, data sources, and business logic through custom development.
Deployment Model
The Management Platform (API, UI, database, data store) is deployed centrally — on-premise or in the cloud. The Connectors run independently on distributed edge devices such as industrial PCs (IPCs), PowerPC-based gateways, or any ARM64/AMD64 system. All components can be co-located on a single machine, split across multiple hosts, or placed in separate network zones. The only requirement is a TCP connection between the connectors and the central data store.
The optional AI Service follows the same principle: it is shipped as an independent container and can be deployed centrally next to the Management Platform or — depending on data-protection requirements — co-located with a local model on the edge. It accesses the central data store read-only and is not on the data path of the connectors, so it can be added or removed at any time without impacting protocol traffic.
Target Segments & Use Cases
| Segment | Use Case |
|---|---|
| Industrial & Commercial Sites | PV, storage, flexible loads, backup power, process energy, grid connection management |
| Energy Communities & Districts | Flexibility pooling, feed-in management, local optimization |
| Wind/PV Parks with Storage | Feed-in management, setpoint control, redispatch capability, forecasting |
| Virtual Power Plants / Aggregators | Asset connectivity, prequalification data, telemetry, controllability |
| Utilities / Regional Energy Suppliers | Scalable integration of thousands of small-scale distributed assets into legacy control systems |
Key Benefits
- Web-based Management: Configuration and monitoring through a modern browser UI — no special software required
- API-driven Automation: The Management API is fully accessible via REST, allowing external systems to automate connector configuration, mappings, and monitoring through API calls — ideal for integration into existing provisioning workflows or CI/CD pipelines
- Secured with OAuth: Both the Frontend and the Backend API are secured with Microsoft Entra ID (OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect). Users authenticate via their organizational account, and all API requests require a valid Bearer token — ensuring only authorized access to the platform
- Modular & Extensible: New protocols can be added as independent connector modules without impacting existing components
- Scalable Deployment: Fully containerized with Docker Compose, deployable on ARM64 edge devices or cloud infrastructure
Platform Building Blocks
| Building Block | Function |
|---|---|
| On-Site Edge Gateway | Connectivity for charging parks, PV, storage, wind farm controllers, EMS, building automation |
| Protocol Adapter | OCPP, Modbus, MQTT, REST, OPC UA, IEC 61850, IEC 60870-5-104 |
| Control Center Coupling | IEC 104, IEC 61850, TASE.2/ICCP, later CIM/CGMES-aligned models |
| Central Control Plane | Fleet management, configuration, certificates, updates, multi-tenancy |
| Security Layer | IEC 62351-aligned security, TLS/mTLS, PKI, roles, logging, hardening |
| Observability & Audit | Event logging, switching commands, acknowledgements, SLA, traceability |
Roadmap
| Feature | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet Management | Experimental | Register, monitor, and manage edge devices from the Management UI — centralized management across all sites. See Additional Services / Fleet Management |
| AI Service | Experimental | AI-assisted explanations, trend analysis, recommendations, and operator chat on top of the live process image. See Additional Services / AI Service |
| Workflow Editor | Experimental | Visual editor to place and orchestrate connectors \u2014 define data flows, monitor live throughput, and deploy changes via drag & drop |
| Flexibility Engine | Planned | Aggregation, setpoint control, curtailment, peak shaving, redispatch/flexibility logic |
| Modbus TCP/RTU | Planned | Protocol adapter for industrial field devices |
| Fallback/Local Autonomy | Planned | Behavior on communication loss, limit values, local control loops, watchdogs |
Regulatory Context
The European electricity market is evolving toward more granular, dynamic, and control-intensive structures. In 2025, ACER submitted an EU-wide Network Code for Demand Response to the European Commission. The goal is to enable consumers, storage systems, electric vehicles, and distributed generators to participate more easily in electricity markets — individually or bundled through aggregators.
ALP-CONNEX directly addresses this requirement: the standardized, secure integration of distributed assets into higher-level control and market systems.
Problem Statement
Industrial control systems (SCADA) typically communicate via IEC 104, while modern IoT devices use MQTT/JSON. ALP-CONNEX solves this protocol incompatibility by acting as a middleware that:
- Ingests IoT sensor data via MQTT
- Translates and maps data points to IEC 104 addresses
- Exposes data as an IEC 104 server (controlled station)
Architecture
The platform follows a hub-and-spoke architecture with three key layers:
| Layer | Component | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Data Store | In-Memory Database | Central process image storing all data points |
| Streams | Data Streams | Asynchronous data flow channels between connectors |
| Connectors | MQTT, IEC 104, (Modbus planned) | Protocol-specific adapters |
| Management | Backend API + Web UI | Configuration and monitoring |
Design Principles
- Loose Coupling: Connectors never communicate directly; all data flows through the central data store
- Bidirectional Flow: Connectors can read from or write to the process image based on mapping configuration
- Extensibility: New protocols can be added as independent connector modules
Data Model
Each data point in the process image contains:
- Value: The actual measurement (int/float/bool)
- IEC 104 Addressing: CASDU (station) + IOA (data point address)
- Metadata: Type ID, quality flags, timestamp, source
AI Service
The ALP-CONNEX AI Service is an optional companion component that adds explainability, anomaly detection, and operator assistance on top of the existing process image. It is delivered as an independent container and integrates with the Management UI through a dedicated AI Insights tab — without modifying the data path of the connectors.
The service operates read-only on the central data store: it consumes the live process image and historical samples, enriches them with operator know-how from a configurable Knowledge Base, and exposes high-level functions through a REST API. No control commands are issued by the AI itself; recommendations are surfaced to the operator for review.
Capabilities
| Function | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Recommend | Context-aware action suggestions for a specific data point (CASDU/IOA), including severity and prioritized next steps |
| Explain | Plain-language interpretation of the current value, trend, and quality of a single signal |
| Analyze | Statistical and qualitative summary of a signal over a configurable time window |
| Chat | Streaming operator assistant with full process-image context, suitable for ad-hoc diagnostics |
| Knowledge Base | Upload of operational documents (PDF, Markdown, CSV, plain text) for retrieval-augmented answers |
Architecture
- Model-agnostic — pluggable provider layer for cloud-hosted, on-premise, or hardware-accelerated language models; the model and provider are configurable per deployment
- Vector store for the Knowledge Base, enabling retrieval-augmented answers from uploaded operational documents
- Read-only access to the central process image; results and trend snippets are cached in the data store to keep latency predictable
- Integrated into the Management UI via the AI Insights tab — including health badges for the AI service, knowledge base, and underlying model
When no LLM endpoint is configured, the AI Insights tab is hidden and the rest of the platform is unaffected.
Current Capabilities
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| MQTT Client (subscriber) | Implemented |
| IEC 104 Server | Implemented |
| IEC 104 Client (inbound) | Implemented |
| REST Outbound (API + Webhooks) | Implemented |
| Dynamic JSON-to-IEC mapping | Implemented |
| IEC 104 command type mapping (Type 45–50) | Implemented |
| Cause of Transmission (CoT) forwarding | Implemented |
| Connector health monitoring | Implemented |
| Web-based configuration UI | Implemented |
| Dynamic config push to connectors | Implemented |
| Connector ↔ Mapping linking | Implemented |
| Signal management (IEC 104 address registry) | Implemented |
| Configurable data streams per connector | Implemented |
| Encrypted credential storage (AES-GCM) | Implemented |
| Data flow visualization (Workflow) | Experimental |
| Process Updates with live statistics | Implemented |
| Real-time dashboard via WebSocket | Implemented |
| Dark mode | Implemented |
| AI Insights (Recommend / Explain / Analyze / Chat) | Experimental |
| Knowledge Base with document upload | Experimental |
| Fleet Management (device registration, monitoring, remote commands) | Experimental |
| Modbus TCP/RTU | Planned |
Container Registry
All ALP-CONNEX components are delivered as OCI-compliant container images via the ALPSCALE Container Registry. The registry provides versioned images for all connectors and the management platform, supporting both AMD64 and ARM64 architectures.
Security & Vulnerability Management:
- Automated vulnerability scanning for all container images
- CVE detection and reporting integrated into the delivery pipeline
- Security advisories published for identified vulnerabilities
- Regular base image updates to address known security issues
For registry access instructions and current health status, visit: health-registry.alpscale.io