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DSS MATLAB 0.13.1
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@PMeira PMeira released this 02 Apr 02:42
· 11 commits to master since this release
0.13.1
6d3dd2e

Version 0.13.1 is a minor release to address a minor concern related to a potential issue with three of the PVSystem properties. Slight updated version 0.13.0 release notes follow.

This version includes ported updates from DSS-Python 0.13, integrating our base library, DSS C-API 0.13. Specific to DSS_MATLAB:

  • Add missing file
  • DSS.AdvancedTypes mode: when enabled, the package can return complex numbers and matrices!
  • DSS.CompatFlags: some toggles for compatibility with the official OpenDSS on some specific points.
  • DSS.AllowDOScmd: toggle running system commands from DSS scripts
  • Fix many docstring typos
  • Fix some arrays of strings: some functions were broken during the DSSContext migration.
  • Use enums for some properties: easier to read, more maintainable.
  • Introduce a few new functions added in the official COM API.
  • Updated our simple example script.

See also the DSS C-API 0.13.0 notes.

What's this?

DSS MATLAB is a member of the family of multi-platform language bindings based on the DSS C-API project, which exposes a customized implementation of the original EPRI's OpenDSS, with a custom API intended to replace and extend the functionality of the official COM object API, while also adding and improving some of the DSS engine internals. For other languages: check DSS Python, OpenDSSDirect.py and DSS Sharp. See more alternatives at https://dss-extensions.org/

As with DSS-Python and DSS Sharp, this package tries to mimic the COM object structure to facilitate the transition and keep most of the existing code valid. The package is usually faster than the COM object. Most of the missing features are related to the plotting methods from OpenDSS and A-Diakoptics, which are not available in DSS C-API yet. You can, of course, use MATLAB's plotting capabilities.

We are currently evaluating reimplementing DSS_MATLAB using MEX. This would potentially allow us to integrate some plotting functions and also parfor support with pool('threads').

📦 Downloads

Download the file according to your platform, as each file contains platform-specific binaries:

macOS ARM/M1/etc. support will be added when there are stable MATLAB releases, probably in 2023. ARM support is already available for other DSS Extensions and it should be easy to use it on ARM Macs (just replace the binaries from DSS C-API).

If you want to try DSS_MATLAB with a sample circuit, a simple example for the IEEE13 system is also included in the download package, under the examples folder. Continue reading for more.

Basic usage

  1. Download and extract the package appropriate for your system.
  2. Add the folder containing +DSS_MATLAB to your MATLAB path (e.g. path(path, 'c:\dss_matlab');).
  3. Instantiate DSS_MATLAB.IDSS. For example:
dss = DSS_MATLAB.IDSS;

If you code is based on DSSStartup.m from the examples included in the official distribution, in general you only need to replace the Obj = actxserver('OpenDSSEngine.DSS'); line. That is, update DSSStartup.m to:

%--------------------------------------------------------------------------
function [Start,Obj,Text] = DSSStartup
    % Function for starting up the DSS
    
    %instantiate the DSS Object
    Obj = DSS_MATLAB.IDSS;
    %
    %Start the DSS.   Only needs to be executed the first time w/in a
    %Matlab session
    Start = Obj.Start(0);

    % Define the text interface
    Text = Obj.Text;

If you want more code to play with, you can use the MATLAB examples from the official OpenDSS distribution, from a local installation (e.g. C:\OpenDSS\Examples\Matlab) or from the official SVN repository.

Sandia's GridPV toolbox has been confirmed to work with very minor changes. Note that the toolbox seems to be out-of-date for some features, so don't expect everything to work even with COM (e.g. Google Maps integration seems broken).

As a general advice (valid for COM and DSS_MATLAB), avoid using the get function without parameters on OpenDSS classes. Some properties like First and Next used for iteration of elements change the current active element and can lead to misleading data!

Known differences and more

We maintain a list of important differences between the official COM implementation and DSS C-API at:

https://github.com/dss-extensions/dss_capi/blob/master/docs/known_differences.md

Most of these apply indirectly to DSS_MATLAB.

Credits / Acknowledgement

This project is derived from EPRI's OpenDSS and the same style of license (BSD style) is used. As OpenDSS, the project also depends on KLUSolve and SuiteSparse, licensed under the LGPL. The licenses are included in the installation packages.

See the DSS C-API project for more details and source files.

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