0.12.0

0.12.0

Release 0.12.0 transforms Vessim from a pure simulation tool into a Software-in-the-Loop platform that can:

• Monitor real energy consumption from production systems
• React to live carbon intensity data for sustainability optimization
• Expose simulated microgrids to external applications via REST APIs
• Integrate with monitoring and alerting systems via Prometheus
• Support hybrid simulations mixing real and simulated components

🚀 New Features

Software-in-the-Loop (SiL) Signals

• vs.SilSignal: Abstract base class for signals that depend on external data sources
  • Eliminates blocking API calls during simulation steps through unified background polling with configurable update intervals
  • Thread-safe cached value storage with automatic cleanup
• vs.PrometheusSignal: Signal for pulling energy usage data from Prometheus instances
  • Support for HTTP Basic Authentication
  • PromQL query support with automatic connection validation
• vs.WatttimeSignal: Real-time marginal carbon intensity signals provided by the WattTime Data API
  • Automatic token management
  • Support for location-based region detection via latitude/longitude coordinates
  • Implements new user registration with interactive prompts

REST API and Monitoring

• vs.Api: Api controller for exposing microgrids via REST API
  • Runs embedded FastAPI server in separate process
  • Real-time data streaming to external applications
  • Optional Prometheus exporter endpoint (by default http:localhost:8700/metrics) via export_prometheus=True
• Preliminary dashboard which connects to the REST API, available via streamlit run gui/app.py

Grid Signals Support

• support for external grid-level signals (carbon intensity, pricing, etc.)
• Per-microgrid Interface: grid_signals parameter in add_microgrid()
• Enables integration with vs.WatttimeSignal and vs.PrometheusSignal for real-time data and vs.Trace for historical datasets

🔧 Breaking Changes

• BREAKING: Moved from vessim.cosim to separate vessim.environment and vessim.microgrid modules
• BREAKING: Removed vs.CollectorSignal in favor of new vs.SilSignal
• BREAKING: Replaced vs.ConstantSignal with vs.StaticSignal

🏗️ Bug Fixes and Architectural Improvements

• Fixed Python 3.13 compatibility issues with docopt dependency
• Improved error handling and validation, especially regarding real-time simulations and SiL dependencies
• Better separation of concerns across modules
• Improved type hints and documentation
• Performance optimizations and thread-safe implementations for concurrent access

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Full Changelog: 0.11.0...0.12.0