OPTIMAL PLACEMENT OF PMU FOR POWER

SYSTEM OBSERVABILITY
A Seminar Report

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
Electrical & Electronics Engineering
by
Hifjur Rehman Siddiqui
(University Roll No: 1601021014 )

Under the Supervision of

Mr. Vineet Kumar Tiwari

(Asst. Prof. EED UCER)

Mrs. Manila Verma

(Asst. Prof. EED UCER)

Department of Electrical Engineering

United College of Engineering & Research, Allahabad (Code 010)

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow

(2018-2019)
 ABSTRACT

In the era where nation talks about one nation one grid, it becomes obvious to have a

technology that uses proper synchronisation technique to avoid the conditions such as grid

failure or blackouts. The problem suggested us to search for a technique which was easier to

monitor such a wide area and requires less time to detect the fault in comparison to the old

classical techniques. One such possible solution to the problem is Phasor Measurement Unit

( PMU). PMU is a device which is used to measure the quality of phasors by taking samples

of positive sequence voltage and current waveforms in real time dynamics. These samples are

then location and time stamped with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) technique

and compared with the data of various node locations to keep a regular check on the

synchronised waveforms. In addition to positive sequences voltages and currents, these

systems also measure local frequency and rate of change of frequency, and may be

customised to measure harmonics, negative and zero sequence quantities, as well as

individual phase voltages and currents. At present there are about 24 commercial

manufacturers of phasor measurement units (PMUs), and industry standards developed in the

Power System Relaying Committee of IEEE has made possible the interoperability of units

from different manufacturers. This report is designed to cover the introduction, working and

applications of PMU in wide area monitoring, controlling and protection of Power System. It

also explains how the PMU is going to be the transforming technology in the Power System

and how it is going to be the key element in taking the nation towards the concept where we

talk about Smart Grid.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who provided me the possibility

to complete this report. A special gratitude to my seminar guides Mr. Chandan Banerjee

(Asst. Prof. EED, UCER) and Mr. Krishna Kumar Pandey (Asst. Prof. EED, UCER), who

inspired me to present my seminar on “Optimal Placement of PMU for Power System

Observability”. His contribution in stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me to

coordinate my tenure especially in writing this report.

Furthermore, I would also like to acknowledge with much appreciation the crucial role of my

seminar supervisor Mr. Vineet Kumar Tiwari (Asst. Prof. EED, UCER) and Mrs. Manila

Verma (Asst. Prof. EED, UCER), for investing full efforts in improving our presentation

skills and guiding us throughout the process of seminar presentation and manuscript

preparation.

HIFJUR REHMAN SIDDIQUI

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables v

List of Symbols vi

List of Figures vii

List of Abbreviations viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PMU 1-3

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Historical Development of PMU 2

1.2.1 Invention of symmetrical component distance relay(SCDR) 2

1.2.2 Synchronisation of sampling clock 3

1.2.3 Development of prototype and commercial PMU 3

1.2.4 Field installations 3

1.2.5 Early application research 3`

CHAPTER 2: FUNDAMENTALS OF PMU 4-8

2.1 Fundamentals of PMUs 4

2.2 Phasor Measurement Concepts 5

2.3 Synchrophasor Definition and Measurements 6

2.4 Applications of PMU in Power Systems 7

2.5 Outlook of PMUs 7

2.6 Main strategy of PMU placement Based on Power Systems Intrinsic 7

Characteristics

2.7 The Comparisons between SCADA Systems and PMUs System 8

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CHAPTER 3: PMU WORKING PRINCIPLE 9-12

3.1 Anti-aliasing filter 9

3.2 GPS 10

3.3 Phase locked oscillator 10

3.4 A/D Converter 12

3.5 Phasor microprocessor 12

3.6 PMU Utilisation in Power System 12

CHAPTER 4: OPTIMAL PLACEMENT OF PMU 14-17

4.1 Optimal Placement of PMU using Probabilistic Approach 14

4.1.1 Problem Formulation 14

4.1.2 Need for Probabilistic Approach 14

4.1.3 Probability of Observability 15

CHAPTER 5: APPLICATIONS & LIMITATIONS 18-20

5.1 Early application 18

5.2 State Estimation 18

5.3 Power system protection 18

5.4 Power system control 19

5.5 Reliability issues in PMU 20

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE 21

REFERENCES 22-23

APPENDIX 24-25

[A] Section 7.8 IEEE Code of Ethics

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List of Tables Page No

Table 2.1 Comparison between SCADA systems and PMUs 8

system

List of Symbols

x(t) - Signal

Xm - Maximum value of signal

w - Signal frequency(angular)

∅ - Phase angle

j - Imaginary operator

N - Number of samples

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List of Figures Page No

Fig.2.1 Phasor representation of a sinusoidal signal. (a) 5

Sinusoidal signal. (b) Phasor representation.

Fig.2.2 Compensating for signal delay introduced by the 6

antialiasing filter.

Fig.3.1 Basic block diagram of PMU 9

Fig.3.2 Synchrophasor definition and angle convention 11

Fig.3.3 PMU Utilisation in Power System 12

Fig 4.1 A Portion of Large Power Network 15

Fig.5.1 Time tracking and prediction of state variables 19

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List of Abbreviations

PMU - Phasor Measurement Unit

PDC - Phasor Data Concentrator

GPS - Global Positioning System

EPRI - Electric Power Research Institute

WAMS- Wide Area Monitoring System

WECC - Western Electricity Coordinating Council

WSCC - Western Southern Coordinating Council

SCDFT- Symmetrical Component Discrete Fourier Transform

IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

BPA - Bonville Power Administration

AEP - American Electric Power

SCDR - Symmetrical Component Distance Relay

NPA - New York Power Authority

DFR - Distance Fault Recorders

DFT - Discrete Fourier Transform

SCADA- Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

UTC - Universal Time Coordinate

AAF - Anti Aliasing Filter

ADC - Analog to Digital Converter

PLO - Phase Locked Oscillator

PO - Probability of Observability

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PMU

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Synchronized phasor measurements are becoming an important element of wide area
measurement systems used in advanced power system monitoring, protection, and control
applications. Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are power system devices that provide
synchronized measurements of real-time phasors of voltages and currents. Synchronization is
achieved by same-time sampling of voltage and current waveforms using timing signals from
the Global Positioning System Satellite (GPS). Synchronized phasor measurement selevate
the standards of power system monitoring, control, and protection to a new level (Heydt et
al., 2001). The present and possible future applications of phasor measurement units have
been well documented (EPRI final report, 1997).

A number of PMUs are already installed in several utilities around the world for various
applications such as post-mortem analysis, adaptive protection, system protection schemes,
and state estimation. One of the most important issues that need to be addressed in the
emerging technology of PMUs is site selection. The intended system application influences
the required number of installations.

The cost of PMUs limits the number that will be installed although an increased demand in
the future is expected to bring down the cost. The placement sites are also limited by the
available communication facilities, the cost of which may be higher than that of the PMUs. A
judicious choice of PMU locations is necessary to meet the criteria of cost and the intended
PMU applications. PMUs become more and more attractive to power engineers because they
can provide synchronized measurements of real-time phasors of voltage and currents (Nuqui
et al., 2005). As the sole system monitor, state estimator plays an important role in the
security of power system operations. Optimal placement of PMUs in power systems to
enhance state estimation is a problem that needs to be solved. Several algorithms and
approaches have been published in the open literatures.

In Chen et al. (2006), a strategic PMU placement algorithm is developed to improve the bad
data processing capability of state estimation by taking advantage of the PMU technology.
Techniques for identifying placement sites for PMUs in a power system based on incomplete
observability are presented in (Nuqui et al., 2005), where simulated annealing method is used
to solve the pragmatic communication-constrained PMU placement problem. A network of

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PMUs, known as the Wide Area Monitoring System (WAMS) (Hauer, 1997), is already
available in Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC). The WAMS data had been
analyzed for multiple purposes, including major blackout analysis (Kosterev D. N., 1999),
model validation (Pereira, 2003), modal analysis (Hauer, 1991), and special control actions
(Kosterev et al., 1998). Several major utilities have recently shown an interest in the
synchronous phasor measurement technology. These include Hydro-Québec (Missout et
al.,1993), American Electric Power (Schulz et al., 1997), the New York Power Authority,
Electricity de France (EDF) (Faucon O.,1997) and many utilities of the Western Southern
Coordinating Council (WSCC) (Mittelstadt, 1995; Bhargava, 1999; Kosterev, 1998) such as
BPA and Southern California Edison Co. Accelerated by the fast convergence between high-
capacity fiber-optics-based telecommunication network and a more effective management of
distributed information systems through LANs and WANs, this trend will soon provide a
reliable source of wide-area measurement of the dynamic state of the power systems
(Mittelstadt, 1995).

1.2 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PMU

In the mid-1960s, to make the power systems secure, researches were encouraged in the field
of power system operation. PMU was one of the effective outcomes initiated by those
researches. The important stages in the development of PMU [2] are as follows:

1.2.1 Invention of symmetrical component distance relay(SCDR)

After the initiation of researches, algorithms for computer relaying for the protection of
power systems were developed. In the process the symmetrical component distance relay for
the protection of high voltage transmission line were invented. In this relay, the relaying
algorithm was based upon the measurement of positive, negative and zero sequence voltages
and currents at the transmission line terminal. This relay proved to be advantageous, in the
fact that to find the fault location for all types of faults in the power system, processing of
only one equation is good enough. This led to the development of recursive algorithm know
as the Symmetrical Component Discrete Fourier Transform (SCDFT), for calculating the
symmetrical components of voltages and current. It necessitated the synchronous
measurement of phasors across the power grid. This led to the next stage of development.

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1.2.2 Synchronisation of sampling clock

The sampling clocks used in sampling the voltage and current signals at different remote
measuring units were synchronized subsequently. With this synchronization, absolute time of
sampling process are recorded which enables the time stamping of the measured data. By
aligning the time stamped measured data, we can obtain simultaneous positive sequence
measurements. This provides phasor measurements on a common reference axis. With the
advent of Global positioning system(GPS), precise synchronization of sampling clocks were
made possible with synchronization accuracies of 1μs or even better.

1.2.3 Development of prototype and commercial PMU

In 1988, Virginia tech research team developed the first prototype PMU. Based on this
prototype Macrodyne Co. started manufacturing PMU on a commercial basis with several
innovations included in it. A notable development in this regard was the IEEE standard 1344
“Synchrophasor” defining the output data format for the PMUs.

1.2.4 Field installations

Virginia tech team initially installed its PMU unit in three utilities in U.S namely Bonneville
Power Administration, American Electric Power and New York Power Authority which were
in the pursuance of the funded research projects. Next series of installations of PMUs were
that of macrodyne units when Macrodyne Co. began manufacturing PMUs. Over the years
many PMU units were installed world-wide and other manufacturers also began
manufacturing PMUs.

1.2.5 Early application research

Application research was first led by Virginia tech and Cornell University. Initial applications
of PMU were conceived in the field of state estimation. This technology made possible the
determination of steady state of power system accurately. PMU also find its application, in
using phasors for feedback in control system and in devising adaptive relaying systems. User
friendly display for power system operators of the data provided by PMUs was another
subject of research. Over these three decades, researches have widened the application
prospects of PMU.

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 CHAPTER 2: FUNDAMENTALS OF PMU

PMUs technology provides phasor information (both magnitude and phase angle) in real
time. The advantage of referring phase angle to a global reference time is helpful in capturing
the wide area snap shot of the power system. Effective utilization of this technology is very
useful in mitigating blackouts and learning the real time behavior of the power system. With
the advancement in technology, the microprocessor based instrumentation such as protection
Relays and Disturbance Fault Recorders (DFRs) incorporate the PMU module along with
other existing functionalities as an extended feature.

2.1 FUNDAMENTALS OF PMUS

A pure sinusoidal waveform can be represented by a unique complex number known as a

phasor [1]. Consider a sinusoidal signal

x(t) = Xm cos(wt + ∅) (2.1)

The phasor representation of this sinusoidal is given by

x(t) = e∅ = (cos ∅ + j sin ∅) (2.2)

√ √

Note that the signal frequency w is not explicitly stated in the phasor representation. The
magnitude of the phasor is the rms value of the sinusoid and its phase angle isφ , the phase
angle of the signal in (2.1). The sinusoidal signal and its phasor representation given by (2.1)
and (2.2) are illustrated in Fig. 2.1.

Note that positive phase angles are measured in a counter clockwise direction from the real
axis. Since the frequency of the sinusoidal is implicit in the phasor definition, it is clear that
all phasors which are included in a single phasor diagram must have the same frequency.
Phasor representation of the sinusoidal implies that the signal remains stationary at all times,
leading to a constant phasor representation. These concepts must be modified when practical
phasor measurements are to be carried out when the input signals are not constant, and their
frequency may be a variable.

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 Fig. 2.1. Phasor representation of a sinusoidal signal. (a) Sinusoidal signal. (b) Phasor representation.

2.2 PHASOR MEASUREMENT CONCEPTS

Although a constant phasor implies a stationary sinusoidal waveform, in practice it is

necessary to deal with phasor measurements which consider the input signal over a finite data
window. In many PMUs the data window in use is one period of the fundamental frequency
of the input signal. If the power system frequency is not equal to its nominal value (it is
seldom), the PMU uses a frequency-tracking step and thus estimates the period of the
fundamental frequency component before the phasor is estimated. It is clear that the input
signal may have harmonic or non-harmonic components. The task of the PMU is to separate
the fundamental frequency component and find its phasor representation.

The most common technique for determining the phasor representation of an input signal is to
use data samples taken from the waveform, and apply the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)
to compute the phasor. Since sampled data are used to represent the input signal, it is
essential that antialiasing filters be applied to the signal before data samples are taken. The
antialiasing filters are analog devices which limit the bandwidth of the pass band to less than
half the data sampling frequency (Nyquist criterion). If xk { k = 1,2,3,........., N − 1} are the N
samples of the input signal taken over one period, then the phasor representation is given by
(Phadke and Thorp, 2008).

√
X= ∑ x e (2.3)

The multiplier in front of the summation sign may need some explanation. Note that for real
input signals, the components of the signal at a frequency w appear in the DFT at ±w and

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are complex conjugates of each other. They can be combined, giving a factor of 2 in front of
the summation sign in (2.3). The peak value of the fundamental frequency thus obtained is
then converted to rms value by dividing by √2 . The DFT calculation eliminates the
harmonics of the input signal. However, the non-harmonic signals and any other random
noise present in the input signal leads to an error in estimation of the phasor. The error of
estimation due to these effects has been discussed in the open literatures.

2.3 SYNCHROPHASOR DEFINITION AND MEASUREMENTS

Synchrophasor is a term used to describe a phasor which has been estimated at an instant
known as the time tag of the synchrophasor. In order to obtain simultaneous measurement of
phasors across a wide area of the power system, it is necessary to synchronize these time tags,
so that all phasor measurements belonging to the same time tag are truly simultaneous.
Consider the marker t = 0 in Fig. 1 is the time tag of the measurement. The PMU must then
provide the phasor given by (2.2) using the sampled data of the input signal. Note that there
are antialiasing filters present in the input to the PMU, which produce a phase delay
depending upon the filter characteristic. Furthermore, this delay will be a function of the
signal frequency. The task of the PMU is to compensate for this delay because the sampled
data are taken after the antialiasing delay is introduced by the filter. This is illustrated in Fig.
2.2. The synchronization is achieved by using a sampling clock which is phase-locked to the
one-pulse-per-second signal provided by a GPS receiver. The receiver may be built in the
PMU, or may be installed in the substation and the synchronizing pulse distributed to the
PMU and to any other device which requires it. The time tags are at intervals that are
multiples of a period of the nominal power system frequency. It should also be noted that the
normal output of the PMU is the positive sequence voltage and current phasors. In many
instances the PMUs are also able to provide phasors for individual phase voltages and
currents (Revision of IEEE Std 1344, 1995).

Fig. 2.2 Compensating for signal delay introduced by the antialiasing filter.

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2.4 APPLICATIONS OF PMUS IN POWER SYSTEMS

The synchronized phasor measurement technology is relatively new, and consequently

several research groups around the world are actively developing applications of this
technology. It seems clear that many of these applications can be conveniently grouped as
follows:

• Power System Real Time Monitoring

• Advanced network protection
• Advanced control schemes

2.5 OUTLOOK OF PMUS

PMUs facilitate innovative solutions to traditional utility problems and offer power system
engineers a whole range of potential benefits, including:

 Precise estimates of the power system state can be obtained at frequent intervals,
enabling dynamic phenomena to be observed from a central location, and appropriate
control actions taken.
 To ensure acceptable quality of the power supplied to the consumers.
 Post-disturbance analyses are much improved because precise snapshots of the system
states are obtained through GPS synchronization.
 To analyze the vulnerability of the system against any contingency. This is known as
security assessment of the power system networks.
 Advanced protection based upon synchronized phasor measurements could be
implemented, with options for improving overall system response to catastrophic
events.
 Advanced control using remote feedback becomes possible, thereby improving
controller performance.

2.6 MAIN STRATEGY OF PMU PLACEMENT BASED ON POWER

SYSTEMS INTRINSIC CHARACTERISTICS

For the purposes of real-time dynamic performance monitoring the power system operating
conditions, WAMS should have following monitoring functions:

• Key lines and links reflect the main system characteristics

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 • Substations on key system interties and major load areas
• Key system generating plants
• Key system substations
• Key devices, such as HVDC, SVC, TCSC and other FACTS devices
• Special protection systems and remedial action schemes

Overall measurement facilities must support:

• Real-time observation of system performance

• Recording and analysis of system disturbances

2.7 THE COMPARISONS BETWEEN SCADA SYSTEM AND PMUS

SYSTEM

Table 2.1 Comparison between SCADA systems and PMUs system

ATTRIBUTE SCADA PMU

1 sample every 2-4 10-60 samples per
Resolution seconds( Steady State second(Dynamic
Observability) Observability)

Measured Quantities Magnitude only Magnitude and phase

angle

Time Synchronization No Yes

Total Input/output 100+ Analog & ~ 10 Phasors, 16+ Digital,

Channels Digital 16+ Analog

Focus Local monitoring and Wide area monitoring and

control control

Fault Locating Depends on Better location accuracy

directional relay by GPS

From the above table it is concluded that the PMUs give more accurate and efficient results in
comparison to SCADA systems.

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 CHAPTER 3: PMU WORKING PRINCIPLE

The voltages and currents in their analog form are derived from the potential and current
transformer secondaries which are then fed to Anti-Aliasing filter. The surge isolation stages
have omitted in this block diagram although they must be included in the practical
measurement system meeting the IEEE Surge Withstand Capability standard, C37.9 1 [4]

Fig.3.1 : Basic block diagram of PMU

3.1 ANTI-ALIASING FILTER

As per Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem, to reconstruct a signal after sampling, sampling

frequency must greater than twice the maximum frequency of the signal to be sampled. If
lower sampling rates are used then the original signal’s information may not be completely
recoverable from the sampled signal and they may appear as aliases. So to avoid this effect,
Anti-aliasing filter is used which restricts the bandwidth of the signal to approximately satisfy
the sampling theorem, for the fixed sampling frequency of the system. Need for anti-aliasing
is discussed in [5],[6] and a patented model of anti-aliasing filter is cited [7].

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3.2 GPS

Global positioning system is a satellite based navigation system which gives information
about location and time irrespective of weather conditions. It consists of a network of 24
satellites orbiting in 6 geo-synchronous orbits such that at any given instant 4 satellites are
visible from any point on the earth surface. All technical details of GPS are reviewed [8].GPS
provides accurate information about location and time (could be local time or Universal Time
Coordinate) of the GPS receiver’s location. Along with it satellite is capable of transmitting
common access ‘one pulse per second’ with an identifier, which is accurate about 1μs at any
location on earth. This pulse combined with time-tag is crucial for the application considered
here.

3.3 PHASE LOCKED OSCILLATOR

Usually in PMU, the pulse signals from the satellite are phase locked with the sampling
clock. This job is accomplished by phase lock oscillator. The Phase locked oscillator system
is analyzed in [9]. PLO divides the one pulse per second signal from GPS into required
number of pulses per second for sampling. At present in most systems, this is 12 per cycle of
fundamental frequency [4]. The sampling instant could be identified, as the pulse number
within one second interval is identified by the GPS time tag.

When the phasors are time tagged then they are referred as synchrophasors. New IEEE
Standard C37.118-2005 [10] (In 2011, it was divided into two parts with one describing the
standards of phasor measurements and the other describing standards of communication
channel) describes the exact format of the time tagging and the measurement of
synchrophasors.

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 Fig.3.2 : Synchrophasor definition and angle convention

Using the synchronized clocks as a reference, a PMU creates the phasor representation
(complex number) of a constant sinusoidal signal as shown in fig.4. The time tag,
representing the reporting instant, forms the reference for the Phasor representation of the
measured sinusoidal signal. The relationship between the time tag and the Phasor
representation is such that the phase angle of the phasor is equal to the angular separation
between the time tag and the peak of the sinusoid. For instance, in Fig.4.a the peak of the
signal coincides with the time tag producing an angle measurement of 0º, whereas in Fig.4.b
the signal crosses zero at the time tag producing an angle measurement of -90º as per the
synchrophasor standards. If the phasors are determined with respect to arbitrary time signals
the phase angle by itself has no particular significance. So when all PMUs in the power
system use the same time reference, their measurements are comparable and the phase angle
differences between the phasors are accurate.

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3.4 A/D CONVERTER

The Analog to digital converter digitizes the analog signal, from the AAF,at sampling
instants defined by the sampling time signals from PLO. These digitized samples are then fed
to the phasor microprocessor.

3.5 PHASOR MICROPROCESSOR

It is programmed to calculate the positive sequence components from the digitized sampled
data by using a recursive algorithm which is usually Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) as
described in [11]. This calculated Phasor is time-tagged. All the measured data are
transmitted to the remote location through a proper communication channel using modems.

3.6 PMU UTILISATION IN POWER SYSTEM

Fig.3.3 PMU Utilisation in Power System

The phasor measurement units installed at various buses in the power system network
provides with a pool of time-tagged phasor measurement data at various nodes in the
network. These data are gathered by the device called phasor data concentrator which
synchronises the measurement taken at every time instant independent of when the data was
received. Then these time synchronized datas are fed to the advanced application software for
the analysis of power system. Based on this analysis, system control, protection and various
other functions are guided. Phasor data concentrator has been detailed discussed in [12].

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 CHAPTER 4: OPTIMUM PLACEMENT OF PMU

Observability of the system is necessary for better monitoring, control, operation and
protection of the system. In simple context, the system is said to be observable if all the state
vectors of the system can be estimated or measured directly or indirectly to the required
accuracy. The concept of system observability is defined in two ways [13] namely,
Numerical observability and Topological observability. It is obvious, that installing PMU at
every bus will prove to be uneconomical. So, Measurements that can used for observability
estimation are listed in [13] as of three types namely,

(i) Direct measurements are the voltage and incident current phasor values at the buses where
PMUs are located.

(ii) pseudo measurements are the current and voltage phasor values calculated from direct
measurement data through ohm’s law.

(iii) Extended measurement are the current and voltage phasors which are calculated at the
zero injection bus.

This extended measurement is defined only in two cases. First,in the case of a bus where all
the incident current are known except one. Hence, the unknown current value can be inferred
from the kirchoff’s law. Second, in the case of a bus where all the incident bus voltages are
known, hence the voltage of that bus can be inferred from the kirchoff’s law.

Optimal placement of PMUs in the system topology fulfilling the objective of complete
observability of the system is necessary. This objective has been a subject of research in
many papers[13],[14],[15],[16]. The task of analyzing power system observability is
equivalent to the task of building measurement spanning tree. According to the network
topology, identified by the system adjacency matrix, pseudo and extended measurements are
obtained from the direct measurements. In turn, by using this calculated measurements, new
pseudo and extended measurements at adjacent buses or nodes are calculated to we fail to
find new measurements.

As a result of this, a measurement spanning tree will be built and if it included all of the buses
in the system then the system is said to be observable in the topological sense. Though this
technique is basic one, several methods have been adopted in above cited research papers in
determining the optimal placement of PMUs in the system for its complete observability such

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as binary search algorithm, incomplete observablity, observability factor analysis, hybrid
genetic algorithm and simulated annealing, to name a few.

4.1 OPTIMAL PLACEMENT OF PMU USING PROBABILISTIC

APPROACH

4.1.1 Problem Formulation

PMU placement problem aims to find out minimum number of PMUs and their location for
complete observability of system. In mathematical form, Integer Linear Problem for finding
optimal solutions can be formulated as:

Minimize ∑ 𝑥 (4.1)

Subject to: APMU X bPMU (4.2)

where,

𝑋 = [𝑥1 𝑥2 𝑥3 𝑥4 𝑥5 𝑥6 𝑥7 … . 𝑥𝑁]

𝑥 ∈ {0,1}

𝑏 = [1 … 1 … … .1]

The matrix APMU can be called as Bus Connectivity Matrix that can be obtained directly from
bus admittance matrix by transforming its entries into binary form. The matrix b PMU indicates
that there should be at least one PMU placed at one bus involved in respective equation. If we
assume zero injection bus to be present in the system then Objective Function will remain
same and only constraint will be modified. The equation can be modified. Zero injection bus
is a bus which does not inject any current into the system. It allows the zero injection bus to
be observable with the help of other indirectly observed buses using Ohm’s Law.

4.1.2 Need for Probabilistic Approach

As above are ILP problems, so we get different combinations of optimal solutions. Now,
there is the problem to select the best possible solution among the different combination.
There are various contingencies present in the Power System which can make Power System
unobservable for some time until that contingency is removed. We need to select such a
combination which will keep the system observable for maximum time. So, the Reliability of

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all the components on which these contingencies depend is considered. Reliability of these
components can be correlated with the availability of characteristics of the system. Reliability
parameter with each contingency is linked which has been used to calculate the probability of
observability (PO) for each bus in the system.

The placement option which gives the maximum PO is selected. The Probabilistic Approach
is discussed in the next Section.

4.1.3 Probability of Observabililty

Different sets of indices to determine observability of every bus can be defined. The basic
index used is the probability of observability (PO). PO is calculated for each bus
corresponding to each Optimal Combination. These values have been aggregated and
averaged to provide a quantitative sight on the observability performance of the WAMS
network. In this Section, the computational framework for Probability of Observability index
is discussed.

4.1.3.1 Without Zero Injection Buses

Consider a portion of large power network which has five buses as shown in the figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1: A Portion of Large Power Network

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Assume that PMU is located at bus s. This will make buses p, r, t, and q observable in
addition to bus s. PO index calculation at bus s required the availability of PMU at bus s, its
communication link, and voltage measurements. So,

POs=Ass=𝐴 ∗𝐴 ∗𝐴 (4.3)

Ass is the probability of observability of bus s with the installed PMU at that bus. 𝐴 is the
availability of PMU at bus s. 𝐴 is the availability of Communication link of PMU
installed at bus s. Here availability of PMUs and communication link is assumed to be
known. The availability of voltage measurement at bus s is formulated as:

𝐴 = (𝐴 ) ; where 3 PT are required

In Fig 6, bus r is made observable through the observability of bus s. So, the observability of
bus r required the availability of PMU at bus s, its corresponding communication link,
corresponding voltage measurement, current measurement of line rs, and the line rs itself.
Hence,

POr=Ars=𝐴 ∗𝐴 ∗𝐴 ∗𝐴 ∗𝐴 (4.4)

𝐴 is the availability of the transmission line between bus r and s. The availability of
voltage measurement at bus s is formulated as:

𝐴 = (𝐴 ) ; where 3 CT are required

Here, buses r and s are made observable by only one PMU. However, in terms of WAMS, a
bus may also be made observable by other PMUs (i.e., measurement redundancy). These
measurements are independent since they do not include a common device whose failure
would cause other measurements to be unavailable. One measurement is enough for the
observability of each network bus. So, other measurements represent a parallel system from
the probability viewpoint .For the case of without zero-injection buses or conventional
measurements, the probability of observability is defined as:-

𝑃𝑂 = 1 − ∏ ∈ (1 − 𝑢 𝐴 ) (4.5)

where uj is determined by the PMU placement and Aij is a constant value defined as:

Aij=𝐴 ∗𝐴 ∗𝐴 ∗𝐴 ∗𝐴

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This term is zero when there is no transmission link between i and j bus.

4.1.3.2 With Zero Injection Buses

Zero Injection buses have been discussed earlier. For understanding Probabilistic Approach
on system involving Zero Injection buses, assume that bus s is Zero Injection bus and PMU is
installed on bus t in Figure 6. PMU installed at bus t made buses t, s and q observable directly
but buses r and p are made observable using Zero Injection effect of bus s. Here PO for buses
t, s and q is calculated in the same way. But PO for the buses r and p is calculated using cut
set method. According to this method, the Probability of failure is calculated and it is
subtracted from one to obtain PO at given buses. Therefore,
𝑃𝑂 = 1 − (1 − 𝐴 ) + (1 − 𝐴 )−∑ , , 𝐴 (1 − 𝑃𝑂 ) (4.6)

In above Section, a probabilistic approach is suggested to distinguish among different optimal

combinations. The average function discussed above is employed to set APO between zero
and one. This feature is used to produce all the optimal solutions. This index is computed for
such solution and the placement solution with the largest APO is the final solution.
Accordingly, a system-wide index is defined in,

𝐴𝑃𝑂 = ∑ ∈ 𝑃𝑂 (4.7)

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 CHAPTER 5: APPLICATIONS & LIMITATIONS

Phasor measurement unit encompasses high potential to be effectively utilized by the power
system utilities to advance the overall existing technology. Considering its accuracy and
speed in the measurement of the phasors and other parameters, it will materialize as a
fundamental component in smart grids. A survey on its applications is presented below-

5.1 EARLY APPLICATIONS

During early times at the introduction of commercial PMUs, due to low availability and high
cost of communication channels, post-event monitoring were the only application of PMUs.
At this stage they were essentially used as digital system disturbance recorders. The
frequency and Phasor measurement data provided by PMUs showed interesting informations
and expanded their application scope in the power system.

5.2 STATE ESTIMATION

Voltage and phase angles at different buses describe the state of the system. Usually in the
traditional state estimation, the line flow measurements of real and reactive power were used
to estimate the voltage and phase angle at all the buses in the system. In other words, the state
of the system was just inferred from the unsynchronized power flow measurement. But with
the advent of PMU, ‘state measurement’ instead of ‘state estimation’, is made possible. In
other words, state of the system is obtained through direct measurements from PMUs rather
than estimating from various available data in the system.

5.3 POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION

Synchronized phasor measurements helps in advancing the power system protection

techniques. PMUs enable the early fault detection in the system, allowing for the quick
isolation of the faulted segment preventing the power outages. Synchronised phasor
measurement provides us with time track of the state variables and several of their derivatives
over an observational interval, so it makes simpler to predict the instabilities or outcome of a
power swing or transients or any other disturbance using relatively good and simplified
models. With these predictions, appropriate protection decisions can be taken by the operator.
This leads to the concept of adaptive relaying, where the protection functions changes

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according to the changing power system conditions. Time tracking and prediction of state
variables is pictured in fig.5.1.

Fig.5.1 : Time tracking and prediction of state variables

5.4 POWER SYSTEM CONTROL

Power system control elements such as Facts devices, generation excitation systems, etc..
uses a local feedback to achieve control objective. But often the control objective is based on
remote occurrence. During such operations mathematical model based calculations are used
in the control functions. To the extent that the assumed model is not valid under the
prevailing conditions, control function may not be effective.

With synchronous phasor measurements, it is possible for direct feedback of system

parameters from remote locations to the controllers. Experience shows that improved control
performance is achieved with PMUs based controllers, than the model based controllers. Also
the frequency data are representative of the transient stability, electromechanical oscillation
and certain overload phenomenon, which certainly helps in advanced control of power
system.

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PMUs enable wide area measurement, protection and control in the whole area of regional
transmission networks and local distribution grids. Power quality can be increased by precise
analysis and automated correction of power sources based on the feedback from the PMUs.
Various applications of PMU are detailed in [17],[18],[19].

5.5 RELIABILITY ISSUES IN PMU

The problems associated with PMUs include clocking system failures and inaccuracies,
communication channel problems, instrument transformer problems, filter instabilities and
inaccuracies, calibration errors, component failures, software errors, etc.. These problems
affect the phasor measurement applications of monitoring, controlling and protecting power
system. The reliability of the PMUs must be ensured for its effective application in the power
system.

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 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

Indian power grid has come a long way since independence and the establishment of a
national grid will be a major boost to the power network of the country. However still there
are major issues like gap in demand and supply, high level of losses, untapped enormous
renewable energy potential and lack of automation. These issues need to be addressed to
supply the energy needs of a growing economy in a better way. Smart grid and its allied
technologies may be utilized to improve the power scenario in the country.

This report discussed one such technology, the synchronized phasor measurement, to make
the Indian grid smart. The application areas discussed are not restrictive and successful
application of the technology in these areas would open gates to many other possible uses. It
is expected that the deployment of PMUs in the Indian grid will continue at an accelerated
pace to realize a smarter national grid.

This report presented a brief review on the Phasor measurement unit and its application in the
power system. For detailed analysis, appropriate references were cited. Currently, researches
are carried out in integrating more functional components into the existing PMU and extend
its application capabilities in the power system. Also, a number of pilot projects are being
carried out in many countries and utilities to install PMUs and analyze its possible advantages
in their existing systems.

There is no exaggeration in saying that PMU is one of those technologies which has
revolutionized the way of power system operation in the recent decades. PMU proves to be a
promising component for the Smart girds for its advanced measurement, monitoring, control,
protection, reliability and automated decision supporting objectives. In the coming years, we
can witness the extensive use of PMU world over.

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REFERENCES

[1] A.G.Phadke and J.S.Thorp,“Synchronized Phasor Measurements and Their Applications”,

New York: Springer, 2008.

[2] A.G.Phadke, “Synchronized phasor measurements-a historical overview”, Transmission

and Distribution Conference and Exhibition, 2002: Asia Pacific. IEEE/PES, Volume: 1,
Publication Year: 2002 , Page(s): 476 – 479.

[3] Bindeshwar Singh, N.K. Sharma, A.N. Tiwari, K.S. Verma, and S.N.Singh, “Applications
of phasor measurement units (PMUs) in electric power system networks incorporated with
FACTS controllers”,

[4] International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2011, pp.
64-82

[5] Phadke, A.G., “Synchronized phasor measurements in power systems”, Computer

Applications in Power, IEEE, Volume:6 , Issue: 2, Year:1993.

[6] Paolo Walter Cattaneo, “The anti-aliasing requirements for amplitude measurements in
sampled systems”, Elesvier – ‘Nuclear instrumentationand methods in physics research
section A: Accelerators, spectrometer, detectors and assoiciated equipment’, Volume:481,
Issue:1-3, Year:2002, page: 632-636.

[7] Paolo Walter Cattaneo,“The anti-aliasing requirements for area and timing measurements
in sampled systems”, Elesvier - ‘Signal processing’, Volume:82, Issue:3, Year:2002, page:
407-416.

[8] Bernard J. New ,“Anti-aliasing filter with automatic cutoff frequency adaptation”, US
patent, Publication number: US 6492922 B1,Publication type: grant, Publication date: dec 10,
2002

[9] Lassiter E.M. , “Navstar Global Positioning System: A Satellite Based Microwave
Navigation System”, Microwave Symposium, 1975 IEEEMTT-S International.

[10] McAleer, Harold T., “A New Look at the Phase-Locked Oscillator”, Proceedings of the
IRE, Volume: 47 , Issue: 6, Publication Year: 1959

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[11] Martin, K.E. ; Hamai, D. ; Adamiak, M.G. and others, “Exploring the IEEE Standard
C37.118–2005 Synchrophasors for Power Systems”, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery,Volume: 23 , Issue: 4, Publication Year: 2008

[12] Phadke, A.G. ; Thorp, J.S. ; Adamiak, M.G. ,“A New Measurement Technique for
Tracking Voltage Phasors, Local System Frequency, and Rate of Change of Frequency”,
Volume: PER-3 , Issue: 5, Publication Year: 1983

[13] Hema A. Retty, “Evaluation and Standardizing of Phasor DataConcentrators”, Thesis

submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, April,
2013

[14] Jian-ming Wang, Li Chuandong, Jian Zhang, “Optimal Phasor Measurement Unit
Placement by an Improved PSO Algorithm”, Power and Energy Engineering Conference
(APPEEC), 2012, Asia-Pacific, PublicationYear:2012,Page(s):1-4.

[15] Baldwin.T.L, Mili.L, Boisen.M.B.Jr, Adapa.R, “Power system observability with

minimal phasor measurement placement”, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Volume 8,
Issue 2, 1993

[16] Chakrabarti.S, Kyriakides.E, “Optimal Placement of Phasor measurement Units for

Power System Observability”, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Volume 23, Issue 3,
2008

[17] Nuqui.R.F., Phadke. A.G., “Phasor measurement unit placement techniques for complete
and incomplete observability”, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Volume 20, issue 4,
2005.

[18] Phadke. A.G, Pickett. B, Adamiak.M, Begovic.M, Benmouyal, “ Synchronized sampling

and phasor measurements for relaying and control”, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery,
Volume 9, issue 1, 1994

[19] De La Ree.J, Centeno.V, Thorp.J.S, Phadke.A.G, “Synchronized Phasor Measurement

Applications in Power Systems”, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Volume 1, issue 1, 2010

[20] Hassan Khorashadi Zadeh, Zuyi Li, “Phasor measurement unit based transmission line
protection scheme design”, Electric Power Systems Research, Volume 81, issue 2, 2011

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APPENDIX

[A]Section 7.8 IEEE Code of Ethics

We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance of our technologies in
affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in accepting a personal obligation to
our profession, its members and the communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves to
the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree:

(i)to accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety, health, and
welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the
environment;

(ii) to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them
to affected parties when they do exist;

(iii) to be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data;

(iv) to reject bribery in all its forms;

(v) to improve the understanding of technology; its appropriate application, and potential
consequences;

(vi) to maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake technological
tasks for others only if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent
limitations;

(vii) to seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, to acknowledge and
correct errors, and to credit properly the contributions of others;

(viii) to treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion, gender,
disability, age, or national origin;

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 (ix) to avoid injuring others, their property,

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