Frequency Monitoring Network for Wide Area Grid Observation
Frequency dynamics is one of the most important parameters of Electrical Power System.System frequency and rate of change of frequency are the performance indicator of Power system reliability and stability.Electrical power system is a large and most complex man-made structure ever.Its load and netw
2025-06-28 16:32:41 - Adil Khan
Frequency Monitoring Network for Wide Area Grid Observation
Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject SummaryFrequency dynamics is one of the most important parameters of Electrical Power System.System frequency and rate of change of frequency are the performance indicator of Power system reliability and stability.Electrical power system is a large and most complex man-made structure ever.Its load and network topography changes in real time,in order to understand its dynamics; Frequency monitoring is needed to give an early alarm of instantaneous frequency fluctuation to the operator.Although protection devices for Power system are available like relays but they operate when the fault is established however change in frequency is a pre-cursor to an intermittent fault therefore large interconnected power systems needs Wide-Area Monitoring System(WAMS) for which generally PMU’s are used. However PMU design and testing is a technical challenge that requires well-established metrology labs therefore methods which use PMU’s are replaced by an Internet-based GPS Synchronized Wide-Area Frequency Monitoring Network(FNET) which is low in cost and has high accuracy.In this project we aim to take a glimpse of WAMS by measuring only frequency and RoCoF at various nodes on a grid.This would require establishing a robust method of frequency and RoCoF calculations and transmitting the data from various nodes to a central data concentrator and finally visualizing the results for meaning full interpretations.
Project ObjectivesObjective 1: Devising a Frequency Estimation algorithm that gives Robust values of Frequency and Rate of change of Frequency as per IEEE guidelines(C37.118.1).
Objective 2 : Implementing Frequency Estimation on a sample by sample basis of utilizing speed Micro Controllers (ESP32/APMCortexM3).
Objective 3: Establishing WIFI based Communication between frequency measurement node and Central Data Concentrator.
Objective 4: Creating a simple wed interface for visualizing stored as well as Real time Data utilizing front-end and server side programming.
Project Implementation MethodTask 1: Propose Frequency estimation algorithm (that gives almost accurate values of frequency and rocof) Task 2: Learn about implementation of micro-controllers (ESP32/ARM Cortex M3)
Task 3: Use microcontrollers to implement frequency estimation algorithm
Task 4: Transmit data to central data concentrator from local nodes (nodes at which frequency is measured) through WIFI based communication.
Task 5: Learn server side programming
Task 6: Visualize any kind of data(real/stored) by creating web interface utilizing front-end server-side programming.
Task 7: Report Writing
For managing our project, we have divided it in 5 parts. In the first step, we will have to write an efficient and accurate algorithm that can measure frequency and rate of change of frequency on 5 local nodes using IEEE Guidelines (C37.118.1).After that in step 2 we will have to implement it using high speed microcontrollers then in the third step communication between the center unit and local nodes will be established. In step 4 data will be visualized (through graphs) with the help of web interfacing for interpretation and finally we will write report in the last 45 days.By completing every step individually we can achieve our all objectives that will help researchers as well as power utilities and we would say that this FNET system will become most common and accurate frequency monitoring network.
Benefits of the ProjectBeneficiaries
- Researchers: Researchers can use this platform to do advance researches.
- Power Utilities: Power Utilities can use this platform to observe their stability and reliability in real time operations.
Applications and Benefits:
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The wide area frequency measurement will provide firsthand information to study the system response due to events such as generator tripping.
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Frequency information can help determine real time transmission limits and available transmission capacity.
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The time synchronized frequency information is useful in post-mortem analysis of system disturbances, it can also be used to track down the origination of system blackout.
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Many power system protection and control applications e.g, load shedding, load-frequency controller, require accurate and fast estimation of the system frequency.
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The online real time frequency data can be used for automatic generation control (AGC).
The effort is to create an extremely low cost and quickly deployable wide-area frequency measurement system with high dynamic accuracy and that requires a minimal installation cost. All these features are possible in FNET due to the fact that the power system frequency can be accurately measured and is global positioning system (GPS) synchronized.
By using FNET/GridEye, we will be able to study the power system, including:
Event detection and location
Detection of system breakup or islanding
Providing grid control input signals
Prediction of grid instability and reduction of blackouts
Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry Energy Other Industries Education , Telecommunication Core Technology OthersOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and CommunitiesRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 80000 | |||
| ESP32/ARM Cortex M3 | Equipment | 4 | 3000 | 12000 |
| Real Time Clock IC | Equipment | 6 | 500 | 3000 |
| GPS cum GSM module with Antenna | Equipment | 5 | 3000 | 15000 |
| Graphic LCD(2 inches) | Equipment | 5 | 1000 | 5000 |
| WIFI module (ESP 8266-12) | Equipment | 6 | 500 | 3000 |
| Power supply for Node | Equipment | 5 | 500 | 2500 |
| Raspberry Pi Module(3) | Equipment | 3 | 7000 | 21000 |
| Instrumentation Transformer For voltage | Equipment | 5 | 500 | 2500 |
| Fabrication and Enclosure | Equipment | 3 | 2000 | 6000 |
| Miscellaneous Electronic Components | Miscellaneous | 2 | 5000 | 10000 |