Low cost, flexible, and distribution level universal grid analyser platform: Designs and implementations

Abstract

This study presents the designs and implementations of a distribution level open-universal grid analyser (Open-UGA) platform. The proposed Open-UGA platform consists of distribution-level phasor measurement units (PMUs), a standard signal generator, a router, and a server. Firstly, an overall introduction for the software, hardware, and server architectures of the Open-UGA platform is given. To give a detailed design, the software, hardware, server block diagrams, flowcharts, and printed circuit board photo of the Open-UGA platform are presented in detail. Then, four different types of distribution level PMU algorithms are introduced and implemented in the Open-UGA platform to verify the flexibility and reconfigurability. The flowcharts and functionalities of these four UGAs with different PMU algorithms are given as example implementations. Finally, a performance comparison is conducted with both quantitative and illustrative results.