A Localized Synchrophasor Measurement System
Power (Qing) Zhao Christopher Weldy David Bogen
ONCOR
Dallas, Texas USA
Abstract—A localized solution is proposed to deploy a
synchrophasor measurement system for real-time production at
ONCOR. This solution is designed with the consideration of the
evolution towards the smart digital substation.
Index Terms — Synchrophasor Measurement Unit (PMU),
Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC), Smart Substation
I. INTRODUCTION
In the past two decades, tremendous changes, from
deregulation to smart grid, happened in the power industry.
With the expanded grid size, increased utilization of
renewable energy, and complex grid operation conditions, the
conventional power grid control is facing the most severe
challenge in history. The 2003 blackout in nine northeastern
and midwestern states and one Canadian province [1] proved
it. A transformation is occurring in power system control.
As a result of the 2003 blackout, the US-Canada Power
System Outage Task Force recommended evaluation and
adoption of better real-time tools for operations and use of
time-synchronized data in wide-area situational awareness [1].
Stimulated by the U.S. Department of Energy's Smart Grid
Investment Grant (SGIG) and the Center for the
Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET)
programs in 2009, PMU systems were widely deployed by
Transmission Service Providers (TSPs) and ISOs/RTOs
across U.S. [2].
After years of investment and endeavor, the pilot PMU
projects in many regions are under engineering evaluation for
moving into real-time production. However, concerns for the
technical aspects and the economic expenses have been
expressed. Questions such as “how reliable are the
measurements for a robust production implementation?”,
“how many more PMUs need to be installed?”, and “how
much more investment is needed?” have been raised.
This paper focuses on resolving the measurement quality
issue, without significant additional investments when
installing additional PMUs and upgrading the
telecommunication networks. A distributed PMU-based state
estimator is running on the PC-based station PDCs to provide
the corporate PDC with the best estimations for the
monitoring parameters in the transmission grid. Meanwhile,
the deployment of this localized PMU system is an
intermediate step towards the smart digital substation.
978-1-4799-6415-4/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
II. STATUS OF ONCOR PMU SYSTEM
IMPLEMENTATION
A. PMU Hardware System
ONCOR commenced a joint synchrophasor demonstration
project with ERCOT and other TSPs in 2010. At this writing,
ONCOR’s PMU system is available for engineering
evaluation. It consists of the following hardware components:
 17 SEL-421 PMUs installed at 13 345KV and 138KV
substations.
 1 corporate PDC that collects measurements from all the
PMUs and sends data to ERCOT region PDC with
continuous streaming at 30 samples/second rate.
 1 Data Achiever (DA) that stores data for the latest 7
days.
Moreover, the measurements from 65 PMU-enabled IEDs
(P-IEDs) are available through RTU telecommunications
system at a slow speed.
B. PMU Application Tools
The software application tools from Electric Power Group
(EPG) were selected by ERCOT and are under engineering
evaluation at ONCOR. This software package has both a Real
Time Dynamics Monitoring System (RTDMS) for real-time
monitoring and a Phasor Grid Dynamics Analyzer (PGDA)
for off-line studies [3].
The basic requirement for the real-time applications is to
provide operators an early warning through monitoring.
These requirements include wide area situational awareness,
grid stress, voltage instability, and reliability margin.
Meanwhile, the key feature for the off-line studies is to
provide the engineers a user friendly platform to perform
event analysis more efficiently on: event and disturbance,
dynamic model validation, and dynamic stability and
damping analysis.
C. Challenges to Real-time Production Utilization
Engineering evaluations are being carried out through the
selected application software on the installed PMU hardware
system at ONCOR. However, there is a big gap between the
current system and the ultimate real-time production system B. A System Architecture
because of the following major concerns: The multi-layer PDC architecture defined in IEEE
 Measurement quality for real-time applications includes standard [4] is adopted as shown in Figure 1, which consists of
the stringent specification for a few parameters (such as three layers of PDCs in a region:
Total Vector Error, Rate of Change of Frequency error)  Station PDC (S-PDC): A computer installed at a
with the PMU defined in [4]. However, the PMU is substation to collect, process and store data from
exposed to a noisy electro-magnetic field and a harsh PMUs/P-IEDs as shown in Figure 2.
working environment in a substation. Noise or errors in
the measurements are unavoidable. A detection  Corporate PDC (C-PDC): A computer installed at the
mechanism for bad data is a must, in order to feed transmission operator’s control center to collect, process
application software with credible measurements for and store data from S-PDCs.
reliable results.
 Regional PDC (R-PDC): A computer installed at the
 Thresholds definition for real-time monitoring for both ISO’s or RTO’s control center to collect, process and
applications and parameters are well-defined. However, it store data from C-PDCs.
is extremely difficult to define these thresholds due to
dynamic power system operating conditions. In
contemporary power systems, the unpredictable behavior
of the renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar),
and the power market auctions, have caused a greater
uncertainty for power grid operation.
 High speed telecommunication connections have been
upgraded to support the existing PMU system. However
the current level of reliability, redundancy and cyber-
security needs to be enhanced to achieve a robust
production environment.

III. A PROPOSAL OF LOCALIZED PMU SYSTEM

Figure1. Multiple Layers of PDCs

A. A Localized PMU System

This paper is focused on resolving the measurement Each PDC has its own Data Achiever to back up the data
quality issue. The most effective way to solve this problem is for a certain period of time for potential event replay. The
to initiate a system with algorithms for the detection of bad station PDC stores a large quantity of real-time measurements
data. The detection of bad data, a function of the state from the PMUs/P-IEDs. The corporate PDCs and the region
estimator, provides the best estimation of power grid status PDCs store the data received from the PDCs in the next layer
based on measurements with sufficient redundancy and below them. Due to the massive quantity of data, the historic
known grid topology and parameters. data are stored at the corporate internal data warehouse in this
proposal. However, Cloud storage [5] is worth investigating as
A centralized state estimator can be running at the
technology evolves. The CIP standard must to be strictly
corporate and the regional control center to minimize
honored.
measurement noise or error. However, it necessitates the
installation of more PMUs to provide sufficient measurement
redundancy, which further requires a tremendous investment
to upgrade telecommunication networks.
A distributed state estimator can achieve the same goal,
and will be examined in this solution. The measurement
redundancy is obtained through the PMUs/P-IEDs in the local
station and/or neighboring stations. As a result, the overall
PMU system only requires a small quantity of PMUs to be
installed at the locations being monitored. Meanwhile,
because of the improved intelligence in the substations, it will
be easier to evolve these substations to smart digital
substations.

Figure 2. Station PMU System

 In this architecture, a PMU registry is defined and installed
in a corporate PMU system to manage the information of the
PMUs/P-IEDs. The Station PDC retrieves the correct
parameters for a PMU/P-IED based on its PMU_ID when
processing its measurements.
Telecommunication among the PDCs follows the standard
chosen in the region (e.g. NASPINet[2]). However,
communication between the station PDC and PMUs/P-IEDs is
ad hoc, which depends on the available communication media
but follows the corporate smart substation strategy.
C. PMU, PMU-Enabled IED and PMU Registry
The fundamental requirement for a PMU is to provide
digitized, time-synchronized power system signals (voltage,
current, and logic status). However, the tight specification for
a PMU [4] attempts to guarantee the measurement accuracy
for the overall system collected by each individual PMU.
Fortunately, the state estimator can detect bad measurements
and provide more accurate estimation from measurements
with errors. This lowers the requirements for the actual PMU
measurements and opens door for a large quantity of IEDs to
be used as PMUs (referred as P-IEDs in this paper). In
ONCOR’s power grid, in addition to the 17 PMUs, there are
hundreds of IEDs with PMU capability (e.g. digital relays,
digital fault recorders, digital meters, etc.)[6].
When selecting the PMU and the P-IED, the following
characteristics need to be taken into account:
 Synchronous time stamp: access to a source of UTC time
synchronization (such as direct GPS signal, IRIG-B input,
and IEEE 1588) [4].
 Data acquisition accuracy and bandwidth: different
PMUs/P-IEDs may have different bandwidth and data
conversion resolution. More information is contained in
the measurements from the PMU/P-IED with greater
bandwidth and/or having better conversion resolution.
 Time latency: for a PMU/P-IED, variations in the
synchronous time stamps may come from each major
building block in the device. This includes the group
delays from analog and digital filters, the timing accuracy
of the sample and hold circuit and the analog to digital
converter, and the time synchronization procession.
Special certification tests [6] and calibration procedures
on time latency are needed.
The PMUs/P-IEDs are characterized and calibrated, then
categorized into different grades. A local PMU registry as
shown in Figure 3 is used to provide the entry for retrieving
the PMU characteristic data when processing its
measurements. This PMU registry consists of the PMU
affiliation, ID and pre-defined design code. A small database
with the PMU design code as the primary key is stored in each
station PDC. This database contains the characteristics data for
each PMU type (such as synchronous clock type, bandwidth,
resolution, filter design co-efficient, etc.).
D. Telecommunications between PDC and PMUs/P-IEDs
Telecommunication requirement for this proposed system
is relatively simple. The communications between the station
PDC and the PMUs/P-IEDs, either inside a substation or
between the neighboring substations, can use many existing
communications methodologies such as optical fiber,
telephone circuits, power line carriers, radio transceivers,
satellite links, etc. [7]. These have already been used for the
pilot PMUs and other communication purposes, which can be
further expanded to facilitate the communications between the
station PDC and the PMUs/P-IEDs. The highest
communication speed available is used to support this
continuous streaming between neighboring substations.
Figure3. PMU Registry and Characteristics Database
E. Functionality of the Station PDC
The station PDC plays the most critical role in this
proposed system. The station PDC collects and processes the
measurements from the PMUs/ P-IEDs at its own substation
and designated neighboring substations. It then sends the
estimation of the monitored parameters, with residuals, to the
corporate PDC in the data frame format defined in [8]. The
preferred inputs to this proposed station PDC are the raw
measurement data acquired from the PMUs/ P-IEDs. The data
are received at a higher data transfer rate than traditional data
sources that may already available or can be fed into the field
“ANALOG” in the PMU data frame [8]. More advanced
digital signal processing techniques [9] can be applied to
process the signals more accurately and extract extra
information for the other power system applications.
Besides the functionality for a PDC as specified in [10],
this station PDC consists of three advanced functions: Smart
Data Aligner, Dynamic State Estimator, and Phasor Re-
Generator.
1) Smart Data Aligner
Due to the variety of characteristics of PMUs/P-IEDs, the
measurements collected by the station PDC may have
different sampling rate, bandwidth, and time latency. It is no
longer a straightforward process to align the data based on
their associated time stamps. A Smart Data Aligner is needed
with the additional capabilities:
 Data rate alignment: digital re-sampling techniques such
as decimation and interpolation [11] can be used to
convert the measured data to the same data rate.
 Bandwidth alignment (optional): digital filters can be
used to align the high bandwidth measurements with low
bandwidth ones, if needed.
 Time latency compensation: group delays and time
variations are compensated.
 Logic device state alignment: logic device states are
aligned to the post processed analog measurements.
 Quality of Measurement (QoM) generation: QoM for
each measurement is generated based on the PMU/P-IED
resolution and characterized accuracy. Normalized QoM
value is used as the initial measurement weight for the
Dynamic State Estimator.
2) Dynamic State Estimator
The Dynamic State Estimator processes the power grid
data for a specified time generated from the Smart Data
Aligner. It processes the network topology, detects bad
measurements and provides the best estimation, with
residuals.
In the conventional state estimator [12], due to the large
scale of the power grid and the limitations of computation and
telecommunication technologies, it is a steady-state single-
phase procedure, with the assumptions of constant frequency
and balanced load. However, the Dynamic State Estimator
running on the station PDC works on a small-scaled power
system. It processes the measurements from the local
substation and a limited number of designated neighboring
substations. It also processes time domain measurements using
a three-phase model.
3) Phasor Re-Generator
The series of estimations for the monitored power system
parameters for each specified time sample is processed to
generate the phasor and frequency information as defined in
[8]. Many types of algorithms have been implemented using
PMU data. The Phasor Re-Generator uses a PC version of one
of these embedded algorithms.
F. Evolution to Smart Substations
1) Moving Toward Smart Substation
With the commercialization of new technologies by the
telecommunication service providers, legacy standards and
systems are being phased out. This has brought challenges to
many TSPs due to significantly reduced communication
services that support their legacy substations. However, these
new communication technologies are also gaining interests
from the power industry. The implementation of high
performance and low cost Ethernet-based digital substation
communication standards (such as IEC-61850, DNP3
Ethernet) is becoming an industry benchmark. The evolution
towards the smart digital substation is ongoing among TSPs.
2) Smart Substation Architecture
A conceptual smart substation architecture is shown in
Figure 4. In this architecture, the station PDC and the IEDs
connect and communicate using the substation Ethernet. The
analog and digital signals from the switch yard are digitized
into time-stamped, synchronized digital data, and are shared
among the IEDs. Using this method, a large number of signal-
carrying cables, dedicated to the IEDs, are eliminated and the
connection inside the substation is much simpler. With the
replacement of the data acquisition module by Ethernet
interface, the design for the IEDs is simplified, and many
IEDs may be replaced by the software IEDs running on the
PC-based station PDC.
In this smart substation, the conventional PMU is replaced
by a set of Synchronous Data Acquisition IEDs (including the
digital CT/PT in the switching yard) and the station PDC. The
state-of-the-art Integrated Circuit (IC) devices allow for a
much higher sampling rate and better performance for the data
acquisition function. More power system dynamic parameters
and harmonics information can be captured and processed in a
digital fashion. Additional advanced monitoring and
controlling tools will be implemented at the smart substation
to improve the power system reliability and the power quality.
Figure 4. A Smart Substation Architecture
3) State-of-the-Art IC Technology for Smart Substation
Innovative devices, from handheld calculators to smart
phones, have been empowered by the IC technologies since
1960s. After the commission of smart grid deployment in
2009, many major semi-conductor corporations established
the smart grid business unit to target this market segment. As
of today, some state-of-the-art IC devices have been defined
and produced for smart substations:
 Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC): 8-channel 18 bits
ADC chips with 200KSPS are available for data
acquisition in energy industry [13][14].
 Embedded Processor: >1GHz multi-core processor with
>3 Ethernet PHY DSP device is available for energy
industry [15].
 Advanced Integration and Packaging Technology: the
integration and packaging technologies are making the
System-on-Chip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP) the
industry direction for simpler end product development.
 The single-chip IED solution is feasible with today’s
semi-conductor technology [16].
With the escalated focus and increased investment on the
emerging smart grid technologies from the semi-conductor
industry, a new era for power system control is approaching.
IV. FUTURE WORKS
A localized PMU solution is proposed for ONCOR that
leverages the recently implemented PMU systems. A
substation-level distributed state estimator is utilized to
provide more credible data to the corporate control center
through the existing telecommunications network. In the
future, additional research needs to be focused on the
following areas:
 The telecommunication scheme for connecting the
PMUs/IEDs from neighboring substations to substation
PDC;
 Digital signal processing algorithms [9][11] for Smart
Data Aligner;
 A distributed time-domain three phase linear state
estimator algorithm [17][18] for Dynamic State
Estimator.
A further research will be continued on evolving to smart
digital substation from this proposed PMU system.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors sincerely appreciate the valuable advice and
strong support from ONCOR management team: Mr. Mark
Carpenter, Mr. Alan Bern, and Mr. William Fuller. The
authors also thank Dr. Xiaochuan Lou at ISO-NE, Dr.
Xiangjun Xu at ERCOT, Mr. Zhenghui Cai at Juniper
Networks and Ms. Joy Ji at Texas Instruments for informative
discussions on PMU, linear state estimator, substation
communications and IC solutions for smart grid applications.
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[12] Ali Abur, “Power System State Estimation: Theory and
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[14] Analog Devices, Energy Solutions,
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BIOGRAPHY
Power (Qing) Zhao (SM’03, M’00) joined Oncor as a senior engineer with
transmission grid operations in 07/2013. Previously, he worked for
Texas Instruments from 12/2000 to 06/2013, where he was the
worldwide engineering operation manager. He received his Ph.D. in
E.E. from Texas A&M University in 2000. During his Ph.D. study, he
had his summer interships as EMS developer at ABB Network
Management in 1998 and 1999. From 02/1995 to 08/1997, he worked
as a section manager with GSM wireless communications infrastructure
for Siemens Mobile Communications Ltd. He is a Registered
Professional Engineer in Texas.
Christopher Weldy (M’09) is currently a senior engineer with Oncor in the
System Planning group. He joined Oncor as an engineering intern in
2007, where he worked until graduation in 2009. Upon graduation he
joined the System Protection group as a Conceptual Design engineer.
He received his BSEE from Texas A&M University in 2009 and is
also a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas.
David Bogen (M’81, S’78) works for Oncor Electric Delivery as a
Transmission and Distribution Manger responsible for System Model.
He is responsible for the network models developed at Oncor the
supports real-time operations and also supports the network modeling
requirements at ERCOT. David also leads Oncor in the implementation
of the CIM standards at Oncor and has been an activate participant in
the CIM community and has participated in the CIM interoperability
testing since 2005. Since 2009 David been active with CCET on the
ERCOT’s DOE Synchrophasor project and has been participating with
the NASPI group representing both ERCOT and Oncor. David
graduated from Kansas State University in 1981 with a BSEE and is
also a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas.