Genetic algorithms applied to phasor estimation and frequency tracking in PMU development

• Published in: International journal of electrical power & energy systems 2013-01, Vol.44 (1), p.921-929
• Main Authors: Silva, R.P.M., Delbem, A.C.B., Coury, D.V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Discrete fourier transform; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical power engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Genetic algorithms; Hardware; Operation. Load control. Reliability; Optimization; Phase locked-loop; Phasor estimations; Phasor measurement unit; Phasors; Power networks and lines; Tasks; Tracking
• ISSN: 0142-0615; 1879-3517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijepes.2012.07.070

► The paper presents a novel application of genetic algorithms in PMU development. ► The efficiency of genetic algorithms for phasor estimation is highlighted. ► The proposed method (genetic algorithm) is superior to traditional ones. ► The DFT and the PLL algorithms were implemented for comparison purposes. ► The genetic algorithm technique was tested with data from the ATP software. This paper presents an efficient intelligent tool applied to phasor measurements and frequency tracking of fundamental components for PMU application. The estimation task is modeled as an optimization problem in order to use genetic algorithms to search for optimal solutions. Very promising results are presented. This approach is compared to traditional methods considering the IEEE C37.118 standard and the results show that this intelligent tool offers better performance, especially during transient events, considering traditional methods. The proposed approach is implemented in hardware using FPGAs to take advantage of the intrinsic parallelism of genetic algorithms, making it applicable to real-time estimations.