A New Half-Cycle Adaptive Phasor Estimator Immune to the Decaying
DC Component for Digital Protective Relaying
Eugeniusz Rosolowski Jan Izykowski
Senior Member, IEEE Member, IEEE
Wroclaw University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering
Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, POLAND
Abstract—The paper presents a new half-cycle adaptive phasor es-
timation algorithm for digital protective relaying. The algorithm is
immune to an exponentially decaying dc component regardless of its
initial magnitude and time constant. The algorithm is intended for
current signals and improves both the magnitude and impedance
measurements. The new measuring technique is based on the recur-
sive half-cycle Fourier filter with a separate adaptive function al-
lowing for thorough rejection of an aperiodic signal component.
Analysis of the algorithm’s performance, both analytical and by
simulation, is included. The presented algorithm outperforms the
classical mimic filtering broadly used in today's relays.
Keywords: numerical relaying, dc offset rejection,
phasor estimation, half-cycle algorithm.
I. INTRODUCTION
As the vast majority of digital protective relays are still
found on phasors, the issue of phasor estimation is probably
the single most investigated and documented subject in re-
search on digital relaying [1,2]. Digital phasor estimators are
designed to meet several contradictory requirements, namely
to be fast, immune to frequency excursions, and insensitive to
signal pollution including harmonics, subharmonics, high fre-
quency oscillations, noise and decaying dc components [1].
This paper focuses on the last issue.
Fault currents can contain the exponentially decaying dc
offset with the unpredictable initial magnitude and unknown
time constant. The variable nature of the magnitude and time
constant is due to both the fault resistance and fault incipience
angle being random factors.
The decaying dc offset in a fault current can result in near
twenty percent overshoot in the estimated magnitude if the
full-cycle Fourier algorithm is applied, and in much higher er-
rors if the half-cycle method is used. This would necessitate
users to apply comparatively large security margins when set-
ting fast digital relays.
Generally, the phasor estimators can be easily designed to
remove the pre-defined dc component [1]. The problem
arises, however, when the time constant of the dc component
Bogdan Kasztenny
Senior Member, IEEE
GE Power Management
Markham, ON L6E 1B3, CANADA
is not known. Several approaches have been put forward so
far to minimize the influence of the decaying dc component
on phasor estimation.
The most practical solution merges a digital mimic filter
with any robust phasor estimator such as the full-cycle Fou-
rier algorithm. The digital mimic filter reproduces numeri-
cally its analog counterpart historically applied in line relays
[1]. The original mimic circuit is a differentiating element,
and therefore, its digital replica is a high-pass digital filter [3].
This, in turn, results in worsened frequency characteristic of
the resulting phasor estimator, especially if the half-cycle al-
gorithm is used for phasor estimation. Robustness to the ac-
tual (random) value of the time constant is a strong advantage
of the digital mimic filter.
The other approach is to include the exponentially decaying
dc component into the signal model and apply certain curve
fitting techniques to design a phasor estimator. Usually, the dc
offset is treated as a noise, represented by either deterministic
or probabilistic characteristics, rather than parameter to be
fitted [4]. Several peculiar estimators originate from this gen-
eral approach:
• Linear estimators when applied to suppress the dc com-
ponent have to deal with the non-linear function of the
signal model of the dc component. This is achieved using
first few terms of the Taylor series of the exponential
function [2].
• Least Error Squares (LES) technique conceives non-
recursive [5] or recursive [6,7] estimators. The latter can
be modified by introducing resetting or forgetting factors
[4] for better absorption of non-harmonic frequencies in-
cluding the decaying dc component.
• Application of the state-variable model initiates estima-
tors in the form of a state observer [8,9] or a Kalman fil-
ter [10]. The requirement for the a priori noise charac-
teristics is the key weakness of the latter measuring tech-
nique.
Yet another, numerically simpler, approach to the issue of
the decaying dc component is to apply a cosine filter for esti-
mating both the direct (cosine filter) and quadrature (cosine
filter delayed by one-fourth of a cycle) orthogonal compo-
nents [3,11]. This method, however, has poor frequency re-
sponse when applied in conjunction with a data window
shorter than full-cycle.
Recently, two new methods for suppressing the dc compo-
nent have been published [12]. They probably could also be
applied with the half-cycle data window, however, the authors
of [12] do not publish any practical considerations.
The aforementioned methods, although improve the meas-
urement, do not reject the dc component entirely.
 The new algorithm is based on the weighting LES tech-
nique appropriately applied to the three-state signal model
with a half-cycle data window. The new estimator has the
form of the regular recursive half-cycle Fourier filter with an
additional adaptive correction for the decaying dc component.
The fundamental advantage of our algorithm is that it re-
moves the decaying dc offset thoroughly regardless of its time
constant and the initial magnitude.
The paper begins with traditional LES technique (section
II), describes the new algorithm (section III), and finally pres-
ents an EMTP-based [13] analysis of the new measuring
technique (section IV).
II. CLASSICAL LEAST ERROR SQUARES ALGORITHM
For all further considerations let us assume the following
signal model:
K constant τ , and therefore, cannot be used directly in digital
y (t ) = Y0 exp(−t / τ ) + ∑ Ym cos(mω1t − ϕ m )
m =1
where:
Y0, τ magnitude and time constant of the decaying
dc component, respectively,
K number of considered harmonics,
ω1 =
2π radial system frequency,
T1
T1 period of the fundamental frequency,
ϕ m , Y m initial phase angle and magnitude of the m-th
harmonic.
A. The non-recursive LES algorithm
To estimate the phasor out of M consecutive samples of the
signal (1) one can use the three-state LES algorithm with the
signal model matrix H(k ) composed from the following
rows:
h(k − j )= [hc (k − j ), hs ( k − j ), h0 ( M − j − 1) ], j = 0..M − 1 (2a)
hc (k − j ) = cos(a(k − j )) , hs (k − j ) = sin (a (k − j ))
h ( M − j − 1) = exp(b( M − j − 1) ) (2c)
0 urement process for reproducing adequate features inherent in
2π T the signal model matrix H (k ) . When using (7)-(8), there is
where: a = , b=− 1 ,
N Nτ
N number of samples per cycle,
k sample index.
Consider the half-cycle (M = N/2) standard LES algorithm
based on the signal model matrix (2) with the time constant τ
known. The vector of estimates is updated at every sampling
instant using the following fundamental equation [1,2]:
X(k) = P(k)H T(k)Y(k)
where the covariance matrix P = H T(k)H(k) ( )
-1
and Y(k) = [ y (k − M + 1), y (k − M + 2), .. , y (k )] T (4b)
X(k) = [xc (k ), x s (k ), x0 (k )]T
while the superscript T stands for matrix transposition.
Due to the presence of the exponentially decaying dc com-
ponent in the signal model (2), the matrix P (k ) in (3) is a full
matrix with off-diagonal elements depending on the exponen-
tial function. As a consequence, the filters of the resulting
non-recursive estimator have non-regular coefficients and,
unlike the standard full- or half-cycle Fourier algorithms, they
cannot be reduced to a simple recursive form.
Practically, only the two variables xc and xs are to be de-
termined by (3) as they form the estimated phasor:
X (k ) =
1
(xc (k ) − jxs (k )) (5)
2
The algorithm (3) rejects a dc component perfectly as long
as the input signal matches the assumed signal model (1). The
standard LES algorithm is, however, very sensitive to the time
(1) relaying [3]. It is worth noticing that the half-cycle estimator
(3) rejects only odd harmonics from the input signal (1).
B. The weighting LES algorithm
Let us consider a weighting LES algorithm in the following
form:
( )
-1
X(k) = H T(k)G(k)H(k) H T(k)G(k)Y(k) (6)
where G(k ) is a M × M weighting matrix.
Traditionally, in order to determine the optimal weighting
matrix, the probabilistic characteristics of the measurement
errors are required [1]. Those characteristics are seldom
available, but the weighting matrix can be considered as a
formal tool for arbitrary modification of the standard LES al-
gorithm. For this purpose, (6) needs to be re-written as:
X(k) = PG(k)HTG(k)Y(k) (7)
where: (
PG(k) = HTG(k)H(k) )
−1
(8a)
(2b)
HTG = HT (k)G(k) (8b)
The matrix H G (k ) represents a pattern used in the meas-
no need to find a physical meaning of the weighting matrix
G (k ) because the measurement matrix H G (k ) has its origi-
nal significance. Thus, the measurement matrix is selected to
ensure adequate simplification of the final estimator.
Let us consider the measurement matrix H G (k ) formed
from the following rows (compare with (2)):
hG (k − j)=[hr (k − j), hi (k − j), h0 ( M − j − 1) ], j = 0..M − 1 (9a)
(3) hr (k − j ) = cos(a (k − j )) − d c (k ) (9b)
(4a) hi (k − j ) = sin (a (k − j )) − d s (k ) (9c)
It is worth emphasizing that the matrix H G (k ) is obtained
according to (9) by adequate modification of the original sig-
nal model matrix H (k ) (2). For this operation the weighting
(4c) matrix G (k ) is not necessary. Instead, the adequate values of
the coefficients d c and d s need to be determined. These co-
efficients could be chosen based on the assumption that the d c (k ) = p s sin( ak ) + p c cos(ak )
final estimators for the orthogonal components are not sensi- (15)
tive to the unknown decaying dc component. For the meas- d s (k ) = p c sin( ak ) − p s cos(ak )
urement model (9), the estimator is determined as in (7) with where:
the covariance matrix (8a).
pc = g ⋅ ( r − cos a )
Note that the functions d c and d s in (9) are fixed in the (16a)
signal data window. p s = g ⋅ sin a
When designing the estimator (7), it is justified to state the
following two requirements for these two functions:
g=
(1 + r )(1 − r )
M

(1 − r )((cos a − r ) + sin a )
• the covariance matrix PG(k) of the final algorithm should M 2 2
(16b)
be maximally reduced in size and simplified in form (pref-
r = exp(b )
erably diagonal);
(16c)
• the functions d c and d s should be easy to determine from
the dc component of the input signal. From (15)-(16) it is obvious that the obtained functions d c
The first requirement is aimed at achieving the simplest and d s are directly related to the time constant of the dc
form of the final measuring algorithm. Actually, it is enough component. This is in accord with the second postulated con-
to impose this requirement only on the first two rows of the dition.
matrix PG (k) related to the estimated orthogonal components.
The elements of PG (k) can be easily analyzed from the in- C. The simplified algorithm
verted form: Initially, let us assume that the time constant of the dc com-
{ }
PG−1 = qij = H TG (k)H(k) , i, j = 1.. 3 (10) ponent is known. Consequently, the value of r in (16) is also
known and it is possible to determine the matrix PS (k) in
Imposing the following condition: (12). The four coefficients of the inverted matrix (12) are de-
fined as follows:
q1,3 = q 2,3 = 0 (11)
M −1
q11 = ∑ (cos(a (k − j ) ) − d c (k ) ) cos(a (k − j ) ) (17a)
j =0
the first two rows of the matrix (10) can be reduced to the
following 2x2 sub-matrix: M −1
q12 = ∑ (cos(a ( k − j ) ) − d c (k ) )sin (a ( k − j ) ) (17b)
{ }
PS−1 = q ij , i, j = 1.. 2 (12) j =0

M −1
The elements of PS (k) are independent from the third row of q 21 = ∑ (sin (a ( k − j ) ) − d s (k ) ) cos(a ( k − j ) ) (17c)
the matrix (10). Therefore, the algorithm (7) under the condi- j =0
tion (11) is reduced to estimation only two of the orthogonal
M −1
∑ (sin (a ( k − j ) ) − d s ( k ) )sin (a ( k − j ) )
components. q 22 = (17d)
The conditions (11) define the way for obtaining the coeffi- j =0
cients dc and ds, Substituting (2) and (9) into (10) yields the It should be noted that the above coefficients change with
following set of equations: time. Assuming the half-cycle window ( M = N / 2 ) we ob-
M −1 tain:
q13 = ∑ (cos(a (k − j ) ) − d c (k ) )exp(b( M − j − 1) ) = 0 (13a)
j =0 N sin( ak + a / 2)
q11 ( k ) = − d c (k ) (18a)
M −1 4 sin a / 2
q 23 = ∑ (sin (a (k − j ) ) − d s (k ) )exp(b( M − j − 1) ) = 0 (13b)
cos(ak + a / 2)
j =0 q12 ( k ) = d c ( k ) (18b)
sin a / 2
The functions d c and d s are determined from the condi-
tions (13) as follows: N cos(ak + a / 2)
q 22 ( k ) = + d s (k ) (18c)
M −1
4 sin a / 2
∑ cos(a ( k − j ) )exp(b( M − j − 1) ) sin( ak + a / 2)
d c (k ) =
j =0
(14a) q 21 (k ) = − d s ( k ) (18d)
M −1 sin a / 2
∑ exp(b( M − j − 1) ) From the coefficients (18) we can determine the matrix
j =0
PS (k) . The final algorithm is in the form of (7) reduced to the
M −1
∑ sin (a ( k − j ) )exp(b( M − j − 1) ) two rows (matrix PG (k) is replaced by PS (k) )
j =0
d s (k ) = M −1
(14b) X S (k) = PS (k)H TS (k)Y(k) (19)
∑ exp(b( M − j − 1) )
j =0 where [
X S (k) = x p (k ), x q ( k ) ]
T

Simplifying we obtain:
and rows of H S are as in (9) but reduced to first two col- The estimator (23)-(25) can be re-written in the convenient
umns. recursive form:
From (19) we derive the algorithm for phasor estimation as x c (k ) = x c ( k − 1) + x Σ (k )h c ( k )
follows: (26)
x p ( k ) = p11 ( k ) x r ( k ) + p12 ( k ) x i ( k ) x s ( k ) = x s ( k − 1) + x Σ ( k )h s ( k )
(20)
x q ( k ) = p 21 (k ) x r ( k ) + p 22 ( k ) x i (k ) where: x Σ (k ) = y ( k ) + y ( k − M ) , and (27)
where:
M −1 x d ( k ) = x d ( k − 1) + x ∆ ( k ) (28)
x r (k ) = ∑ hr ( k − j ) y ( k − j ) (21a)
j =0 where: x ∆ (k ) = y ( k ) − y ( k − M ) (29)
M −1
The algorithm in its non-recursive (23)-(25) and recursive
xi (k ) = ∑ hi ( k − j ) y ( k − j ) (21b)
(26)-(29) forms still requires the time constant of the decay-
j =0
ing dc component τ to be known a priori. However, the cor-
{ } { }
PS = pij = qij
−1
, i, j = 1.. 2 (21c) relation function is now separated into two operations ena-
bling easy modifications of this estimator. Particularly, this
The coefficients p ij can be obtained by matrix inversion as form of the estimator allows for extracting the value of τ in
in (21c). However, it is convenient to derive their analytical course of the phasor estimation.
form. Substituting (18) into (21c) yields: Taking the above into consideration let us revisit the rela-
q (k ) − q (k ) tions (15) and (16).
p11 ( k ) = 22 , p12 (k ) = 12 ,
d d A. Estimation of the dc component
− q (k ) q (k )
p 21 ( k ) = 12 , p 22 ( k ) = 11 , (22) The parameter r can be estimated from the measurements
d d as explained below.
N N  Consider the half-cycle Walsh algorithm applied in the re-
where d=  − g ⋅ ( r + 1)  . cursive form for transformation of the input signal y (k ) :
44 
The output phasor is now determined by the orthogonal com- x w (k ) = x w ( k − 1) + wal 2 ( k ) x Σ ( k ) (30)
ponents x p (k ) , x q (k ) .
where wal 2 (k ) is a discrete-time symmetrical square-wave
III. SELF-TUNING LES ALGORITHM with values of ±1 and the period of the fundamental compo-
nent.
The algorithm (20) fully rejects the dc component from the
input signal, but requires the time constant of the decaying dc It can be proven that for the input signal y (k ) composed of
component (or the parameter r). The parameter r can be es- the fundamental frequency component and the exponentially
timated on-line as follows. decaying dc offset the signal abs ( x w (k ) − x w (k − 1)) is pro-
portional to the given dc component. Therefore, the coeffi-
Substituting (9) into (21a-b) yields: cient r as an estimate of the function exp(b) (16c) can be
obtained from:
x r ( k ) = x c (k ) − δ c ( k )
(23)
xi (k ) = x s (k ) − δ s (k ) x w (k ) − x w ( k − 1)
r = r(k ) = (31)
M −1 x w ( k − 1) − x w ( k − 2)
where x c (k ) = ∑ hc ( k − j ) y ( k − j ) (24a)
j =0 The way of determining r (k ) is illustrated in Fig.1. It can
be seen that the correct value of r is available after M + 1
M −1
samples.
x s (k ) = ∑ hs (k − j ) y(k − j) (24b)
Physically, the time constant τ does not change during a
j =0
given transient. The estimator (31) can produce, however, un-
δ c (k ) = d c (k ) x d (k ) realistic values at first few samples after the fault inception,
(25a) and therefore, requires some forced stabilization. This can be
δ s (k ) = d s (k ) x d (k ) done by truncating the original estimate as follows:
M −1 rmin ≤ r ≤ rmax (32)
x d (k ) = ∑ y (k − j ) (25b)
j =0 The limits are naturally chosen as:
It can be seen from (24a,b) that the original orthogonal
−T1
components xc (k ) , xs (k ) are estimated using the regular rmin = exp , rmax = 1 (33)
half-cycle Fourier algorithm. The new (corrected) values of Nτ min
the orthogonal components xr (k ) and xi (k ) are obtained by
applying appropriate correction (23). The correcting functions where τ min is the minimum value of the time constant rec-
δc and δs are proportional to the average dc component in the ommended to be set at around 4 msec.
data window x d (25b) and the functions dc and ds (25a).
 pc ps
a)
y(k)
0.65 0
pc
1.5
0.64 -0.1
1
0.63 -0.2
ps
0.5
0.62 -0.3
0
0.61 -0.4
-0.5
0.6 -0.5
-1 -0.6
0 10 20 30 40 k 0.59
b)
2 0.58 -0.7
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
0 expb
wal2(k)
-2
Fig.2. Coefficients pc and p s as functions of r for N = 20 s/c.
-4
-6
xw(k) Instead of utilizing (16) for real-time application one can
-8
use tabulated representation of these functions. Also, quite
-10 convenient form is obtained by applying the third-order poly-
-12 nomial approximation:
-14
0 10 20 30 40 k p c = a1 + r ( a 2 + ra 3 )
, (35)
2
c) p s = b1 + r (b2 + rb3 )

|xw(k-1)-xw(k)| where coefficients a i , bi , i = 1..3 are found using any curve-

1.5 fitting method.
The real-time implementation of the new algorithm can be
summarized as follows:
1
(a) Calculate the orthogonal components x c (k ) , x s (k ) by
r(k) (26) i.e. using the regular half-cycle Fourier algorithm.
0.5 (b) Perform the half-cycle Walsh transformation according to
(30) for calculation of x w (k ) .
0 (c) If abs(x w (k − 1) − x w ( k − 2) ) < ε a ( ε a - minimum value
0 10 20 30 40 k of the dc component to be considered in the correction),
time
take xc (k ) and xs (k ) as the final results, and skip the
Fig.1. Illustration of estimation of the coefficient r : input signal (a), steps (d)-(e). Otherwise,
estimates of x w (k ) (b), dc component and r (c); N = 20 s/c. (d) Determine the functions d c (k ) and d s (k ) by the fol-
lowing sequence of steps:
Averaging the estimated factor r over a number of samples, • estimate the parameter r by (31)-(32),
say L, can ensure further damping of the unwanted oscilla- • calculate the functions pc and p s by (35) or use
tions: their memory-stored values (Fig.2, for example),
• determine d c (k ) and d s (k ) according to (15).
1 L −1 (e) Calculate the correcting values δ c (k ) and δ s (k ) (25),
r filtered (k ) = ∑
L m=0
roriginal (k − m) (34) x r (k ) , x i (k ) (23), transformation coefficients p11 - p 22
as well as the final values of the orthogonal components
As our simulations show, good results are obtained for L = (20).
2..4. It is worth noticing that, practically, the filter (34) does The check-point set in step (c) ensures that no division by
not delay the phasor estimation. It is so because (34) is ap- zero will take place. The condition also by-passes the correc-
plied to the signal parameter that physically does not change, tion when the dc component is small and the correction is ac-
or changes slowly in time. tually unnecessary. Fig.3 presents the signal flow chart of the
In order to simplify the final equations of the new algo- new algorithm.
rithm, the functions defining the coefficients pc and p s in It should be noted that for real-time application the calcu-
(16) may be represented in a simpler, less accurate form. For lation of the coefficients p11 - p 22 according to (18), (22) can
a given value of a (a constant in a given implementation) they be sufficiently simplified if the trigonometric functions in (18)
are function of r (a variable). Fig.2 presents sample plots of are stored in the memory.
the coefficients pc and p s for M = N / 2 = 10 .
 z-1 xw(k)
+
+ estimation of d c(k), d s(k),
wal 2(k) p11(k), p 12(k), p 21(k), p 22(k)

z-1
+ xc(k) xr(k)
+ xp(k)
hc(k)
+ -
δc(k)  p11 p12 
z-1 p p 
+ xs(k)  21 22  xq(k)
+ + + xi(k)
hs(k)
+ - δs(k)
y(k) −
N
dc(k)
z 2
z-1 ds(k)
- + xd(k)
+
+
Fig.3. Block diagram of the new algorithm.

As a result, the issue of numerical stability and/or conver-

B. Frequency response
Fig.4 presents the frequency response of the new algo-
rithm as compared with the half-cycle Fourier method. The
new technique filters out the dc component entirely and sig-
nificantly damps the subsynchronous frequencies. In contrast,
the half-cycle Fourier algorithm exhibits a gain of about 1.3
for the dc component.
As seen from the figure, the new algorithm introduces
considerable gain for the second harmonic. This is so due to
certain similarities in spectrum between the second harmonic
and the dc component.
C. Numerical stability
It is worth emphasizing that the proposed algorithm is not
iterative. It uses a feed-forward correction based on the re-
sults on certain intermediate calculations. The feedback lines
shown in Fig.3 apply to the delayed samples and do not con-
stitute any actual feedback connections or interations.
|H(ω)|
2 digital mimic filter (MMC) supported with the half-cycle Fou-
1.5
2 1
1
0.5
gence is not void. The algorithm is stable and always im-
proves measurement as shown by numerous simulations.
D. Illustration example
It is interesting to analyze the correcting mechanism of the
proposed algorithm. Figs.5–6 present plots of the key signals
shown in Fig.3. The algorithm has been fed with the current
waveform shown in Fig.1a. The orthogonal components
xc (k ) , xs (k ) obtained from the classical half-cycle Fourier
algorithm (26) are considerably distorted (Fig.5). The cor-
recting signals δ c (k ) and δ s (k ) result from multiplication
of two sinusoidal functions with the period of fundamental
frequency (25a) and, therefore, they have double the system
frequency (Fig.5). The same applies to the coefficients of the
matrix PS (k) (Fig.6). The estimated orthogonal components
and the magnitude are controlled very well (Fig.7). The re-
sponse time is slightly above half a cycle and no transient
overshoot occurs even though the dc component is of signifi-
cant magnitude and duration.
IV. EMTP-BASED EVALUATION OF THE NEW ALGORITHM
A number of simulation cases reflecting different system
conditions have been used in testing. The included example
compares the new adaptive algorithm (ADA) against the
rier algorithm [3]. The MMC algorithm was designed for the
fixed value of the time constant of the dc component
(25msec).
A. EMTP model
A 330kV, 50Hz system shown in Fig.8 has been simulated
using EMTP. The model incorporates the primary system as
well as the instrument transformers and analog antialiasing
filters set at 375Hz (N = 20 s/c).

0 B. Simulation example
0 2 4 6 8 10
The included example is a LL fault through the fault resis-
ω/ω1 tance of 0.1Ω 20km from the substation A (Fig.8). Fig.9
Fig.4. Frequency response of the new algorithm (1) as compared
shows the fault-loop current waveforms seen at the substa-
with the half-cycle Fourier algorithm (2). tions A and B, respectively.
 6 1
xc(k)
X(k)
4
0.5
2
xp(k)
0
0
δc(k)
-2 -0.5
xq(k)
-4
0 10 20 30 40 k -1
0 10 20 time 30 40 k
2
Fig.7. Orthogonal components and magnitude of the signal of Fig.1.
0
δs(k)
System A System B
-2 330 kV
Line
CTs F CTs
-4
xs(k) VTs 180 km VTs
-6 Z1=0.8+j17Ω Z1=0.6+j10Ω
Z0=1.1+j22Ω R1=0.0292Ω/km R0=0.285Ω/km Z0=0.9+j16Ω
-8 L1=1.07mH/km L0=3.32mH/km
C1=0.012µF/km C0=0.0082µF/km
-10
0 10 20 30 40 k Fig.8. The simulated system.
time
Fig.5. Operation of the proposed algorithm: output from the half-cycle Fourier
( xc (k ) , x s (k ) ) and the correcting signals ( δ c (k ) and δ s (k ) ).
V. CONCLUSIONS
The paper presents a new half-cycle adaptive algorithm for
p11 phasor estimation that is immune to the decaying dc compo-
1 nent. The algorithm is based on the half-cycle recursive Fou-
rier filters with two correcting functions depending on the
p22 time constant of the dc component. The time constant is esti-
mated on-line in a parallel path of the main algorithm.
The new algorithm, although based on involved digital sig-
0.5 nal processing theory, is actually very simple, robust and effi-
cient in implementation. The additional processing power
needed to perform the adaptive functions is negligible com-
paring with the half-cycle Fourier filtering.
0 Both the steady-state and transient performance of the new
p12 algorithm are promising.

VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
p21 The authors acknowledge the financial support from the
-0.5 State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) of Poland
0 10 20 time 30 40 k
(project 8 T10B 009 17).
Fig.6. Coefficients of the matrix PS .

The phasor magnitudes as estimated by the MMC and ADA
algorithms are shown in Fig.10.
When the input current does not contain significant high
frequency components (station A), the proposed algorithm
gives much more stable result than the MMC method.
Because of the half-cycle data window both the algorithms
are sensitive to certain extent to high frequency components
in the input current (station B).
VII. REFERENCES
[1] A.G. Phadke A.G. and J.S. Thorp, Computer relaying for
power systems, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1988.
[2] M.S. Sachdev (coordinator), "Advancements in microproces-
sor based protection and communication", IEEE Tutorial,
IEEE Publication No. 97TP120-0, 1997.
[3] G. Benmouyal, "Removal of dc-offset in current waveforms
using digital mimic filtering", IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, Vol.10, No.2, April 1995, pp.621-628.
[4] A.L. Almeida and A.C. Lima, "Covariance management
based RLS algorithm for phasor estimation in severely noisy
 x 10 4 a) x 10 4 a)
3 3
MMC
2
2.5
1 ADA

current, A
0 1
current iA, A

-1
0.5
-2
0
-3 0 50 100 150 200
3
x 10 b)
-4 10
0 50 100 150 200 MMC
x 10 4 b)
1
8

current, A
0.5 ADA
current iB, A

0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
0 50 100 150
time, ms
Fig.9. Fault-loop currents measured at the substation A (a)
and B (b) of the system of Fig.8.
systems". IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol.13,
No.4, 1998, pp.1067-1071.
[5] M.S. Sachdev and M.A. Baribeau, "A new algorithm for
digital impedance relays", IEEE Transactions on Power Ap-
paratus and Systems, Vol.98, 1979, pp.2232-2240.
[6] M.S. Sachdev and M. Nagpal, "A recursive least error
squares algorithm for power system relaying and measure-
ment application", IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery,
Vol.6, No.3, 1991, pp.1008-1015.
[7] I. Isaksson, "Digital protective relaying through recursive
least-squares identification". IEE Proceedings - Part C:
Generation, Transmission and Distribution, Vol.135, No.5,
September 1988, pp.441-449.
[8] P.K. Dash and D.K. Panda, "Digital impedance protection of
power transmission lines using a spectral observer". IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol.3, No.1, January 1988,
pp.102-108.
[9] E. Rosolowski and M. Michalik, "Fast identification of
symmetrical components by use of a state observer", IEE
Proceedings - Part C: Generation, Transmission and Distri-
bution, Vol.141, No.6, November 1994, pp.617-622.
[10] A.A. Girgis and R.G. Brown, "Application of Kalman filter-
ing in computer relaying", IEEE Transactions on Power Ap-
paratus and Systems, Vol.100, No.7, 1981, pp.3387-3397.
[11] J.Z. Yang and C.W. Liu, "Complete elimination of dc offset
in current signals for relaying application". IEEE PES 2000
Winter Meeting, 23-27 January 2000, Singapore, paper no.
11_05_01.
6
2
0
0 50 100 150 200
time, ms
Fig.10. Estimated current magnitudes for the fault-loop currents as seen
from the substations A (a) and B (b), respectively.
200
[12] J.C. Gu and S.L. Yu, "Removal of dc offset in current and
voltage signals using a novel Fourier algorithm". IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, PE-052PRD (06-99).
[13] H. Dommel, "Electro–Magnetic Transient Program", BPA,
Portland, Oregon, 1986.
BIOGRAPHIES
Eugeniusz Rosolowski (SM’97) was born in 1947 in Poland. He re-
ceived his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Wroclaw
University of Technology (WUT) in 1972 where he is presently an
Associate Professor. From 1974 to 1977, he studied in Kiev
Politechnical Institute from which he received his Ph.D. in 1978. In
1993 he received D.Sc. from the Wroclaw University of Technol-
ogy. His research interests are in power system analysis and micro-
processor application in power systems. Currently he is a Director of
the Institute of Electric Power Engineering of WUT.
Jan Izykowski (M’97) was born in Poland in 1949. He received his
M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Wroclaw University of Technol-
ogy in 1973 and in 1976 respectively. In 1973 he joined Institute of
Electrical Engineering of the Wroclaw University of Technology
where he is presently an Assistant Professor. His research interests
are in power system protection, fault locators and transient phenom-
ena of instrument transformers.
Bogdan Kasztenny (M'95, SM’98) received his M.Sc. (89) and
Ph.D. (92) degrees (both with honors) from the Wroclaw University
of Technology (WUT), Poland. In 1989 he joined the Department of
Electrical Engineering of WUT. In 1994 he was with Southern Illi-
nois University and during the academic year 1997/98 – with Texas
A&M University. Currently, Dr.Kasztenny works for GE Power
Management as a Senior Application Engineer. Dr.Kasztenny is a
Senior Member of IEEE, holds 2 patents, and has published more
than 90 technical papers.