988
3, JULY 2009
Micromachined Electric-Field Sensor to Measure
AC and DC Fields in Power Systems
Gayan Wijeweera, Student Member, IEEE, Behraad Bahreyni, Member, IEEE, Cyrus Shafai, Member, IEEE,
Athula Rajapakse, Member, IEEE, and David R. Swatek, Member, IEEE
Abstract—This paper describes a new type of electric-field sensor
that has been fabricated using micromachining technology. This
micromachined sensor is dramatically smaller than conventional
field mills, possessing a field chopping shutter measuring only 1
mm2 . The shutter is moved using thermal actuators, thereby elim-
inating the wear and tear associated with rotating and moving ele-
ments of field mills. The sensor requires minimal operating power,
with the shutter being driven by a 75-mV drive signal while con-
suming only 70 W. The field chopping shutter operates at 4200
Hz, enabling the measurement of both ac and dc fields. Two sets of
sense electrodes enable differential field measurements and, there-
fore, do not require a reference ground potential. The sensor has
a linear response to the electric-field amplitude and has demon-
strated that it is capable of measuring a dc field as small as 42 V/m.
This miniature sensor is the smallest sensor with such a resolution
for use in power engineering applications.
Index Terms—Electric field measurement, electric fields, micro-
machining.
I. INTRODUCTION
EASUREMENT of electric fields in the vicinity of high-
M voltage equipment in a power system is necessary for
many purposes. The electric-field measurement is used to de-
velop improved insulation systems and to ensure personal and
equipment safety in live-line maintenance [1], [2]. It is also re-
ported that the electric-field measurement data can be used to
accurately identify faulty insulators in an insulator string [3],
[4] and measure voltage in a three-phase power system without
using bulky and expensive insulating structures [5].
Several different types of electric-field sensors have been re-
ported for power systems applications [5]–[14]. A 230-kV op-
tical voltage transducer developed by Rahmatian et al. uses a
number of optical electric-field meters [6]. Zeng et al. also used
an optical electric-field sensor to measure electric-field distribu-
Manuscript received March 12, 2008; revised July 05, 2008. First published
May 12, 2009; current version published June 24, 2009. This work was sup-
ported in part by the Manitoba Hydro and Natural Science and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The fabrication of the sensor was made
possible through services provided by CMC Microsystems. Paper no. TPWRD-
00186-2008.
G. Wijeweera, C. Shafai, and A. Rajapakse are with the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB
R3T 5V6, Canada (e-mail: gayan@ee.umanitoba.ca; cshafai@ee.umanitoba.ca;
athula@ee.umanitoba.ca).
B. Bahreyni is with the School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser Uni-
versity, Burnaby, BC V3T 0A3, Canada (e-mail: behraad@ieee.org).
D. Swatek is with Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3T1, Canada
(e-mail: drswatek@hydro.mb.ca).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2008.2008427
0885-8977/$25.00 © 2009 IEEE
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 24, NO.
tion along composite insulators [7]. Gerard et al. used an elec-
tric-field sensor made from parallel plate capacitors to measure
ac voltage [5]. The spherical electric-field sensor used by Feser
et al. to measure high-voltage impulses is also a capacitive probe
[8].
Due to the cyclic variation with respect to time, ac electric
fields are relatively easy to measure. However, when a stationary
probe is exposed to a dc field in open air, it will collect a charge
over time. Gradually, all parts of the probe will reach the same
potential, and the probe output decays to zero eventually. There-
fore, all reported dc electric-field meters convert the dc electric
field into an alternating field by periodically shielding and un-
shielding sensor electrodes inside the electric field being mea-
sured [9]–[13]. In field mill designs, this movement is typically
achieved by an electric motor or air turbine. Even though P. E.
Secker proposed the electric field mill as early as 1975, the first
use of an electric-field mill to monitor HVDC lines was reported
by Maruvada et al. in 1983 [9], [13]. Since then, electric-field
mills have been used to measure electric fields under HVDC
transmission lines and for various atmospheric analyses.
Manitoba Hydro uses HVDC transmission lines to bring
power generated in the north of the province of Manitoba to the
load centers located south of the province. Conventional field
mills with electric motors are currently employed for long-term
environmental monitoring of HVDC transmission lines. The
conventional field mill is a very robust electric-field-measuring
instrument that has been used in power engineering applica-
tions for many years. However, it is not straightforward to
use these sensors for long-term electric-field measurements.
The high-power consumption by the electric motor requires
frequent replacement of batteries, and some of the moving parts
of the field mill wear out quickly. The necessary frequent main-
tenance is expensive for Manitoba Hydro since these HVDC
transmission lines extend hundreds of kilometers through diffi-
cult terrain. The harsh Manitoba winter, which is experienced
over a good portion of the year, further complicates the access
of these devices for maintenance. Therefore, the necessity
arose to develop a sensor that consumes less battery power
than the commercially available field mills, while providing a
comparable level of resolution and sensitivity.
Manitoba Hydro also uses the electric-field mills to measure
the charge accumulated on live line tools. In order to measure
the electric field in the proximity of a conducting surface, it is
necessary for the size of the probe to be smaller than the size of
the installation. The smallest available electric-field sensor for
power engineering applications was demonstrated by Johnston
and Kirkham, which possessed a probe diameter of only 2 cm
[10], [14].
WIJEWEERA et al.: MICROMACHINED ELECTRIC-FIELD SENSOR TO MEASURE AC AND DC FIELDS 989

In [15], the authors presented a low-power thermally actuated

micromachined field mill. The mechanical design and resonant
operation were explained and simulated. Measurement results
demonstrated a linear response for steady-state dc fields from
40–5000 V/m.
In this paper, we are presenting a new device with improved
mechanical design, and a conducting moving shutter to reduce
charging effects. Measurements test results are shown for
pulsed dc electric fields and 60-Hz ac fields. A proof of concept
vacuum packaging is also demonstrated, where an external
electric field is able to enter the vacuum package containing the
sensor. Testing of the sensor under a simulated transmission
line in a high-voltage laboratory is presented.

II. SENSOR DEVELOPMENT

Micromachining is a well-established technology that em-
ploys many standard semiconductor process technologies to
fabricate miniature electromechanical devices and components.
Even though microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors
and actuators are not widely used in power systems applica-
tions, they have made a huge impact on the vehicular industry,
health care, chemistry, and optical and wireless telecommuni-
cations sectors.
The development of microfabrication technology provides
the opportunity to miniaturize a conventional field mill with
the MEMS technology. Field mills made with MEMS tech-
nology offer the advantages of small size, light weight, easy
integration to electronics, bulk fabrication, etc. Several other
research groups have also used micromachining technology
to fabricate miniature electric-field sensors [16]–[22]. Most of
them have used electrostatic actuators to drive a moving shutter
[16], [19]–[21]. However, electrostatic actuators require a large
operating voltage. In addition to the difficulty of providing large
dc voltage in most practical applications, the large drive voltage
also reduces device performance. The measuring resolution of
these sensors is on the order of kilovolts per meter.
A. Sensor Operation and Fabrication
A microscope photograph of the sensor is shown in Fig. 1.
The sensor uses a moving electrically grounded shutter to peri-
odically expose and shield the underlying electrodes from an
incident electric field. This micromachined electric-field mill
(MEFM) thus operates in manner conceptually similar to a con-
ventional field mill.
The sensor’s shutter measures 1 mm 1 mm and is supported
by four springs at its corners. Thermal actuators can be seen
to be connected to the shutter, one on each side, using a novel
lever mechanism. Electric current through the thermal actuators
causes them to heat up and expand, and so moves the shutter
over the sensing electrodes.
The shutter is perforated by two sets of 25 openings on each
side that are aligned with the underlying sensing electrodes.
The sensing electrodes beneath the shutter are patterned at the
bottom of a 10- m deep cavity. They are divided into two ar-
rays, one on the left side and one on the right side. The electrode
arrays are positioned so that when one is exposed to the electric
Fig. 1. Picture of the fabricated sensor.
field through the shutter openings, the other array is covered
by the shutter and is shielded from the field. By using two sets
of electrodes, this sensor is capable of differential electric-field
measurements without the need for a reference ground poten-
tial. Differential measurement also improves the system perfor-
mance in the presence of interference offset and low-frequency
drifts. In Fig. 1, the electrode array (fabricated from light col-
ored gold metal) on the left side of the shutter is visible through
the shutter perforations, while the electrode array on the right
side is covered up.
This MEFM was fabricated by using the commercially avail-
able MicraGEM multiuser fabrication process from Micralyne
Inc. [23]. In a multiuser fabrication process, the manufacturer
predefines fabrication steps and materials, hence limiting the
user’s choices. The MicraGEM process steps used to fabricate
the presented MEFM are shown in Fig. 2 and are summarized
as follows: a) A Pyrex substrate with a thickness of 525 m is
isotropically etched in two subsequent steps to depths of 2 m
and 10 m, respectively; b) gold metal is deposited and pat-
terned inside the etched cavities to form the sensing electrodes;
c) a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer is anodically bonded to the
Pyrex substrate; this wafer contains a thin silicon layer (called
the device layer) and a thick silicon layer (called the handle
wafer), which are separated by a thin silicon–dioxide layer; d)
the handle wafer and separating oxide layers are etched away;
e) gold metal is deposited and patterned to form the connecting
wiring; and f) the silicon device layer is patterned and etched in
a deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) system to form the thermal
actuators, the shutter, connecting levers, and supporting springs.
B. Operating Principle
The operating principle of the sensor is illustrated in Fig. 3.
When the shutter covers and uncovers the sensing electrodes in
990
Fig. 2. Fabrication steps used to construct the MEFM.
Fig. 3. Illustration of an incident electric field chopping by the shutter, and the
periodic shielding of the differential sensing electrodes.
Fig. 4. Sensing circuit with sensing electrodes.
the presence of an electric field, ac current is induced on the
electrodes according to
(1)
where is the permittivity of free space, is the component
of the electric field that is normal to the electrodes, and is the
effective area of the electrode.
Fig. 4 shows the sensing circuit where the induced ac cur-
rents on each electrode array are differentially measured and
converted to a voltage.
C. Actuation Mechanism
Bent beam thermal actuators are used to move the shutter
to cover and uncover sensing electrodes [24]. A single-beam
thermal actuator is illustrated in Fig. 5. When a voltage is ap-
plied between the anchors, ohmic heating of the two half-beams
causes them to thermally expand and ultimately buckle if the
bent beam angle between the beams was zero. In order to control
the direction of the actuator displacement, the beams are nor-
mally designed with a prebend angle as shown in Fig. 5, so they
will have an affinity to move in plane. The fabricated MEFM
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JULY 2009
Fig. 5. Single bent-beam thermal actuator.
Fig. 6. Close up view of the thermal actuator with the lever mechanism. Di-
mensions of beams 1 and 2 determine the displacement amplification factor
and beam 3 increases the thermal resistance between the actuator and shutter
to lower the structural temperature variations during shutter operation.
has two sets of five 200 6- m beams with a prebend angle of
5 .
Finite-element simulation results showed that the bent beam
thermal actuators can provide a displacement of only a few mi-
crometers. However, in the designed MEFM, the sensing elec-
trodes measure 14 m in width. In order for the shutter to fully
cover and uncover the sensing electrodes, the displacement of
the thermal actuators was amplified by a lever mechanism. The
lever connecting the shutter to the thermal actuator is shown up
close in Fig. 6. The motion of the shutter was further ampli-
fied by operating the sensor at the mechanical resonance of the
shutter-spring mass system, which was 4200 Hz.
Equation (1) shows that in order to obtain a higher sensor
current, it is necessary to operate the sensor at a high frequency.
The maximum operating frequency of the thermal actuators de-
pends on how fast they can heat up and cool down. Finite-ele-
ment simulations were used to design the thermal actuators so
that their thermal time constant was 250 s (corresponding to a
maximum operating frequency of 4 kHz), which is close to the
required resonant operational frequency of the shutter.
Structures move a larger distance for a given force when they
are moving at their natural resonance frequency. Therefore, ac-
cording to (1), the sensor should produce a higher reading for
a given electric field when the sensor’s shutter is operating at
its resonance frequency. This fact was used to find the reso-
nance frequency of the structure. The initial estimate for the
resonance frequency of the structure was obtained through fi-
nite-element simulation of the device. The output of the sensor
WIJEWEERA et al.: MICROMACHINED ELECTRIC-FIELD SENSOR TO MEASURE AC AND DC FIELDS
Fig. 7. Proof of concept vacuum packaging designed to test the sensor. The
central portion of the lid of the vacuum chamber is fabricated from an electri-
cally floating section (Metal B) that is separated from the main lid (Metal A) by
Teflon insulation.
was connected to a spectrum analyzer and the sensor response
was observed as a function of the frequency. The frequency that
produced the highest sensor response was selected as the reso-
nance frequency. A typical frequency spectrum of the sensor is
shown in Fig. 15.
D. Reliability of MEMS Thermal Actuators
Park et al. conducted a reliability study on bent beam actua-
tors [25]. They tested a thermal actuator with a half beam length
of 800 m, width of 10 m, height of 3.7 m, and a prebend
angle of 0.2 rad up to 6 million cycles by applying 6-V, 300-Hz
square waves. They did not observe any degradation in the am-
plitude of the motion after 6 million actuation cycles. In our ex-
periments, we did not notice any measurable change in the per-
formance of the sensor after continuously operating the sensor
more than two billion cycles.
III. TESTING
The sensor was placed inside a vacuum environment with the
sensing circuit and operated at its resonance frequency ( 4200
Hz). The reduced air pressure minimizes the air resistance on
the shutter, thereby reducing the necessary drive voltage on the
thermal actuators. Reduction in drive voltage is an important
factor in the sensitivity of the MEFM. The close proximity of
the thermal actuators to the sensing electrodes can cause drive
voltage on the thermal actuators to interfere with the sensing of
the incident electric field.
In addition to a reduction of drive voltage, operation in
vacuum environment minimizes the power needed to maintain
the shutter in motion. The required voltage and power to move
the shutter for this sensor was 75 mV and 70 W, respectively.
Such voltages and power levels are well within the allowable
range for integrated circuits (ICs), even for today’s most
advanced technologies. Hence, it is possible to integrate the
sensor with the sensing electronic circuitry on a single chip.
The vacuum environment was created by placing the sensor
in a small vacuum chamber with the air pressure reduced to 10
mTorr. The lid of the vacuum chamber possesses an electrically
floating section (Metal B in Fig. 7), which allows electric fields
to enter the chamber. This type of vacuum environment is com-
mercially available for vacuum-packaged MEMS technology.
A. Experimental Results
When measuring a dc electric field, the ac current induced on
the sensing electrodes is at the frequency of the shutter motion.
991
A sinusoidal signal was used to drive the thermal actuators, re-
sulting in a motion of the thermal actuators and shutter at twice
the drive frequency. By causing the shutter to move at twice the
frequency of the drive signal, interference from the drive signal
itself can be filtered.
One notch filter and three bandpass filters (all second order)
were connected after the differential amplifier to reduce the
drive signal interference and lower the noise. The notch filter
was tuned at the drive frequency of the thermal actuators
since it is the largest source of interference for measurement.
The bandpass filters were tuned to twice the frequency of the
drive signal (i.e., the frequency of shutter movement) in order
to enhance the performance of the sensor by narrowing the
bandwidth around its output signal.
The output signal of this system is shown in Fig. 8 when mea-
suring an arbitrary dc electric field. We can see that the sensor
samples the dc field approximately every 0.25 ms. The ampli-
tude of the measured field is, however, clearly oscillating. This
beating effect resulting from the output signal of the sensor in-
terfering with signals from various sources causes considerable
variation in the amplitude of the filtered output. Beating occurs
when two sinusoidal signals are added, whose frequencies are
close to each other. It has been found that neither the ampli-
tudes nor the frequencies of the interference signals are stable.
These large variations in the signal amplitude, due to interfer-
ence, make it difficult to measure the contribution from the elec-
tric field. This beating effect can, however, be minimized and ef-
fectively eliminated by subsequent filtering of the sensor signal.
B. Experimental Results With a Lock-In Amplifier
The lock-in amplifier, also known as a phase-sensitive de-
tector, is an instrument commonly used to extract a signal with
known carrier frequency inside a noisy environment. Lock-in
amplifiers use a frequency mixer to convert the signal amplitude
into a dc voltage signal. A lock-in amplifier was implemented
at the output of the sensing circuit in order to obtain a constant,
beating insensitive output, from the measured electric field.
The sensor’s response tested with a pulsed 1000-V/m electric
field is shown in Fig. 9. A slight time delay is visible in the
sensor measurement, however, this is due to a 1-s filter time
constant of the lock-in amplifier, and not due to a characteristic
of the sensor itself.
Also visible is a negative response measurement of the sensor
after the incident electric field has switched off is visible. This
negative response is due to the following process. In the pres-
ence of a constant electric field, the MEFM’s shutter, which is
fabricated from silicon, will slowly build up an electric charge.
Once the incident field has switched off, this charge slowly dis-
charges. Its presence is clearly measured by the MEFM as it
discharges.
The charging effect was solved in a subsequent iteration of
the MEFM that possessed a gold metal coating on the shutter.
The conducting gold coating effectively prevents charging of the
shutter when it is connected to the reference of the sensing cir-
cuit. Fig. 10 shows this sensor’s response to a pulsed 6000-V/m
electric field. This time, no negative response is seen when the
992
Fig. 8. Sensor response when measuring an arbitrary dc electric field after fil-
tering with one notch filter and three bandpass filters. (a) Shows the sensor re-
sponse for 20 ms. (b) Shows first 5 ms that have beem magnified from (a).
Fig. 9. Sensor response to a pulsed 1000-V/m electric field.
field turns off. The visible integration of the pulsed field ampli-
tude in the sensor output is due to the 1-s time constant of the
lock-in amplifier.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JULY 2009
Fig. 10. Sensor response to a periodic 6000-V/m electric field.
Fig. 11. Sensor response to dc electric fields from 42 V/m to 5000 V/m [15].
Fig. 11 shows the response of the sensor to various dc elec-
tric-field amplitudes. It can be seen that the sensor has a linear
response to the amplitude of the applied fields. The lowest elec-
tric field that could be accurately measured was 42 V/m.
Fig. 12 shows the MEFM response to a 60-Hz 5000-V/m si-
nusoidal field. A 3-ms time constant was used on the lock-in
amplifier in order to capture the rapidly changing field.
C. Testing Under High-Voltage Transmission Line
The sensor was tested under a simulated transmission line at
the University of Manitoba’s High Voltage Laboratory to test the
sensor performance under real-life applications. The test setup
used is shown in Fig. 13 with the sensor 2.02 m below
the transmission line. Test results shown in Fig. 14 illustrate the
linear sensor output with an applied voltage up to 50 kV.
D. Response to Drive Frequency, Actuation Voltage, and
Pressure
The output spectrum of the sensor, when measuring an arbi-
trary dc electric field around its resonance frequency at the pres-
sure of 20 mTorr, is shown in Fig. 15. This figure illustrates that
the sensor’s measurement sensitivity is extremely sensitive to
WIJEWEERA et al.: MICROMACHINED ELECTRIC-FIELD SENSOR TO MEASURE AC AND DC FIELDS
Fig. 12. Sensor response to a 60-Hz 5000-V/m sinusoidal electric field.
Fig. 13. Setup used to test the sensor in the High Voltage Laboratory. The
sensor is h = 2.02 m under a simulated transmission line of length d = 2.8
m.
its operation at the mechanical resonance of the shutter-spring
mass system. This is due to the significant amplification of the
shutter motion in resonant operation, and is consistent with the
high Q oscillation characteristics of MEMS resonators.
The sensor’s sensitivity, as a function of actuation voltage
and at three different vacuum pressure levels, is shown in Fig.
16 for an external field of 6000 V/m. This figure illustrates
that for a given pressure when the actuation voltage increases,
993
Fig. 14. Variation of sensor response with the line voltage.
Fig. 15. Output spectrum of the sensor as a function of shutter drive frequency,
when measuring an arbitrary dc electric field.
the sensor’s response first increases initially as the area of the
sensing electrode that is exposed to and shielded from the elec-
tric field increases. However, when the actuation voltage is made
too great, the shutter opening moves past the sensing electrode,
which results in a reduction of sensor output. Therefore, op-
timum actuation voltage is required in order to fully expose and
shield the sensing electrodes from the incident field.
It can be seen that the sensor’s response to a variation in actu-
ation voltage gets narrower with a reduction in pressure, which
is to be expected due to the increase in the Q factor of the shutter
resonator when reduced air damping is present. At 20-mTorr
pressure, the sensor’s response does not change much with a
variation of actuation voltage around its peak sensitivity. This
is to be expected due to the lower Q of the shutter resonator at
higher pressures. However, in practical applications, this lower
Q operation is likely beneficial, because the sensor’s output will
be more steady even if the actuation voltage amplitude deviates
from a preset value.
Long-term operation of this sensor for real-world use requires
a reliable vacuum package. The vacuum packaging industry is
well developed today and a vacuum environment can be retained
994
Fig. 16. Variation of the sensor response with actuation voltage and pressure.
in a package for many years. In [26], Cheng et al. tested their
vacuum package for a year and they did not observe any pressure
change.
IV. CONCLUSION
A new type of micromachined electric-field sensor has been
presented. Micromachining technology was used to miniaturize
the sensor, thereby reducing the power consumption and the ac-
tuation voltage required by the sensor. The moving shutter of
this microelectric field mill has a sensing area of 1 mm . It was
driven at its mechanical resonance by using thermal actuators to-
gether with an integrated lever mechanism. The required power
consumption to operate the sensor was only 70 W. The sensor
has a linear response to electric-field amplitude and can be used
to measure ac and dc electric fields. The lowest field experimen-
tally measured was 42 V/m. To the best of our knowledge, this
is the smallest electric-field sensor with such a resolution.
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Gayan Wijeweera (S’07) received the B.Sc. degree
in electrical engineering from the University of
Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 2001, and the
M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada,
in 2008, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D.
degree.
WIJEWEERA et al.: MICROMACHINED ELECTRIC-FIELD SENSOR TO MEASURE AC AND DC FIELDS
Behraad Bahreyni (S’98–M’06) received the B.Sc.
degree in electronics engineering from Sharif Uni-
versity of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 1999, and the
M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering
from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. MB,
Canada, in 2001 and 2006, respectively.
He was with the NanoSicence Centre at Cambridge
University, Cambridge. U.K., conducting research on
an interface circuit design for microresonators. His
past and current research activities include the design
of various micromachined transducers, microfabrica-
tion technology, RF MEMS, modelling of microfabrication processes, and in-
terface and RF circuit design. He is an Assistant Professor in the School of En-
gineering Science at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
Cyrus Shafai (S’90–M’90) received the B.Sc. degree
in electrical engineering from the University of Man-
itoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, in 1990, the M.Sc. de-
gree in electrical engineering for the development of
the scanning resistance microscope from the Univer-
sity of Manitoba in 1993, and the Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering from the University of Alberta,
Edmonton, AB, Canada, in 1997.
Currently, he is an Associate Professor in the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of Manitoba. His principle research was
the development of a micromachined onchip Peltier heat pump. His current
research includes microelectromechanical-based reconfigurable surfaces for
wireless applications, micromirrors, microfluidics, and electric- and mag-
netic-field sensors. Currently, he is the Director of the University of Manitoba
Nano-Systems Fabrication Laboratory.
995
Athula Rajapakse (M’00) received the B.Sc. (Eng.)
degree from the University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa,
Sri Lanka, in 1990, the M.Eng. degree from the Asian
Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, in 1993,
and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Tokyo,
Tokyo, Japan, in 1998.
Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at the
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. His
research interests include power system protection,
transient simulation of power and power-electronic
systems, and distributed and renewable energy
systems.
David R. Swatek (M’85) received the B.Sc. and
Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, in
1988 and 1999, respectively.
He joined Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg, in 1988
where he is currently Manager in the Insulation
Engineering and Testing Department.
Dr. Swatek received the URSI Commission B:
Fields and Waves, Young Scientist Award, St. Peters-
burg, Russia, in 1995, and the 1999–2000 University
of Manitoba Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation
Award in the field of natural sciences and engineering. He is a member of
the IEEE Power and Energy as well as Dielectric and Electrical Insulation
Societies.