Analysis of ȝPMU Noise Characteristics and Its
Influence on Distribution Network Fault Location
Ren XinyuHe Jinhan, Wang Xiaojun, Wang Zhenji
Dept. Electrical Engineering
Beijing Jiaotong University
Beijing, China
xjwang1@bjtu.edu.cn
Abstract—The application of Micro Phasor Measurement
Unit (ȝPMU) provides a new technological approach for
distribution network fault location. In order to improve the
accuracy and reliability of fault location, the study of the
characteristics for ȝPMU noise and its impact on fault location
algorithms is of necessity. This paper proposed a PMU
measurement error model for noise characteristics analysis. And
the noise was introduced into the system to examine its effect on
the traditional impedance fault location method. To analyze the
noise characteristics, a median filter was used to extract the
ȝPMU noise from the raw data. The Monte Carlo method was
used to obtain the sample of the fault location error under the
influence of ȝPMU noise. The observed data was fitted with the
Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) then evaluated by the
goodness-of-fit (GOF) indexes in regression analysis theory. This
method is used on both ȝPMU noise characteristics analysis and
the fault location error under the influence of ȝPMU noise. The
conclusion was reached: ȝPMU noise and the location error both
obey the Gaussian distribution and the result was validated by
actual ȝPMU measured data. The result of fault location error
with ȝPMU noise is presented. The result shows that the
accuracy of the impedance method is greatly influenced by the
ȝPMU noise, and the accuracy of double-ended impedance
method is higher than single-ended impedance method.
Keywords—Micro PMU Noise, fault location, Gaussian
Mixture Model, goodness-of-fit, Monte Carlo method.
I. INTRODUCTION (HEADING 1)
With the advantage of high precision real-time operating
data acquirement, ȝPMU is widely used in distribution network
[1]. (In the distribution network, PMU is called ȝPMU, due to
its smaller form factor and higher measurement accuracy. This
paper analyzes the error characteristic, which is nearly
identical, so there is no need to distinguish between the two).
However, as a measuring device, the measurement error is
inevitable. Thus, the distribution of the PMU measurement
error and the fault location error under the influence of PMU
measurement error needs to be analyzed. Since the number of
PMU installation is limited to save the cost, it is necessary to
consider how to choose between the high-precision high-cost
measurement class PMU (M class PMU) and the relatively
low-precision low-cost protection class PMU (P class PMU).
For PMU measurement errors, the IEEE provides a
standard to measure it [2]: Total Vector Error (TVE). TVE
National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFB0902800).
978-1-5386-5392-0/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

summarizes three kinds of error: amplitude, phase angle, and
time. However, the standard does not specify any particular
distribution feature or range of the noise. It should be noted
that TVE only is the specified method to evaluate the
measurement accuracy of PMUs, the relationship between
amplitude, phase angle and synchronization time error do not
actually behave in such ways [3]. Therefore, most PMU-based
studies consider that the measuring error of amplitude and
angle should be considered separately. In practice, the actual
value of the phase angle is difficult to obtain. Thus, the
amplitude error is generally considered and is represented in
terms of the signal to noise ratio (SNR). Most researchers
simulate the PMU signal with noise by superimposing
Gaussian white noise with zero mean and standard deviations
of 0.002, 0.02, 0.15, 0.03 pu on the signal [4-6]. However, this
noise representation has not been modeled and verified.
Moreover, the PMU measurement errors are not considered
in most PMU-based fault location algorithms, and the
probability distribution of error of the impedance fault location
method with the PMU noise is still unknown [7-8].
National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFB0902800).
To address the problems above, the error model of the
PMU amplitude measurement is presented, the probability
distribution of the PMU amplitude measurement error and the
fault location error with the PMU noise are investigated in this
paper. First, the noise of the PMU is considered as a random
variable. The amplitude measurement error model of the PMU
is built and then verified by the actual PMU data. The noise
sequence is fitted with Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and
evaluated by goodness-of-fit (GOF). Using two traditional
distribution network impedance fault location algorithms as
examples, the distribution of fault location error under the
influence of PMU noise is analyzed. The simulation results
indicate that the distribution of the PMU noise and the fault
location error under the influence of PMU noise both obey the
Gaussian distribution. The accuracy of impedance method is
greatly influenced by the PMU noise, and the accuracy of
double-ended impedance method is higher than that of single-
ended impedance method under PMU measurement error.
When the location accuracy requirement is not strict, in order
to save the cost, there are two viable solutions: The M class
PMU installed at one end of the line or P class PMU installed
at both ends of the line. When the location accuracy
requirement is strict, M class PMUs must be installed at both ǻx(t)= x(t)-x(t-ǻT) (2)
ends.
And x ( t ) is written as follows:
Nomenclature
-phase angle of input
φ signal
Ȧ -angular frequency
x ( t ) = ³ u1 ( t )dt =
-the sampling interval of S (n) -the sequence of the
ΔT the DFT algorism PMU sampled data (3)
§ 1 ·
2 ¸(
R2 -correlation coefficients RMSE
-Residual standard ¨ −100v ( t ) cos ( t ) − 100ω sin ( ω t + φ ) sin ( t ) )
deviation ©1−ω ¹
ZS -self-impedance ZAC, ZAB - mutual impedance
•
VF -fault voltage RF -fault resistance
d - fault distance ȝ -Mean value u1(t)= 2∗50sin(nωt)∗v(t) (4)
L -line length į -standard deviation
• -voltage phasor of M • -voltage phasor of N
VMA after fault VNA after fault
The difference of the imaginary part:
•
IM- -current phasor of M • -current phasor of N
ABC
after fault IN-ABC after fault ǻy(t)= y(t)-y(t-ǻT) (5)

II. PMU AMPLITUDE MEASUREMENT ERROR MODELLING AND which:

NOISE CHARACTERISTIC
This section models the main measurement error sources of
the PMU, then the median ¿lter is adopted to extract the noise
sequence. The noise sequence is fitted with GMM then
evaluated by GOF to decide whether to accept the fitting result.
A. PMU Measurement Error Modeling
The PMU consists of four parts as shown in Fig. 1: data
acquisition system, GPS-synchronization equipment, sensors
and DFT algorithm.
The error of the data acquisition system is negligible
compared with other sources [9], and since the data provided
by the GPS-synchronization equipment is far more accurate
than other subsystems, its errors are omitted. The voltage and
current transformers (VT and CT) used to provide raw data to
the PMU usually have magnetic saturation problems, the
maximum amplitude error of measurement class transformers
is 1%, protection class transformers are 10%, and the
maximum phase error is 6 mrad (9 mrad for CT). The VT and
CT are the main source of error for the PMU. Besides, the
calculation error is introduced in the process of DFT algorithm.
Fig. 1. Measurement error model of the PMU
y ( t ) = ³ u2 ( t )dt = 100³ cos ( t ) v ( t )dt =
§ 1 · (6)
2 ¸(
¨ 100v ( t ) sin ( t ) − 100ω sin (ωt + φ ) cos ( t ) )
©1− ω ¹
u2(t)= 2∗50cos(nωt)∗v(t) (7)
Therefore, the of magnitude and angle recorded by the
PMU at time index n can be obtained:
‫ۅ‬S(n)‫(( =ۅ‬ǻx(t))2+(ǻy(t))2)1/2 (8)
ğS(n)= tan−1(ǻx(t)/ǻy(t)) (9)
B. PMU Noise Characteristics Analysis Based on GMM and
GOF
The measured data contains noise and load variations. In
the simulation, the load changes are designed so that the
influence on the measured data can be accurately ruled out, but
for the actual PMU measured data, the load variations are
unknown and unpredictable. Due to this fact, median ¿lter is
adopted for both of the data to separate the noise sequence. A
sliding window median ¿lter outputs the median value over all
the samples contained in the window. So that the median
filtered data typically removes relatively smaller variations
which is suitable for remove noise from the measured data. The
noise sequence Ș(n):

The DFT algorism is shortly described as follows. The Ș(n)= S(n)-median{S(n)} (10)
input signal is in the form of:
The characteristics of the noise sequences are: discrete data,
large sample, and unknown distribution. Therefore, for the
v(t)= sin(ωt+‫)׋‬ (1)
reason that GMM can theoretically simulate any continuous
distribution, it is used to fit the noise sequence. Use the GOF
the difference of the real part is: method to evaluate the fitting result, its essence is to verify the
correlation coefficient and root mean squared error (RMSE) of


 · · · · · ·
the regression curve. Therefore, the steps of noise characteristic VMA= d (ΖSIMA+ ΖABIMB+ ΖACIMC )+ (IMA- INA) Rf (14)
analysis are as follows㸸
• Assume the noise sequences Ș(n) obey the Gaussian 2) Double-ended impedance method
Mixture Distribution. Using two-terminal information of PMUs, the bus voltage
ί and line current are as shown in Fig. 2. The relationship
• The Gaussian Mixture Distribution Ș(n) (here uses 5th between the voltage, current and the fault distance are
order) is used to fit the discrete data Ș(n): expressed by (15) (16). Using elimination method, the fault
distance can be calculated.
ί
Ș(n)= a1*exp(-(n-b1)2*(c1)-2)+Ă+ a5*exp(-(n-b5)2*(c5)-2)(11) · · · · ·
VMA= d (ΖSIMA+ ΖABIMB+ ΖACIMC )+VF (15)
Where a1, ͐, a5; b1, ͐, b5; c1, ͐, c5 are the Gaussian fitting
coefficient.
· · · · ·

• Calculate the correlation coefficients and RMSE of the VNA= −(L-d) (ΖSINA+ ΖABINB+ ΖACINC )+VF (16)
fitting result:
B. Research on Location Error Distribution Based on Monte
−1
2
R = 1− ( ¦ (η −ηˆ ) )2 ª
¬
2 1
« ¦η − N
º
¦ (η ) »¼
2
(12)
Carlo Method
The PMU noise is considered to be a random variable.
First, the distribution of the PMU amplitude measurement error
is obtained. Second, the PMU amplitude measurement error
1 model is verified by the actual PMU measured data. Then, by
ª 1 N 2 º2 superimposing the error on the signal, Monte Carlo method is
RMSE = « ¦
¬ N − m i −1
(η − ηˆ ) »
¼
(13) used to obtain the sample space for probability distribution
analysis of the location error. The probability distribution of
location error can be obtained with the method in Section II-B.
where m is the number of fitted coefficients.
• If R2 is close to 1 and RMSE is close to 0, which means
the fit of the fitted curve to the original data is accurate, IV. CASE STUDY
the original hypothesis is valid, otherwise reject the In this chapter, the result of the PMU amplitude
hypothesis. measurement noise distribution, the PMU amplitude
measurement error model verification are presented. And the
III. INFLUENCE OF PMU NOISE ON TRADITIONAL FAULT distribution of the impedance method fault location error is
LOCATION ALGORITHM IN DISTRIBUTION NETWORK obtained by analyzing the sample space generated by the
Monte Carlo method. The Gaussian distribution of fault
A. Fault Location Algorithm location error is verified under two conditions: only the PMU
amplitude error or both amplitude error and phase angle error.
This paper takes single-ended impedance method and
double-ended impedance method as examples to analyze the
A. Distribution Verification of PMU Amplitude Measurement
influence of the PMU noise on fault location algorithm.
Noise
1) Noise distribution of the PMU measurement error
model
The noise sequence of the PMU measurement error model
is show in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. The method in section II-B is
adopted to fit the noise sequence; the fitting result is show in
TABLE I. The fitted curve is shown in Fig. 5. As the result
shows, the PMU measurement noise obeys Gaussian
distribution.
TABLE I. GAUSSIAN DISTRIBUTION FITTING RESULT OF PMU
MEASURMENT ERROR MODEL
Fig. 2. Single-phase to ground fault equivalent model
Accept
Fit curve equation R2 RMSE
assumptions
1) Single-ended impedance method 0.033*e(-(n-
current 1.00 7.01e-4 YES
When the phase to ground fault happens, the bus voltage 0.004)2*(0.562)-2)
and current are as shown in Fig. 2. Using the single-ended 0.031*e(-(n-
voltage 1.00 7.02e-4 YES
0.003)2*(0.354)-2)
information of the PMU, the steady-state fault condition is
described in (14). Separate (14) into real part and the imaginary
part and solve the equation, the fault distance can be calculated.


 measurement noise obeys the same distribution, i.e., the
distribution analysis result and the error model are valid.

TABLE II. GAUSSIAN DISTRIBUTION FITTING RESULT OF THE ACTUAL

PMU DATA

Accept
Fit curve equation R2 RMSE
assumptions
0.065*exp(-(n-
current 0.99 1.51e-3 YES
0.007)2*(1.562)-2)
0.068*exp(-(n-
voltage 1.00 1.70e-3 YES
0.008)2*(1.090)-2)

Fig. 3. Current noise sequence of the PMU measurement error model

Fig. 6. Current noise of the PMU data from EPFL

Fig. 4. Voltage noise sequence of the PMU measurement error model

Fig. 7. Voltage noise of the PMU data from EPFL

Fig. 5. Current and Voltage noise Distribution of the PMU model

2) PMU noise distribution of the actual data

The PMU amplitude measurement error model is verified
by the actual PMU measured data. The data comes from the
monitoring infrastructure of the EPFL campus smart grid pilot
project which available on the EPFL website [10]. The data
comes from five PMUs deployed in a 20kV active distribution
network with data records rate of 50 fps. This paper used the
continuous monitoring data recorded on June 1, 2016.
The current and voltage noise sequence is shown in Fig. 6
and Fig. 7. The Gaussian distribution fitting result is shown in
TABLE I, the fitted curve is shown in Fig. 8. As the result Fig. 8. Current and Voltage noise Distribution of the PMU data from EPFL
shows, the actual PMU measured noise and the modeling PMU


B. Fault Location Error Distribution with PMU Noise
The SNR is found for each type of data based on the
calculated standard deviation (į). It is defined as follows:

SNR= 20log(δ−1) (17)

1
ª1 N
º2
¦ (ηi − μ ) »
2
δ=« (18)
¬N i =1 ¼ Fig. 10. Distribution of single-ended impedance method location error with
different PMU SNR

N
1
μ=
N
¦η
i =1
i (19)

The standard of IEEE requires TVE within 1%, then the

amplitude error is in the range of 0.005% to 1%. The amplitude
error is set within the range of 0.06% to 1% in this paper, i.e.,
SNR is in the range of 25dB to 65dB. 45dB and above
corresponds to the M class PMU, and below 45dB corresponds
to the P class PMU.
Fig. 11. Distribution of double-ended impedance method location error with
The fault location with the PMU noise was simulated on different PMU SNR
the section MN of the distribution model as Fig. 9 shows. In
the simulation, the distribution of the impedance method fault
location error is obtained by analyzing the 4000-point sample TABLE III. AVERAGE GAUSSIAN DISTRIBUTION FITTING RESULT OF
space generated by the Monte Carlo method. LOCATION REEOR

Accept
R2 RMSE
assumptions
one-ended impedance
0.98 1.30e-3 YES
method
double-ended
0.98 1.50e-3 YES
impedance method
2) Consider both amplitude error and angle error of the
PMU data
At present, the best ȝPMU’s amplitude measurement error
can be limited within 0.2%, the angle error is within 0.02°
(National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFB0902800)),
Fig. 9. Distribution network model and amplitude measurement error corresponds to 54dB SNR.
In Fig. 12, the fault location error probabilities of the two
1) Only consider the amplitude error of the PMU data methods under the circumstance of 54dB amplitude SNR only
Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 show the fault location error probability or both 54dB amplitude SNR and 0.02°angle error is
distributions of the two location methods with different SNR of compared.
PMU noise. And the corresponding average Gaussian
distribution fitting results has shown in TABLE III.
The result shows: 1) as the SNR decreases (the noise
increases), the range of location error distribution increases,
i.e., the mathematical expectation of overall location error is
increasing, which indicates lower location accuracy; 2) In
general, the double-ended impedance method is superior in
accuracy perspective to the single-ended impedance method
with the same PMU SNR.

Fig. 12. The comparison of single-ended impendence method and double-

ended impendence method with 54dB SNR, 54dB SNR and 0.02°angle error


 The result shows: 1) The introduction of angle error
increases the location error, so the angle error cannot be
ignored if location accuracy requirement is high; 2) The
accuracy of the double-ended impedance method is higher than
the single-ended impedance method under either of the
circumstances. Thus, the double-ended impedance method
should be adopted if the location accuracy requirement is high.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper proposed a PMU amplitude measurement error
model, the distribution of the PMU measurement error is
verified and the distribution of the impedance method fault
location error is analyzed. A median filter was used to extract
the PMU noise sequence. The Monte Carlo method was used to
obtain the sample space of the fault location error under the
influence of the PMU noise. Both the PMU measurement error
data and the fault location error data were fitted with the GMM
then analyzed with the GOF method.
The conclusion was reached:
1) The PMU amplitude error and the location error under
the influence of the PMU amplitude error both obey the
Gaussian distribution;
2) The accuracy of impedance method is greatly influenced
by the PMU amplitude noise, and with decrease of the SNR the
accuracy of the impedance fault location method decreases.
Besides, the angle error cannot be ignored if location accuracy
requirement is high. In general, the double-ended impedance
method is better than the single-ended impedance method.
3) When the location accuracy requirement is not strict, in
order to save the cost, there are two viable solutions: The M
class PMU installed at one end of the line or P class PMU
installed at both ends of the line. When the location accuracy
requirement is strict, M class PMUs must be installed at both
ends.

The traditional impedance method has a relatively large
location error under the influence of the PMU measurement
error. And it still needs to be studied on how to enhance the
accuracy of the impedance method under the influence of PMU
noise.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper is Funded by the national key Program of China
(2017YFB0902800). Also, this paper thanks professor He
Jinghan and Wang Xiaojun for their guidance.
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