A State-of-the-art PMU based Monitoring
System with Intelligent Electronic Device using
Microcontroller
Ayindrila Roy, Jitendranath Bera, Member, IEEE, Gautam Sarkar
Abstract— The main objective of this paper is to monitor the
phasors of voltages and currents at the sending and receiving
ends of a transmission line using a microcontroller based Phasor
Measurement Unit (PMU). The PMU is designed and developed
to acquire the samples of voltage and current signals of the line
ends in a synchronized time reference frame. The voltage and
current samples from the PMUs are collected and stored in a PC
using a microcontroller based Intelligent Electronic Device (IED).
A MATLAB based front end graphical user interface (GUI) is
developed to acquire these data using the PC’s serial port. The
IED coordinates all the time synchronization pulses to the PMUs
and maintains a sequential routing for the data collection from
them. The overall functioning of the PMUs, IED and the GUI is
tested in a laboratory model of the power system and satisfactory
performance is obtained.
Index Terms—PMU, IED, GUI, Time synchronized pulses,
Power system
I. INTRODUCTION
I
nitially the electric grid was mainly designed as a vertical
structure consisting of generation, transmission, and
distribution with supporting control devices to maintain
reliability, stability and efficiency. The latest Electricity Act
opens up huge opportunities to the suppliers as well as
consumers regarding generation, distribution, import and
export of electricity and sharing of the power transmission
system. This makes the entire power scenario a complicated
network system. As a result, the system operators are now
facing new challenges including the penetration of rapid
power transport in the legacy system, rapid technological
changes, and different types of market players and end users.
The authors acknowledge CPRI Bangalore RSOP MOP GOI for providing
the infrastructural facilities procured from their sponsored project.
Ayindrila Roy is with Techno India College of Technology, Rajarhat,
Kolkata. ( e-mail: aroy_19@rediffmail.com).
Jitendranath Bera is with Department of Applied Physics, University
College of Science & Technology, 92, A.P.C. Road, Kolkata, India
(+919231513793; e-mail: jitendrabera@rediffmail.com).
Gautam Sarkar is with Department of Applied Physics, University College
of Science & Technology, 92, A.P.C. Road, Kolkata, India (+913323558442;
e-mail: gautamgs2010@yahoo.in).
978-1-4673-1669-9/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE
Hence the modern power grid needs to be equipped with
communication support schemes and real time measurement
techniques to enhance resiliency and forecasting as well as
protection against internal and external threats.
In order to fulfill the goals of the Electricity Act, now-a-days,
the modern power grid is built upon the concept of distributed
generation. It is equipped with the integration of the advanced
measurement, communication, computer, and control
techniques. Among all the state-of-the-art technologies in
building a modern power grid, the phasor measurement unit
(PMU) is an important and promising one. [1]
The electric power system constitutes one of the most vital
infrastructures supporting world economies. Therefore, its
stability and security are of utmost importance for successful
and efficient performance of interdependent critical
infrastructures. [2]
Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are power system devices
that provide synchronized measurements of real-time phasors
of voltages and currents [3]. Synchronization is achieved by
same-time sampling of voltage and current waveforms using
timing signals from the Global Positioning System Satellite
(GPS). Synchronized phasor measurements elevate the
standards of power system monitoring, control, and protection
to a new level. The Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU)
technology provides phasor information (both magnitude and
phase angle) in real time. The advantage of referring phase
angle to a global reference time is helpful in capturing the
wide area snap shot of the power system. Effective utilization
of this technology is very useful in mitigating blackouts and
learning the real time behavior of the power system [4]. Since
the bus voltage angle of a power system is very closely linked
with the behavior of a network, its real time measurement is a
powerful tool for operating a network [5, 6, 7, 8].
Being motivated with the above ideas, the authors try to
develop a state-of-the-art PMU based measurement scheme
with Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) using 89C51
microcontroller. The main objective of this work is to monitor
the voltage and current phasors at the sending and receiving
ends of a transmission line using a microcontroller based
Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU). The PMU is used to
acquire the samples of voltage and current signals of the line
ends in a synchronized time reference frame. The voltage and
current samples from the PMUs are collected and stored in a
PC using 89C51 microcontroller based Intelligent Electronic
Device (IED). A MATLAB based front end graphical user
interface (GUI) is developed to acquire these data using the
PC’s serial port. The IED coordinates all the time
synchronization pulses to the PMUs and maintains a
sequential routing for the data collection from them.
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
A. Fundamentals of PMU
The basic function of a PMU is to provide real time phasor
information, both in magnitude and phase angle. Several
PMUs can be placed at different corners of a power system in
order to collect the latest running information of their phasors
from a centralized monitoring station. By referring the phase
angle to a global reference time it is possible to capture the
wide area snap shot of the power system. Effective utilization
of this technology will not only help in mitigating blackouts
but also provide information regarding the real time behavior
of the power system.
Usually a pure sinusoidal waveform is represented by its
unique phasor which is basically a complex number. Let there
be a pure sinusoidal signal represented as
x( t ) = X m cos( ωt + φ ) (1)
The phasor representation of this sinusoid is given by
Xm Xm
x(t ) = e jϕ = (cos ϕ + j sin ϕ ) (2)
2 2
It can be therefore, concluded from equation (2) that the
signal frequency ω is not explicitly stated in the phasor
representation. The magnitude of the phasor is the rms value
Xm
of the sinusoid and its phase angle is φ [7].
2
The basic idea behind the development of the concept of
PMU technology is to measure and monitor the phase
information of the voltage and current signals of the different
buses over a distributed transmission network. This will help
the system operators to maintain the healthiness of the
network. Thus, PMU demands the measurements to be made
at common sampling instants so that a comparison of the
phase voltages and angles between the buses can be made. The
synchronization is achieved by same-time sampling of voltage
and current waveforms using timing signals from different
common time reference frame, one of them may be the Global
Positioning System (GPS) Satellite.
A detailed insight shows that a PMU runs of its own
sampling time which is actually synchronized by the common
time reference frame with the utilization of a PLL system.
B. Experimentation
Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the proposed work.
The two Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) can be placed at
the transmitting and receiving ends of a transmission line
respectively. For testing the performance of the PMUs, two of
them have been stationed at two different plug ends in the
laboratory and the corresponding data are acquired.
The terminal voltages are stepped down using potential
transformers before they are sampled using the
microcontroller based data acquisition systems of the PMU.
Similarly, the current signals are stepped down using current
transformers before they are fed to the respective PMUs. Both
the PMUs have a microcontroller based data acquisition
systems and have their own internal clocks. In the present
work, the synchronizing pulse for the sampling instants has
been provided to the PMUs from the microcontroller based
Intelligent Electronic Device (IED). The synchronizing pulse
consists of 50 frames / second (fps). The internal clocks of the
PMUs are so programmed that they start generating pulses @
1ms interval for 20 ms duration as soon as they receive the
synchronizing command from the IED. After generating
pulses for one complete cycle, the clock generation will stop
till the next synchronizing command is received from the IED.
In this way the synchronization of the two PMUs is achieved.
Since the IED accepts the data from any one PMU at a time,
both the PMUs wait for the “data request” command from the
IED. The IED sends the “data request” command along with
the address of the PMU one after another. The PMU responds
to this command only when its own address is matched with
that of the command by transmitting the voltage and current
samples to the IED for its storage and analysis. The stored
data can be displayed in the PC using a MATLAB based
graphical user interface (GUI).
Fig. 1. Block Diagram of the proposed work
III. DETAILS OF PMU BLOCK
Figure 2 shows a detailed block diagram of a PMU
interfaced with IED. The IED basically consists of a
microcontroller (89C51) based Phasor Data Concentrator
(PDC) serially interfaced with a PC. Each PMU is interfaced
with the PDC using RS485 protocol.
The phase voltage and phase current of the respective
phases are stepped down using CT, PT and suitably connected
resistances and voltage dividers. The sampling of a signal by
the ADC is initiated by the microcontroller as soon as it
receives the “synchronizing” command from the IED.
Similarly, for transmitting the data samples to the PDC, the
microcontroller has to wait for the “data request” command
from the PDC. In order to get the amplitude, the sampled
values are to be multiplied with the proper calibration
constants. The phase angles of the respective waveforms are
monitored from the zero crossing instants of the samples and
the sampling rate. The difference between the two phase
angles obtained will give the resultant phase angle difference
between the two waveforms. The 8-bit output data of the ADC
is fed to any I/O port of the microcontroller. The data from the
microcontroller is then serially transmitted to the PDC using
RS485 protocol.
Fig. 2. Block Diagram of a PMU interfaced with IED
IV. DETAILS OF IED
The IED consists of two parts, namely, a microcontroller
(89C51) based PDC and a MATLAB based GUI as shown in
the figure 3. The main function of the PDC is to synchronize
the PMUs by transmitting a “synchronizing command”
comprising of 50 frames / second to both the PMUs. This
command is generated by the PDC with the help of a Real
Time Clock (RTC). The clock pulses of 4 kHz, generated by
the RTC, interrupt the microcontroller within the PDC. The
interrupt subroutine of the microcontroller is written in such a
way that it divides the 4 kHz signal into 50 frames / second
that constitute the “synchronizing command” of the PDC.
The microcontroller in the PMU generates a reference
clock pulse on receipt of the synchronizing command. As
shown in figure 4, “Ref Clk” denotes the time period of the
“synchronizing command”. This reference clock pulse of
25Hz is fed to a PLL in order to get the output frequency of
the at 1kHz which is also the sampling frequency of the
ADCs. This signal is indicated by “PLL Output” in figure 4. In
this way the synchronization of the sampling instants of the
ADCs in the PMUs is achieved.
The ADCs in the PMU sample the data @ 1kHz for one
complete cycle and wait for the next “synchronizing”
command from the PDC. Thus, 20 numbers of samples of the
voltage / current signal are present in 50 millisecond duration.
In between two successive “synchronizing commands”, the
PDC can send the “data request” command, along with the
address of the PMU to each PMU, one after the other, to begin
the data transmission process. This ensures that at any time the
PDC communicates with any one PMU. The PDC receives
and stores the corresponding data to display in the MATLAB
based GUI.
RS485
CONVERTER
PDC
MAX P
RTC 232 C
Fig. 3. Schematic Diagram of the IED
REF CLK
Time
PLL OUTPUT
Fig. 4. Figure showing reference clock pulses and the output pulses generated
from the PLL
V. MEASUREMENT DETAILS
To obtain the voltage and current phasors corresponding to
a particular instant, the samples of voltage and current are
required. In the IED, provision has been made for the storage
of samples of both voltage and current signals. Once the
required numbers of data samples have been stored in the IED,
the corresponding peak or rms values can be easily obtained
by comparing the instantaneous values with one another.
To calculate the phase angle difference between any two
waveforms, a MATLAB based program is used. The zero
crossing instants of the two signals on the rising or falling
edges are first determined. The zero crossing instants are
indicated when the sample values change from positive to
negative or vice versa. If a zero crossing instant exists between
two samples, the region between the two samples is further
subdivided into hundred linear samples. Each of these new
samples is further tested for zero values. In this way the zero
crossing angles is determined for the waveforms.
VI. RESULTS
Figure 5 shows the experimental set up of the hardware that
has been used in the laboratory to implement the proposed
PMU based system. For testing the performance of the PMUs,
two of them have been stationed at two different plug ends in
the laboratory and the corresponding data are acquired. The
PDC and the PC together constitutes the IED of the system.
The PMUs and the PC are interfaced with the IED as per the
above mentioned protocol.
Figure 6 shows the snapshot of the MATLAB based GUI
that has been used to display the waveforms of the sending
and receiving end voltages. Provision has been made in the
GUI for the corresponding phasor as well as waveform
representation of the two signals. The phase angles can be
obtained from the zero crossing instants of the samples and the
sampling rate. The difference between the two phase angles
obtained gives the resultant phase angle difference between • The GPS system is avoided here by sending the time
the concerned two waveforms. synchronized pulses from the IED. This reduces the cost of
using GPS receiver with each PMU.
PC • However, a PLL can be used for better time
PMU PMU
synchronization for data acquisition with high sampling rate.
Here hardware based PLL is not utilized, instead, a
microcontroller based clock source is utilized for sampling
intervals.

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• The IED generates the time synchronization pulses @50 “Wide Area Measurement and Control Using Phasor Measurement Unit
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8887).
PMU runs of its own clock (@ 1kHz) with time synchronized
pulses for IED.
• The phase angle is calculated from the voltage or current
samples of both the ends by comparing the zero crossing
instants of the respective signal samples. A rough estimation
of the angle can be evaluated by this way since the samples do
not always fall on the zero line. For exact measurement an
interpolation technique can be adopted to know the exact zero
crossing points.
• The system is designed in such a way that all the data
samples can be collected by the IED and can also be stored in
the PC. This mechanism may be helpful in studying the
abnormal conditions of any bus. At present it is utilized only
to measure the phase angles and their amplitudes.
• The system is tested with two PMUs at both ends. For
higher number of PMUs the communication speed is to be
increased in such a way that in between the time synchronized
pulses all the data should reach to the IED. This requires a
higher bandwidth of the communication channel.
• For a limited bandwidth channel, the IED should be
intelligent enough to collect only the amplitude and phase
information from the PMU and for any abnormal condition
only, all the samples can be requested.