Harmonic Frequency Estimation

of Power Systems
J. K. Wu, Member, IEEE, B. T. He, Y. Hu, D. S. Luo and Y. Liang

and at the same time also employ much more computation.

Abstract—This paper presents a hybrid technique for This shortcoming will influence application of these
harmonic frequency estimation of non-sinusoidal signals of power techniques in real-time cases. In this paper, a technique
systems with high order harmonics using central numerical different from these existing techniques is presented. The
differentiation and digital FIR filter algorithm. A digital low-pass proposed technique employs low-pass and band-pass FIR
FIR filter is used to obtain the discrete values of the fundamental filters to decompose the non-sinusoidal signal into individual
sinusoidal component, and a set of digital band-pass FIR filter is
applied to compute the discrete values of the harmonic
sinusoidal components, and then estimate the frequency of
component. Using 6 points numerical differentiation, these each individual sinusoidal components using central
discrete values are used for fundamental and harmonic frequency numerical differentiation with 6 points. It needs at most 2
estimation. For a signal with 20 harmonics, the technique cycles for harmonic frequency estimation, so that it can be
requires at most 2 cycles(40ms) for the first time of estimation applied to real-time application cases.
computation, and requires at most 1 cycle for the latter
estimation. Comparing with other existing techniques, the II. THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
proposed algorithm is characteristic of high accuracy and much
less time. With satisfactory results, a study example is given to A. Digital FIR Filter
illustrate the proposed algorithm in Matlab. Filtering is a process of selecting certain frequency
components of a multiple-harmonic signal. FIR filters are
Index Terms—power systems, harmonic frequency estimation, often used because they are simple and easy to
non-sinusoidal signal, signal decomposition, numerical implement[23]-[26]. Using dot product, the output of FIR
differentiation, digital FIR filter filter is sum of the results of dot product of filter coefficients
and the most recent n data samples, as shown in Fig.1
I. INTRODUCTION
Quality of power supply is now a major issue worldwide x(n) x(n − 1) x(n − 2) x(n − M )
delay delay delay
making harmonic analysis an essential element not only in
power system planning and design but also in instrumentation h(1) h(2) h(3) h(M )
and meter measurement. Harmonic frequency is a important
task in harmonic Analysis. Accurate power fundamental and
other harmonic frequency is a necessity to check the state of
health of power index, and a guarantee for accurate
quantitative measurement of power parameters such as
voltages, currents, active power and energy, reactive power ∑
and energy, and so on, in multi-function power meters under Fi l t er y ( n) =
M
∑ h ( k ) x( n − k )
steady states. Many of well-proven techniques have been used out k =1
for this purpose, such as zero crossing technique [1]-[2], level
Fig.1 Digital FIR filter
crossing technique [3], least squares error technique[4]-[6],
Newton method [7], Kalman filter [8]–[12], Fourier
Let h(1), h(2),..., h( M ) be the coefficients of a finite
transform[13]-[19], wavelet transform [19]-[22] for power
harmonic frequency estimation bring in more benefits in the impulse response (FIR) filter of length M . Using input
fields of measurement, instrumentation, control and monitor signal x(n) , the filter output signal y (n) is defined by the
of power systems. These techniques show very good results in following equation:
fundamental and harmonic frequency estimation. However, M
one of shortcomings of these techniques is that they need at
y (n) = ∑ h( k ) x ( n − k ) (1)
k =1
least two and half cycle(50ms)[13] for frequency estimation The function of the frequency response is defined by :
H (e jω ) = H (ω ) e jθ (ω ) (2)
Wu J. K. is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Guangxi University,
530004 P. R. China. Wu J. K. and B. T. He are with the Department of where H (ω ) is amplitude function:
Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, 310027 P. R. China. Wu J. K., Y.
Hu and D. S. Luo are with AUX Group, Liang Y. is with the Department of
Computer Science and Information, Guangxi University, 530004 P. R. China.
 M
∑ h(k )e− jkω
300
H (ω ) = (3)
k =1 200

and θ (ω ) is phase function: 100

Amplitude
M −1 0

θ (ω ) =- ω (4) -1 0 0
2
B. Windowed Digital FIR Filter -2 0 0

If the desired frequency response H d (e jω ) is defined, the -3 0 0

0 20 40 60 80 100
T im e
inverse Fourier transform is usually used to calculate the filter Fig2. Prototype wave of fundamental component of non-sinusoidal signals with
coefficients: 20 order harmonics
1 π 400

hd (n) = H d ( e jω ) e jω n dω (5)
2π −π
∫
200

Generally, hd (n) is an infinite sequence, and h(n) is a

0

Amplitude
finite sequence. Using these coefficients based on the inverse
Fourier transform will only approximate the desired response -2 0 0

because the number of filter coefficients is finite. Therefore, a -4 0 0

window function may be applied to truncate the infinite filter

coefficients. If a cutoff frequency ω c is given, we have: -6 0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100
T im e

1 π Fig 3. Fundamental component of 20 order harmonics signals using a low-pass

h(n) = H d (e jθ )W (e j (ω −θ ) )dθ (6)
2π −π
∫
digital filter with M=100, f c =2000Hz

where W (e jω ) is the frequency response window function

400
w(n) :
200
M
W ( e jω ) = ∑ w(k )e − jkω (7)
k =1
0
Amplitude

If Hamming window is used, the frequency response of -2 0 0

FIR filter can be expressed:

-4 0 0

H w (e jω ) = H w (ω ) e jθ w (ω ) (8)
-6 0 0
where H w (ω ) is amplitude function: 0 20 40
T im e
60 80 100

Fig 4. Fundamental component of 20 order harmonics signals using a low-pass

1 π
H w (ω ) = H d (θ )W R (ω − θ )dθ (9) digital filter with M=100, f c =500Hz
2π −π
∫

where W R (ω ) is the frequency response of Hamming window

300

200
function. 100
C. Signal Decomposition
Amplitude

0
In power systems, the voltage and current signals always
-1 0 0
include high order harmonics, and in some cases the
-2 0 0
harmonics in these non-sinusoidal signals are also always not
integral ones. In order to estimate the frequency of these non- -3 0 0

integral harmonics, in this paper, we decompose the non- -4 0 0

0 20 40 60 80 100
T im e
sinusoidal signals into different sinusoidal signals in different Fig 5. Fundamental component of 20 order harmonics signals using a low-pass
frequency scope using FIR filter based on Hamming window. digital filter with M=100, f c =400Hz
Low-pass and band-pass filters are used to implement this aim.
The FIR filter coefficients, h(k )( k = 1,2,..., M ) , is different
300

200
if the cutoff frequency in low-pass filters is set different value,
and the filtering results are different, as shown in Fig.2-Fig.9. 100
Amplitude

It is assumed that the harmonic frequency are greater than 0

50Hz. For fundamental frequency, a low-pass FIR filter with a -1 0 0

cutoff frequency of 60Hz is used. For high order harmonic
-2 0 0
frequency, band-pass FIR filters with a pass-band frequency
of 60Hz are used. After sampling the non-sinusoidal signal -3 0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100
T im e
with a sampling frequency of f s , based on these sampling Fig 6. Fundamental component of 20 order harmonics signals using a low-pass
data sequences, we can decompose the non-sinusoidal signal digital filter with M=100, f c =300Hz
into fundamental sinusoidal signal and other sinusoidal signals
of non- integral harmonic.
 M
300
y 2 ( n) = ∑ h2 ( k ) x( n − k ) (12)
200 k =1

Amplitude 100
where y 2 (n) is discrete value of the sinusoidal component in
0
frequency band [60,120], h2 (k ) is the coefficients of the
-1 0 0
band-pass FIR filter for frequency band [60,120].
In the same way, a lower cutoff frequency f i ,c ,low of
-2 0 0
i × 60 Hz and a higher cutoff frequency f i,c , high of i × 120 Hz
-3 0 0
0 20 40 60 80 1 00
Tim e are set to a band-pass FIR filter, the discrete equation of the
Fig 7. Fundamental component of 20 order harmonics signals using a low-pass i th sinusoidal component in frequency band [ i × 60 , i × 120 ]
digital filter with M=100, f c =200Hz is obtained:
M
∑ hi ( k ) x ( n − k )
300
y i ( n) = (13)
k =1
200

100
where hi (k ) is the coefficients of the band-pass FIR filter for
Amplitude

0
frequency band [ i × 60 , i × 120 ], i is band-pass FIR filter
-1 0 0
f
-2 0 0
number, i = 2,..., I , I = s . The sampling frequency f s
60
-3 0 0
0 20 40
T im e
60 80 100 depends on the harmonic number K , and f s should be
Fig 8. Fundamental component of 20 order harmonics signals using a low-pass integer fold of 60.
digital filter with M=100, f c =100Hz After digital filtering of one time of low-pass FIR filter and
100 digital filtering of I time of band-pass FIR filter, all
sinusoidal components in the non-sinusoidal signal are filtered
50
out.
D, Frequency Estimation of Sinusoidal Signals
Amplitude

0
A sinusoidal signal with a frequency of f is written as follow:
-5 0 x(t ) = V sin(2πft + φ ) (14)
-1 0 0
where φ is the phase angle of the sinusoidal signal.
0 20 40 60 80 100
T im e
After sampled with a sampling frequency of f s , the
Fig 9. Fundamental component of 20 order harmonics signals using a low-pass
digital filter with M=100, f c =60Hz discrete-time sequence of the sinusoidal signal can be
rewritten:
nT
A non-sinusoidal signal with K order non-integral x(n) = V sin(2πf + φ ) = V sin( 2πft s + φ ) (15)
harmonics has the following formula: N
x(t ) = V1 sin( 2πf 1t + φ1 ) + V 2 sin( 2πf 2 t + φ 2 ) +… nT
where t s = .
V K sin( 2πf K t + φ K ) (10) N
where f1 < f 2 < f 3 < ... < f K . The 1st order differentiation of x(n) with respect to t s is:
Using a low-pass FIR filter with a cutoff frequency f c of nT
x ' (n) = 2πfV cos(2πf +φ) (16)
60Hz, the fundamental sinusoidal signals can be split out of N
the non-sinusoidal signal, and the output y1 (n) of the low- The 2nd order differentiation of v (n) is:
pass FIR filter in discrete time is written: nT
x '' (n) =- (2πf ) 2 V sin(2πf
+ φ) (17)
M N
y1 (n) = ∑ h1 (k ) x(n − k ) (11)
Based on the numerical differentiation[27]-[30], we can
k =1
where h1 (k ) is the coefficients of the low-pass FIR filter for compute the x '' (n) by:
frequency band [0,60], x(n) is the sampling data sequence 1
x '' ( n ) = − {490 x( p) − 270 x[( p + 3) + ( p + 3)]
with a sampling frequency of f s , n = 1,2,..., N , N is 180h 2
sampling number in a period of power system signals. + 27 x[( p + 2) + ( p + 2)]
Filtering the non-sinusoidal signal using a pass-band - 2 x[( p + 1) + ( p + 1)] (18)
frequency of a band-pass FIR filter with a lower cutoff From (17), we have:
frequency f 2,c,low of 60Hz and a higher cutoff
x '' (n) =- (2πf ) 2 x(n) (i = 1,2,..., I ) (19)
frequency f 2,c, high of 120Hz, we can filter the sinusoidal Using (19), the frequency of the sinusoidal signal is
signal out of non-sinusoidal signal in frequency band [60,120]: estimated by:
 f =
1 − x '' ( n )
(20)
St art
2π x ( n)
E, Harmonic Frequency Estimation
Gi ven N, K , M , I
Using digital FIR filter, we can obtain the discrete value of
each sinusoidal component of the non-sinusoidal signal with
Comput e h(k) of l ow-pass FI R f i l t er
K order non-integral harmonics. The split sinusoidal
component out of the non-sinusoidal signal may be expressed i =2
mathematically in continuous time:
x i (t ) = Vi sin( 2πf i t + φ i ) (21) Comput e h(k) of band-pass FI R f i l t er
Using the discrete value of each sinusoidal component of f or [ i *60, i *120]
the non-sinusoidal signal, we can estimate the frequency of
each sinusoidal component of the non-sinusoidal signal by No i =I ?
respectively:

fi =
1 − y i'' (n)
(22) Yes
2π y i (n)
sampl e t he si gnal and obt ai n x(n)
III. IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS comput e y1( n)
The algorithm proposed in this paper needs main steps for
implementing harmonic frequency estimation of non- est i mat i on of f undament al f requency f1
sinusoidal signals with high order harmonics. First, the non-
sinusoidal signal is sampled to obtain the sampling data i =2
sequence. Second, digital low-pass and band-pass FIR filter
are used to decompose the non-sinusoidal signal into
individual sinusoidal component. Third, numerical comput e yi (n)
differentiation is used to estimate the frequency of individual
sinusoidal component of the non-sinusoidal signal. The est i mat i on of harmoni c f requency fi
detailed steps for algorithm implementation are written as
follow:
i =I ? No
Step 1: Given band-pass FIR filter number, i = 2,..., I .
Step 2: Given harmonic number, K .
Step 3: Given sample number, N . Yes
Step 4: Given low-pass and band-pass FIR filter delay number, end
M,
Step 5: Given the sampling frequency f s according to the Fig. 10. Block diagram of algorithm implementation
harmonic number.
Step 16: Compute the discrete output y i (n) of the band-pass
Step 6: Set the cutoff frequency f c =60Hz.
FIR filter using equation (13).
Step 7: Set a lower cutoff frequency f i ,c ,low of i × 60 Hz and a
Step 17: Compute the 2nd numerical differentiation y i'' (n) of
higher cutoff frequency f i,c , high of i × 120 Hz for band-pass
y i (n) using equation (18),
FIR filters, i = 2,..., I .
Step 18: Estimate the ith order harmonic frequency f i of the
Step 8: Compute h1 (k ) ( k = 1,2,..., M ) coefficients of low-
non-sinusoidal signal using equation (22).
pass FIR filter.
Step 19: i = i + 1 .
Step 9:Compute hi (k ) ( k = 1,2,..., M , i = 2,3,..., I ) coefficients Step 20:
i = I ? if No, then go to Step 14; if Yes, then end the
of band-pass FIR filter. algorithm work.
Step 10: Sample the non-sinusoidal signal with a sampling The block diagram of the proposed algorithm
frequency of f s and obtain sampling data sequence x(n) . implementation is shown in Fig.10.
Step 11: Compute the discrete output y1 (n) of the low-pass
FIR filter using equation (11). IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
Step 12: Compute the 2nd numerical differentiation y1'' (n) of Given the following non-sinusoidal signal with 5 harmonic
components:
y1 (n) using equation (18), setting p = 6 .
v (t ) = V1 sin( 2πf1t + φ1 ) + V 2 sin( 2πf 2 t + φ 2 )
Step 13: Estimate the fundamental frequency f1 of the non-
+ V3 sin( 2πf 3 t + φ 3 ) + V 4 sin( 2πf 4 t + φ 4 )
sinusoidal signal using equation (22).
Step 14: set i=2. + V5 sin( 2πf 5 t + φ 5 ) (23)
 TABLE I TABLE V
FREQUENCY ESTIMATION OF THE 1ST HARMONIC OF NON-SINUSOIDAL SIGNALS FREQUENCY ESTIMATION OF THE 5TH HARMONIC OF NON-SINUSOIDAL SIGNALS
No. Real(Hz) Measurement(Hz) Error(%) No. Real(Hz) Measurement(Hz) Error(%)
1 43.798 43.805709378529 0.01760 1 711.461 711.135715474966 -0.04576
2 56.808 56.778790577140 -0.05222 2 736.537 736.850747136908 0.04254
3 55.678 55.634172294915 -0.07923 3 756.677 756.549742377631 -0.01685
4 50.592 50.611517528949 0.03892 4 767.395 767.009453758398 -0.05022
5 50.503 50.522448988977 0.03913 5 799.558 798.206281036540 -0.16904
6 53.050 53.088279506858 0.07218 6 769.309 768.962395398337 -0.04507
7 52.462 52.489614559053 0.05258 7 736.031 735.556711452488 -0.06445
8 57.680 57.651256017834 -0.04897 8 726.177 725.847732688211 -0.04534
9 58.251 58.220754565227 -0.05140 9 704.928 704.726358564305 -0.02858
10 59.405 59.362213904591 -0.07195 10 770.086 769.842094603447 -0.03164

TABLE II 0.125

FREQUENCY ESTIMATION OF THE 2ND HARMONIC OF NON-SINUSOIDAL SIGNALS 0.12

No. Real(Hz) Measurement(Hz) Error(%) 0.115
1 236.757 236.540730267910 -0.09126
0.11
2 271.763 271.810023079105 0.01714

Error(%)
0.105
3 207.801 207.233682948496 -0.27292
0.1
4 245.436 245.667242094018 0.09441
5 235.325 235.031088616644 -0.12492 0.095

6 267.564 267.184718825868 -0.14193 0.09

7 209.764 209.346958174646 -0.19881 0.085
180 200 220 240 260
8 218.253 218.791157146924 0.24669 A m p lit u t e (V )
9 255.484 255.694600430386 0.08235 Fig 11. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 1st harmonic for
10 245.075 245.281138066653 0.08395 the amplitude of the 1st harmonic

4
TABLE III
FREQUENCY ESTIMATION OF THE 3RD HARMONIC OF NON-SINUSOIDAL SIGNALS 3

No. Real(Hz) Measurement(Hz) Error(%)

2
1 386.755 387.512494735284 0.19587
Error(%)

1
2 387.038 387.740104284213 0.18138
3 313.701 313.421283257627 -0.08916 0

4 327.502 327.119999313057 -0.11674

-1
5 389.032 389.729792419920 0.17932
6 368.732 368.088270702431 -0.17468 -2
0 100 200 300 400
7 316.603 317.106186805877 0.15878 P h a s e a n g le
Fig 12. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 1st harmonic for
8 319.112 319.351494528245 0.07517
the phase angle of the 1st harmonic
9 385.598 387.061667738022 0.37970
10 381.593 380.986865779612 -0.15897
0

-0 . 1
TABLE IV
FREQUENCY ESTIMATION OF THE 4TH HARMONIC OF NON-SINUSOIDAL SIGNALS -0 . 2

No. Real(Hz) Measurement(Hz) Error(%) -0 . 3

Error(%)

1 539.718 539.744700002272 0.00487

-0 . 4
2 565.521 565.567944217373 0.00825
-0 . 5
3 502.551 502.280007841944 -0.05394
4 542.525 542.711510160262 0.03432 -0 . 6

5 556.574 556.875910672126 0.05427 -0 . 7

0 10 20 30 40 50
6 551.131 551.237111649715 0.01923 A m p lit u t e (V )
7 548.935 548.747716279557 -0.03404 Fig 13. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 2nd harmonic for
the amplitude of the 2nd harmonic
8 570.064 570.209562989369 0.02562
9 589.625 589.448983129791 -0.02990
10 570.357 570.629492696229 0.04782
 0.3 0.3

0.2 0.2

0.1
0.1
0
Error(%)

Error(%)
0
-0 . 1
-0 . 1
-0 . 2
-0 . 2
-0 . 3

-0 . 4 -0 . 3

-0 . 5 -0 . 4
0 100 200 300 400 0 100 200 300 400
P h a s e a n g le P h a s e a n g le
Fig 14. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 2nd harmonic for Fig 18. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 4th harmonic for
the phase angle of the 2nd harmonic the phase angle of the 4th harmonic

0 -0 . 0 5

-0 .1
-2
-0 . 1 5

-0 .2
-4

Error(%)
Error(%)

-0 . 2 5

-6 -0 .3

-0 . 3 5
-8
-0 .4

-0 . 4 5
-1 0 0 10 20 30 40 50
0 10 20 30 40 50
A m p lit u t e (V )
A m p lit u t e (V )
Fig 15. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 3rd harmonic for Fig 19. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 5th harmonic for
the amplitude of the 3rd harmonic the amplitude of the 5th harmonic

0 .5
5

0
0

-0 .5
Error(%)
Error(%)

-5
-1

-1 0
-1 .5

-1 5 -2
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 0 100 2 00 300 400
P h a s e a n g le P h a s e a n g le
Fig 16. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 3rd harmonic for Fig 20. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 5th harmonic for
the phase angle of the 3rd harmonic the phase angle of the 5th harmonic

2 where f i , Vi and φ i is the frequency, amplitude and phase

angle of the ith harmonic component respectively. f i , Vi and
1.5 φ i is all unknown.
We assume that f1 varies from 40Hz to 60Hz, f 2 varies
Error(%)

1
from 200Hz to 300Hz, f 3 varies from 300Hz to 400Hz, f 4
varies from 500Hz to 600Hz, and f 5 varies from 700Hz to
0.5
800Hz. The fundamental amplitude varies from 0V to 300V,
and other harmonic amplitude vary from 0V to 100V. The
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
phase angle of all components varies from 0 to 360.
A m p lit u t e (V ) Table I shows the dynamic characteristic of the proposed
Fig 17. Sensitivity analysis of frequency estimation of the 4th harmonic for
algorithm for the fundamental frequency estimation. From the
the amplitude of the 4th harmonic
data of Table I, the estimation error is at most 0.08% when its
value varies from 40Hz to 60Hz. Fig.11 and Fig.12 shows the
sensitivity analysis of the fundamental frequency estimation
for the amplitude and phase angle of the 1st component of the
non-sinusoidal signal respectively. With the amplitude of the
1st component of the non-sinusoidal signal varying from 180V
to 260V, the estimation error decreases, and when the phase
angle of the 1st component of the non-sinusoidal signal varies
from 0 to 360, the algorithm also does very well.
Table II shows the dynamic characteristic of the proposed
algorithm for the 2nd harmonic frequency estimation and
Fig.13 and Fig.14 shows the sensitivity analysis of the 2nd
harmonic frequency estimation for the amplitude and phase
angle of the 2nd component of the non-sinusoidal signal
respectively. From the data of Table II, the estimation error is
at most 0.4% when its value varies from 200Hz to 300Hz.
With the amplitude of the 2nd component of the non-
sinusoidal signal varying from 0V to 50V, the estimation error
increases from –0.8% to 0.
Table III shows the dynamic characteristic of the proposed
algorithm for the 3rd harmonic frequency estimation and
Fig.15 and Fig.16 shows the sensitivity analysis of the 3rd
harmonic frequency estimation for the amplitude and phase
angle of the 3rd component of the non-sinusoidal signal
respectively. From the data of Table III, the estimation error
is at most 0.3% when its value varies from 300Hz to 400Hz.
With the amplitude of the 3rd component of the non-
sinusoidal signal varying from 0V to 50V, the estimation error
increases from –6% to 0.
Table IV shows the dynamic characteristic of the proposed
algorithm for the 4th harmonic frequency estimation and
Fig.17 and Fig.18 shows the sensitivity analysis of the 3rd
harmonic frequency estimation for the amplitude and phase
angle of the 4th component of the non-sinusoidal signal
respectively. From the data of Table IV, the estimation error
is at most 0.06% when its value varies from 500Hz to 600Hz.
With the amplitude of the 4th component of the non-sinusoidal
signal varying from 0V to 50V, the estimation error decreases
from 0.5% to 0.
Table V shows the dynamic characteristic of the proposed
algorithm for the 5th harmonic frequency estimation and
Fig.19 and Fig.20 shows the sensitivity analysis of the 3rd
harmonic frequency estimation for the amplitude and phase
angle of the 5th component of the non-sinusoidal signal
respectively. From the data of Table V, the estimation error is
at most 0.3% when its value varies from 700Hz to 800Hz.
With the amplitude of the 5th component of the non-
sinusoidal signal varying from 0V to 50V, the estimation error
increases from –0.5% to –0.02%.
In table VI, the estimation results and errors of the
NDF(Numerical Differentiation and FIR algorithm) are
compared to other techniques, such as DFT(Discrete Fourier
Transform), CWT(Continuous Wavelet Transform) and E-
FFT(Enhanced Fast Fourier Transform) algorithm. The data
of DFT and CWT algorithm is obtained from [21], and the
data of E-FFT is from [19]. Comparing the conventional
techniques, the proposed algorithm shows good features.
In table VII, the time for frequency estimation of the NDF
algorithm is compared to other techniques. The computation
time of DFT, SDFT and CWT algorithm are all obtained from
[13]. If the harmonic order is smaller than 8, the time spent
for frequency estimation by the algorithm proposed in this
paper requires at most one and half cycle(always lesser than
0.3s.) in the first estimation, and requires at most half
cycle(lesser than 0.2s.) in the latter estimation. If the
harmonic order is greater than 8 and smaller than 20, it
requires at most 2 cycles in the first estimation and requires at
most 1 cycle in the latter estimation. It is seen that the
algorithm proposed in this paper is the fastest method for
frequency estimation because of adoption of numerical
differentiation in it.
TABLE VI
ESTIMATION RESULTS COMPARING TO OTHER TECHNIQUES
True NDF DFT E-FFT CWT
50.0 49.98801 49.99 49.99 50.01
86.6 86.56821 86.64 86.59 86.62
150.0 149.9449 149.96 150.0 150.02
TABLE VII
ESTIMATION TIME COMPARING TO OTHER TECHNIQUES
NDF SDFT DFT Prony
time(s) ≤ 0.4 0.54 0.71 2.03
V. CONCLUSIONS
The methodology to the proposed algorithm for harmonic
frequency estimation is to decompose the non-sinusoidal
signal with high order harmonics into different individual
sinusoidal components and then estimate the frequency of
each decomposed sinusoidal components using numerical
differentiation. Numerical differentiation algorithm is
characteristic of high accuracy and much less time. For a non-
sinusoidal signal with 20 order harmonics, the proposed
algorithm needs at most 2 cycles, 40ms, in the first estimation
process, and needs at most 1 cycle, 20ms, in the latter
estimation. For a non-sinusoidal signal with 8 order harmonics,
the proposed algorithm requires at most one and half cycle,
30ms, in the first estimation process, and requires at most half
cycle, 10ms, in the latter estimation. Some existing techniques
always employ such algorithms as FFT, DFT and CWT to
estimate the harmonic frequency of non-sinusoidal signals,
and speed much time on computation.
As a whole, the estimation error of the proposed algorithm
can be not greater than 0.4%, and most be lesser than 0.1%.
Moreover, with change in the amplitudes and phase angles of
fundamental and other harmonic components, the frequency
accuracy is not affected.
VI. REFERENCES
[1] P. J. Moore, R. D. Carranza and A. T. Johns, "Model system tests on a
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