Single-cycle P Class phasor estimation based on harmonics whitening and off-nominal frequency offset adjustment

Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) are essential for real-time power system monitoring and control. In this paper, a novel algorithm for protection (i.e., P Class) PMUs is presented. The proposed algorithm consists of four steps: preliminary narrowband disturbance whitening; estimation of the off-nominal fundamental frequency offset through the Interpolated Discrete Time Fourier Transform (IpDFT); data record length adjustment to refine narrowband disturbance whitening over an integer number of fundamental periods; time-domain estimation of the Taylor's series coefficients of the synchrophasor function through a weighted least-squares estimator (after correction of possible static off-nominal deviations). The key novel contribution of the proposed approach is its superior ability to smooth harmonic disturbances over shorter observation intervals than many existing algorithms (which typically require at least two-cycle-long data records to meet P Class accuracy requirements), while ensuring a good tracking capability of transient events with a reasonable execution time. Several simulation and experimental results confirm that, in the case of multi-harmonic distortion, the proposed approach returns more accurate results than both the basic Taylor-series-based Weighted Least-Squares (TWLS) estimator and other whitening-based techniques, while ensuring compliance with P Class specifications even over one-cycle-long data records.