Matlab Scada
Matlab Scada
Matlab Scada
user sees the state of the system frozen at that point. For
the application to be able to accomplish this, there must be
Clients may include visualization tools, spreadsheets, databases,
some means of taking the rapidly updated content of the and any other application that complies to OPC standards.
to the same point in time. Otherwise, the node’s angle will voltage stability issues. The software should be able to
be shown incorrectly. Thus, an angle measurement reveal both types of maladies.
shouldn’t be updated unless the raw measurement and the
associated reference have the same timestamp. 5. Types of Displays
Because measurements may fail occasionally, the
software must permit the reference node to be reassigned Table 1 provided just a few examples of the types of
to a different location. If the PMU reports a quality flag, data a display platform might be able to access. With so
the software may detect a problem at the current reference much data available to be shown, choosing the proper
automatically and simply select a different node that has a types of displays and their content becomes a very
valid quality flag as reference. If the PMU does not report important task. Now that the retrieval of phasor
quality information, the software must allow the user to measurements has been discussed, it is important to
select the reference node manually. appreciate the diversity of displays that exist and to
When PMU data and SCADA data are available for the understand the benefits a geographical display can
same system, it is possible to check the validity of the two provide.
data sets by comparing their values with each other. For Historically, power system maps haven’t attempted to
example, branch flow magnitudes are usually monitored capture the relative locations of the measurements they try
by SCADA. If both of the branch’s terminals are to show. There are a number of reasons for this. In terms
monitored by PMUs, the voltage magnitude and phase will of technology, if one considers the physical wall boards
be available at both ends. If the impedance of the branch that have been used for several decades, it would be
between nodes k and m is known, then the power flow impractical and wasteful to have the board reflect the
equations can be used to compute the real and reactive distances between metering sites to scale, especially if
power flow on the branch. some points are very close to each other while others are
Pk = VkVm [Gkm cos(δ k − δ m ) + Bkm sin (δ k − δ m )] rather remote. Furthermore, the view port of such
Qk = VkVm [Gkm sin (δ k − δ m ) − Bkm cos(δ k − δ m )] displays, and even of many existing electronic displays, is
These calculated values may be compared with the values fixed, which means that the amount of detail shown cannot
measured by SCADA. If the two values are significantly be changed. The user may not zoom in and out to reveal
different, the software should highlight the component as the level of detail they seek. Some electronic displays
having potentially incorrect metering. compensate for this shortcoming by allowing the user to
In depicting the current state of the system, the click on a point of interest to open an associated display
software must stress flexibility. Although much work has that shows additional detail in the vicinity of that point.
been done on estimating the reliability of electric power However, it is still not possible to inspect the more
systems that take into account thermal, voltage, and detailed view in the context of its broader neighborhood.
transient limitations (references [19] through [21] provide Modern displays, however, relax the restriction of
a few examples), such estimates must be tailored to the having a fixed view port. The user may increase and
particular system, both in terms of system structure and decrease the zoom level of the display to reveal or conceal
operating guidelines. The software must permit users to the details. The visibility of a display object can be
define functions that implement the security measures they defined to depend on the zoom level so that some objects
wish to use, The software must also be able to illustrate don’t appear until the zoom level reaches a certain value.
the variation of these functions on the displays in the same Furthermore, multiple objects may be placed on a display
way that it shows the variation of stock values such as layer. By controlling which display layers are shown and
voltages and angles. The software must provide a which are hidden, one can obtain several different views
convenient interface for system personnel to modify these of a system from a single diagram. This reduces the
functions as well as to select which of several it is to show. amount of effort that must be devoted to creating displays,
Placing these functions on different display layers and since a single display may be used for multiple purposes.
allowing the user to select which layers are active provides It also makes it easier for the user to achieve the view of
a particularly convenient interface for supporting multiple the system he needs, since the visualization tool becomes
views of the system’s reliability. much more flexible.
The reliability of a system is usually demonstrated not Of course, these concepts are not new. Geographic
only by its current operating point but also by its change information systems (GISs) have used the ideas of
over time. The software must either have access to a zooming and layering for many years. However, their
database of historical data or be able to log data values as introduction to the power system control room has been
it displays them. The data history will enable the software slow. The primary reason for this latency is not a
to display trends in one or more measured quantities and reluctance to embrace new technology, although that may
to highlight large rates of change in them. Large rates of occasionally play a part. There is a more practical reason.
change may reveal transient stability concerns, while The system operator plays a very critical role as the
slowly evolving trends may identify mid- and long-term guardian of the system’s reliability. Some operators have
been doing their jobs for several years and are very
familiar with the displays they have used during that time.
Modifying the displays, including changing the locations
of substations or even the colors with which objects are
rendered, may impair the operator’s ability to do his job, at
least in the short term. Hence, adopting a new display
technology can be risky, and that is the primary reason
some have been reluctant to do so.
Nevertheless, geographic displays offer a number of
distinct advantages. A map that displays the relative
locations of system nodes can be used as the background
for a topographic or contour plot that shows the variation
of voltage magnitude, phase angle, load concentration,
generator capacity, or marginal price throughout the
system. A geographic map can highlight the impacts of
transfers from a set of source points to a set of sink points
on transmission paths between the two groups, thus
demonstrating the impact of loop flows on the system. Figure 4. Substation diagram
The same geographic display can be used to show voltage
variation in one instance, pricing information in another,
and temperature or storm front information in yet another,
simply by activating the appropriate display layers. In
summary, geographic views that support zooming and
panning offer operators an unprecedented degree of
flexibility in displaying system conditions and
relationships on a system map.
To ease the transition from non-geographic to
geographic displays, some utilities have crafted their first
“new techonology” displays to mimic existing displays in
layout and appearance. The project described in [11], for
example, took this approach. Once the initial set of
displays have been accepted, it may be easier to gain Figure 5. Associated geographic node view
acceptance for less conventional displays that provide a
geographic or even three-dimensional view of the system.
Some utilities that have adopted newer types of displays utilities that now enjoy access to phasor measurement
have chosen to link old-style displays and geographic data. The data alone hold promise, because real-time
displays so that the user can click on an object on either of phase angle and frequency measurements have not been
these displays to show the related portion of the other. For available before. However, these data must now be
example, in the display shown in Figure 4, if the user presented in a manner that allows users to infer
clicks on the substation object labeled “BOB138,” he will information such as
be shown the scene of Figure 5. Similarly, if he clicks on - the overall direction of power flow
any of the buses that belong to the BOB138 substation in - where a system is at risk of separating
Figure 5, he can view the associated substation display of - whether an open tie line can be reclosed
Figure 4. Establishing links between diagrams is a - the impact of a disturbance on frequency, and the
standard EMS practice. Links can be particularly powerful geographic extent of the impact.
in platforms that support geographic displays, since they A platform that can illustrate system conditions on a
allow such platforms to deliver the “best of both worlds”: geographic map enables users to display this information
standard look-and-feel combined with the flexibility of most effectively.
dynamic geographical views.
The choice of displays can mean the difference 6. Display Examples
between a successful data visualization effort and one that
fails to convey the full meaning of the data. Simply Ultimately, system display software should help users
having access to an additional data source is not present system conditions in the clearest, most dramatic
automatically a positive occurrence. If misused or way, one that makes the most sense to the operators who
misrepresented, additional data can simply result in clutter rely on it for information about the system. Thus, the
and obtuseness. This is a very important consideration for software must be extremely customizable and should
allow users to craft displays that are limited only by the
over a specified time interval. By displaying strip charts system reliable if no thermal overloads or voltage
near their associated equipment, a map can, for example, violations occur for any single contingency. If overloads
demonstrate how a system is changing in response to a and violations do occur for a contingency, then the system
recent disturbance while preserving the notion that these has a weakness that must be addressed either through
individual responses are interconnected and possibly system reinforcement or a short-term operating guideline.
related to each other. Figure 10 provides an example of Contingency analysis is a standard part of any energy
how such a plot might look for a display of measured management system (EMS). The contingency analysis
frequency at two neighboring nodes after a system module takes a list of contingencies reliability personnel
disturbance. wish to monitor and applies them to a state-estimated
mathematical model of the system. The module then
reports the list of violations that occur for each
contingency. If the display tool interfaces with the output
of the contingency module, then it can produce a picture
similar to that shown in Figure 12. The red and orange
circles on some of the branches in Figure 12 identify the
worst case loadings on the branches found during the
contingency analysis. In other words, if a branch has a red
circle with a 110% value inside it, then it was forced to
carry 110% of its rated value for one of the contingencies
that were processed. The larger red circles suggest an
overload, while the smaller orange circles identify
branches that are nearly overloaded. The operator may
select any of the circles to find out the contingency that
caused the line to be loaded to that value.
Figure 10. Geographically placed strip charts
The ability to recognize a trend is perhaps most
important when it is just beginning. If the user can detect
anomalous behavior when it begins, he will have more
time to try to counteract it. That is why the display shown
in Figure 11 can be extremely helpful. The display
highlights system components that have measurements
that have changed significantly over a specified time
interval. The user is able to set the warning threshold for
the rate of change for each measurement. If the rate of
change for a measurement exceeds this threshold, the
associated system object will be highlighted to draw
attention to the fact that something bad may be happening Figure 12. Worst-case overloads
there.
Note that it may be possible to produce a similar
picture even without a connection to the contingency
analysis tool. If the display tool can calculate and apply
line outage distribution factors to estimate the post-
contingency flow on each of the monitored lines for each
contingency, then it can produce a display of likely post-
contingency overloads similar to Figure 12.
7. Summary
The increasing use of phasor measurement units to
monitor the electric power system makes it possible to
display vital information that had never been available
before. PMUs enable monitors to track frequency and
phase angle values across the system. In an AC system,
Figure 11. Highlighting rapid change power flow roughly follows phase angle differences.
Longer-term reliability efforts focus on what is called Therefore, it is not necessary to measure and sum all
the n-1 criteria. This common industry practice labels a power flows in a path to obtain a sense of power flow;
simply consider the phase angle differences. This could
be very valuable in cases such as the last few major [10] T.J. Overbye, R.P. Klump, J.D. Weber, “A Virtual
blackouts, where critical intervening information was Environment for the Interactive Visualization of Power
missing, so state estimation and other informational System Economic and Security Information.” Proceedings
of the IEEE PES Summer Meeting 1999, Edmonton,
interfaces were interrupted. Canada, July 1999, pp. 682-687.
To take advantage of these new data points, operations
[11] R.P. Klump, D. Schooley, T.J. Overbye, “An Advanced
support personnel must carefully consider how to integrate Visualization Platform for Real-Time Power System
their traditional SCADA measurements with the much Operations.” Proc. Power Systems Computation Conf.,
more quickly updated PMU data. More importantly, they Sevilla, Spain, June 2002.
must determine how best to display quantities such as [12] R.P. Klump, J.D. Weber, “Real-Time Data Retrieval and
frequency, phase angle, voltage magnitude, branch flows, New Visualization Techniques for the Energy Industry,”
th
and equipment violations in a way that conveys meaning Proceedings of the 35 Annual Hawaii International
most effectively. Modern system visualization software Conference on System Sciences, pp. 739-744, January
should help operations support staff meet these challenges 2002.
by offering a versatile communication interface for [13] R. Klump, W. Wu, G. Dooley, "Displaying Aggregate
collecting the PMU, SCADA, and other data as well as a Data, Interrelated Quantities, and Data Trends in Electric
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purpose of this paper was to outline the characteristics of
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