Wide-Area Frequency Monitoring Network (FNET) Architecture and Applications

• Published in: IEEE transactions on smart grid Vol. 1; no. 2; pp. 159 - 167
• Main Authors: Yingchen Zhang, Markham, P, Tao Xia, Lang Chen, Yanzhu Ye, Zhongyu Wu, Zhiyong Yuan, Lei Wang, Bank, J, Burgett, J, Conners, R W, Yilu Liu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.09.2010
• Subjects: Frequency; Frequency disturbance recorder (FDR); frequency monitoring network (FNET); global positioning system (GPS); Monitoring; phasor measurement unit (PMU); Phasor measurement units; Power grids; Power measurement; Power system analysis computing; Power system measurements; Power system reliability; Power system stability; Smart grids; synchrophasor; wide-area monitoring system (WAMS)
• ISSN: 1949-3053; 1949-3061
• DOI: 10.1109/TSG.2010.2050345

Recent developments in smart grid technology have spawned interest in the use of phasor measurement units to help create a reliable power system transmission and distribution infrastructure. Wide-area monitoring systems (WAMSs) utilizing synchrophasor measurements can help with understanding, forecasting, or even controlling the status of power grid stability in real-time. A power system frequency monitoring network (FNET) was first proposed in 2001 and was established in 2004. As a pioneering WAMS, it serves the entire North American power grid through advanced situational awareness techniques, such as real-time event alerts, accurate event location estimation, animated event visualization, and post event analysis. Several papers published in the past several years discussed the FNET structure and its functionality. This paper presents some of the latest implementations of FNET's applications, which add significant capacities to this system for observing power system problems.