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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2008 1805

Exploring the IEEE Standard C37.118–2005

Synchrophasors for Power Systems
K. E Martin, D. Hamai, MG Adamiak, S. Anderson, M. Begovic, G. Benmouyal, G. Brunello, J. Burger, JY
Cai, B. Dickerson, V. Gharpure, B. Kennedy, D. Karlsson , AG Phadke, J. Salj, V. Skendzic, J. Sperr, Y.
Song, C. Huntley, B. Kasztenny, and E. Price

Abstract—IEEE Standard 1344–1995 [1] on measurement of

synchronized phases of power system currents and voltages
has been revised and published as IEEE Standard C37.118–2005 [2].
This paper has been prepared by the IEEE Working Group who
developed the revised version. The purpose of the paper is to
acquaint the power engineering community with the availability
and content of this new standard, highlight some of the key
differences between the old and new versions, and introduce
several applications of this powerful technology.
Index Terms—Global positioning system (GPS) synchronized
phasor, phasor measurement unit (PMU), power system
measurement-ments, synchrophasor, wide-area measurements.

I. C37.118-2005 SYNCHROPHASOR STANDARD

HIS section provides an overview of the new IEEE

T Standard C37.118-2005, and summarizes its main points.
The standard was approved in September 2005 and published
Fig. 1. Synchrophasor definition and angle convention.

in April 2006. It is available from IEEE in either PDF or printed

form. power system voltage or current to an absolute time reference.
This absolute reference is provided in the form of a common
A.Overview timing signal by high-accuracy clocks synchronized to
The standard covers synchronized phasor measurements coordinated universal time (UTC) such as the universally used
used in electric power systems. It defines the measurement global positioning system (GPS).
convention, provides a method of determining the precision of Using the synchronized clocks as a reference, a PMU cre-
measurements, and provides requirements for measurement ates the phasor representation (complex number) of a constant
performance under steady state conditions. It also defines data sinusoidal signal as shown in Fig. 1. The reporting instant, rep-
communication formats for real-time data transmission. The resented by a timetag, defines the reference for the phasor rep
document introduces the concept of a phasor measurement -resentation of the measured sinusoidal input. The relationship
unit (PMU)—a device making, communicating, and potentially between the reporting instant and the phasor representation is
storing these synchronized measurements. Compliant PMUs such that the phase angle of the phasor is equal to the angular
should be interchangeable with each other by providing equiv- separation between the reporting time and the peak of the sinu-
alent measurements when supplied with identical steady-state soid. For example, in Fig. 1(a), the peak of the signal coincides
input signals, and communicating these measurements in a ,
with the timetag yielding the angle measurement of 0 while in
standardized way. Fig. 1(b), the signal crosses zero at the timetag yielding
a measurement in accordance with the synchrophasor standard.
B. Basic Concept of a Synchrophasor Determined with respect to an arbitrary timing signal, the
Synchrophasors, or synchronized phasor measurements, phasor angle by itself has no particular significance. However,
provide a means of referring the phasor representation of a if all PMUs use the same timing reference, their measurements
are comparable, and the phase angle differences between pha-
Manuscript received June 5, 2007. First published April 3, 2008; current ver- sors are accurate. As most applications seek to know the phase
sion published September 24, 2008. Paper no. TPWRD-00320-2007. angle differences between various phasors, the PMU output
Working Group H-11 of the Relay Communications Subcommittee of the
provides an invaluable input to monitoring, protection, and
IEEE Power System Relaying Committee.
This work was prepared by Working Group H-11 of the Relay Communi- control functions in a power system.
cations Subcommittee of the IEEE Power System Relaying Committee of the
Power Engineering Society. C. Requirements for Compliance
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Compliance with IEEE Standard C37.118 requires making
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2007.916092 phasor measurements that meet the synchrophasor definition

0885-8977/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE

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1806 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2008

within one of two accuracy classes, and conforming to the Frequency measurement accuracy (including rate of change
communication protocol for reporting measurements. To private of frequency) is not specified in the standard. However,
PMU may have additional capabilities (above and beyond those experience has shown that PMUs are among the best frequency
required for compliance with the standard) in the realm of ac- trans-ducers available, delivering accuracy of a few millihertz
curacy, communication, reporting rates, frequency range, noise (typically 1–3 mHz) with a measurement window of a few cycles.
suppression, etc. These capabilities may be of interest to certain The standard does not specify PMU performance requirements
applications and they are not considered to affect the compli- under transient conditions. This means that under nonsta-
ance requirement of the standard. tionary conditions such as a fast frequency ramp, various PMUs
1) Measurement Convention: Synchrophasor is defined as a will produce outputs that may differ despite their conformance
complex number representation of the fundamental frequency to either of the two accuracy classes of the standard. Refer to
component of a voltage or current, with an accompanying Section III of this paper for considerations regarding performance
time-tag defining the time instant for which the phasor mea- of PMUs under dynamic conditions.
surement is performed. The standard mandates the phase angle 3) Communications Protocol: The standard defines a pro-tocol
convention as depicted in Fig. 1. The definition does not depend for communicating synchrophasor measurements in real-time
on position of the data window used to produce the phasor from a PMU to a phasor data concentrator (PDC)—a device
estimate, and is unambiguous under offnominal frequencies. archiving and presenting the PMU data to various applications.
In fact, C37.118 does not refer to frequency when defining a This protocol can also be used for cascading PDCs when aggre-
synchrophasor. gating the data streams from different regions of the monitored
A conforming PMU must also provide a choice of reporting power system.
rates, from ten reports per second up to half the nominal system The protocol is “lightweight” in that it has only few mes-sage
frequency (25 or 30/s, respectively). The reporting times shall types with few options, it is implemented in a single layer,
begin at the top of second (xx.000000 s) as defined by the time and splits the real-time data stream from occasional exchange
reference, and be evenly spaced through the second. of configuration information.
PMUs must also provide estimates of frequency and rate of If the PMU supports real-time data communication, conformance
change of frequency (df/dt), as part of the PMU output data to the standard requires that it support the five frame
stream. The standard does not specify how these estimates are types defined in the standard: Data frame (binary); two config-
to be calculated. uration frames (binary); header frame (ASCII); and command
2) Measurement Accuracy: The standard defines accuracy frame (binary).
as a vector difference between the measured (MEAS) and Once turned on by a start command, data frames are sent
expected (IDEAL) value of the phasor for the measurement at a continuously from the PMU to the host system. PMU numer-ical
given instant of time (k). This is defined as the total vector error outputs may be formatted either as a 16-b integer or 32-b
(TVE) floating-point numbers (IEEE Std. 754–1985). In addition to
synchrophasor and frequency measurements mandated by the
standard, other analog values (quantities such as power flows)
% (1) and digital status words (for example, breaker status) may
optionally be included in the data frame. The standard does not
specify how these other quantities are measured or time tagged.
TVE blends together three possible sources of error: magni- Configuration and header frames describe the PMU config-
tude, angle and timing. For example, if a given PMU synchronized uration. They are transmitted whenever requested by the host,
perfectly with the reference time and exhibits no angle which will usually occur at system startup or upon change of
error, 1% of error in magnitude will translate into 1% of TVE. PMU configuration. Configuration frames are a fixed binary
Without timing and magnitude errors, an angle error of 0.573 structure that is machine readable, which allows relatively
corresponds to 1% of TVE. When all error is caused by inaccuracy automatic system configuration. Two configuration frames are used:
of time synchronization, 31.8 s at 50 Hz, and 26.5 s at 1) the first describes the full capabilities of a given PMU and 2)
60 Hz would cause 1% TVE. with the other, the capabilities are configured at a given time.
The standard allows for two levels of accuracy compliance: Header frames are unstructured text intended for human read-
Level 1 and Level 0. Both call for TVE below 1%, but Level 1 able information.
is more stringent by imposing more challenging test reference The command frame is sent by the host to the PMU to start or
conditions in terms of frequency range (5 Hz versus 0.5 Hz stop transmission, or request configuration data in the form of
for level 0, for example), magnitude range, signal distortions, configuration or header frames. Unused bits in these commands
etc are reserved and may be used for further command information
The standard does not specify the method of measurement, in future revisions of the standard. A new extended frame com-
or other factors such as the sampling rate, algorithms, or syn- mand type is provided for user-defined functions such as PMU
chronization method. Instead, it mandates the same output—to configuration or remote controls.
within 1% of TVE—under a wide range of reference conditions. The C37.118 protocol may be used with any communications
This allows manufacturers to use different measurement medium or system, including serial ports (EIA—232 or—485,
methods while assuring conformance with the result under a for example) and Ethernet over wire or fiber optic cable. When
range of basic performance. used with a lower-level protocol such as TCP/IP or UDP/IP,
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IEEE C37.118 requires that the data frame as defined in the protocol are more completely specified, and several new data
standard be transmitted in its entirety, including the cyclic re- categories have been added. New annexes have been added to
dundancy check (CRC). Implementation over lower level pro- provide clarification and guidance. These changes are summa-
tocols is prescribed in the normative Annex I of the standard. It rized in this section.
states how the C37.118 message frames are to be mapped into
communication protocols, specifically RS-232 and IP protocol. A. Definition of a Synchrophasor
It also specifies default port numbers for IP protocol; 4712 for
Instead of defining synchrophasor, 1344 introduced a con-
TCP and 4713 for UDP.
vention for synchrophasor representation for a sinusoidal input
D. Additional Guidance Provided in Annexes signal at the rated frequency of 60 or 50 Hz. According to the
previous standard, the synchrophasor angle is reported as zero if
With the exception of Annex I, all annexes are “informative,” the sample corresponding to the start of the data window used in
which means they are not binding but guide the user in better phasor calculation falls on the maximum of the signal wave-form.
understanding of the standard. Annex A presents a useful bib- This created an ambiguity under offnominal frequency conditions.
liography of documents relevant to the subject. Annex B clarifies The standard did not mandate the position of the window with
and illustrates the use of CRC generators and provides a sample respect to the absolute time reference, but pointed in one of its
algorithm for calculating the CRC. Annex C provides further annexes (C.2—Alternate time-tagging) to three possible solutions:
information on time-tagging with examples related to different time-tagging based one the first, middle or last sample in the
computation codes. Annex D contains examples of all message phasor calculation data window. With this ap-proach, although a
types with sample data. Annex E discusses sources of precise phasor measurement could be defined unambiguously at the
time synchronization for synchrophasor measurements. rated frequency, at offnominal frequency the convention for
Annex F details time communication formats and presents an phasor representation was difficult to apply and interpret.
expanded IRIG-B format for improved time communication.
Annex G suggests sample benchmark for testing synchropha- In the new standard, definitions for both a phasor and
sors under transient conditions. Annex H explains the notion of synchrophasor are introduced and match the previous convention
TVE and gives examples of TVE calculations for various for nominal frequency inputs. The ambiguity of the phasor
magnitude, phase and timing errors. representation at offnominal frequency is completely removed—
the definition does not refer to frequency or position of the data
E.System Integration window, but rather to a time shift between the waveform positive
The new standard includes a unit ID identifying the message peak and the reporting instant expressed as a part of full cycle
source or the destination for commands. These IDs are 16-b ( rotation). All compliant PMUs will respond the same to offnominal
integers. Assignment of values is left up to the user, so frequencies: the phasor angles will rotate at a rate that is the
coordination is required when utility data is exchanged throughout difference between the nominal and measured signal frequencies
an entire grid. (eg, a 61 Hz signal on a 60 Hz system will appear to rotate at
The new standard does not require using any specific data radians/s).
transmission method or protocol; this is left up to manufacturers The old standard did not have any accuracy requirement other
and users. It does specify how data messages are to be than the sampling pulse accuracy (1 s). The new version uses an
encapsulated within a protocol, and gives examples for the IP aggregated measure, TVE, of magnitude, angle and timing errors
protocol and RS232 serial communication. Within the IP protocol, (1%).
TCP or UDP can be used.
There are four bits set aside in the data frame to allow affixing B. Time-Tagging Specifications
a security suffix. This was done to allow future changes which By avoiding references to data window and frequency the new
may be needed for evolving industry standards for substation standard is more precise in stating what a synchrophasor
automation and corresponding protocols. measuring system should do under offnominal frequency
conditions. The time tag is defined by the measurement time and
II. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IEEE 1344 AND TVE requirements rater than the data window and sample times.
C37.118 SYNCHROPHASOR STANDARDS The new standard states that the measured phasor should
correspond to the signal at the input terminals of the PMU. Thus,
This section provides an overview of differences between the
any phase or amplitude shift that occurs inside the PMU must be
new synchrophasor standard (IEEE Standard C37.118–2005 [2])
compensated for and not reflected in the measured phasor.
and the previous one (IEEE Standard 1344–1995 [1]).
These standards follow a consistent approach to the subject, but
C. Communications Protocol
differ in a number of details. Synchrophasor measurement in
IEEE 1344 was defined in terms of waveform sampling, timing, The old and new standards differ moderately in the area of
and the basic phasor definition. Data communication in 1344 was data communications. In particular:
incompletely specified, and much was left up to the manufacturer 1) Message Framework: The same four message types are
and the user. used in C37.118 as were used in 1344: data, configuration,
C37.118 covers the same basic elements as 1344, but the header, and command. Several fields have been added, such as
syn-chrophasor is defined unambiguously, various parameters of the sync and frame size words, to simplify decoding.
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1808 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2008

All messages now include an identification code. This

simplistic implementations using a network where all messages
arrive on the same physical medium. The second-of-century
(SOC) has been updated to the UNIX model where it starts at
1970 rather than at 1900. This gives 99 years before the SOC
count rolls over to 0 (in 2106). The sample count field has been
ex-tended to allow a fraction-of-second expression. The check-
sum is always a 2 B CRC–CCITT that is more clearly defined in
Fig. 2. Phasor transition during electrical transients.
an annex with examples.
Since the original synchrophasor standard was published,
Ethernet has become a popular communication medium for A. Electrical Transients
power applications. The new standard specifies applications
with Ethernet (Annex I), and mandates that messages must be These transients are generally short-lived, and do not affect
included in their entirety when being sent by serial speeds of machine rotors. When the phasor measurement data
window
communications or in a stacked protocol such as the Internet protocol (IP). contains portions of pre and postdisturbance signals,
2) Data Frame: The data frame is similar to that of the old the measured phasor is ambiguous. Consider an idealized
standard. The main differences are that analog data could also electrical transient shown in Fig. 2, where the input signal has a
be part of the data frame in the new standard, and certain step change due to some switching operation. When the data
features have been added which facilitate handling data from win-dows are entirely in the pre or posttransient periods, the
multiple PMUs at the PDC level. This last feature adds repeated mea-sured synchrophasors reflect the two states of the system.
status and measurement fields for each PMU in a single frame. How-ever, when the data window spans the transient event, the
3) Configuration Frame: The new standard uses the Config1 phasor measurement is a combination of states that is not
frame to describe the complete data set that can be provided by clearly defined within the current context.
the PMU, and Config2 frame to describe the data set currently Phasors calculated during electrical transients often display a
being sent. Digital masking has been added for the digital data, step change in phase angles (for example, between phasors 1
and fields for naming individual channels (bits) have been and 3 in Fig. 2). In estimating system frequency as a rate of
provided. change of the phase angle, such abrupt changes in phase
4) Header Frame: Being a free-format, informational, human- angles lead to frequency estimates exhibiting sharp spikes. This
readable description of the PMU configuration, capa-bilities, is indeed the frequency as observed from the waveform, but
and parameters, the header frame has not been changed with may not reflect any changes in the machine rotor speeds. This
the exception of the overall framing changes described in fact should be borne in mind when frequency estimates
Section 3.A of the standard. (including the rate-of-change of frequency estimates) are used.
5) Command Frame: The command frame has also been ex-
panded with the framing changes described in Clause 6.2 of the B. Phasor Measurements During Electromechanical
Disturbances
standard. The old commands are retained, and a new ex-
tended frame command has been added. This new command is Synchrophasor measurements under electromechanical
user-configurable. For example, it can be used to remotely system transients can be better understood when considering
change PMU configuration or to send control signals to a PMU the following signal model:
to implement a closed-loop control system.
(2)
III. MEASUREMENTS UNDER TRANSIENT CONDITIONS
where the cosine function acts as a modulator for the input.
Transients are nonsteady-state conditions that may occur in is a “magnitude” signal, and is the “phase” signal, both embedded
a power system. Transients could be roughly classified as 1) in the input.
electrical transients, or 2) electromechanical transients. The One particular case of (2) is the steady state
former are caused by faults and other switching operations,
whereas dy-namic movement of rotors of generators and motors (3)
following power system disturbances cause the latter.
Phasor measurement under transient conditions is of interest During electromechanical transients, the magnitude and
to many phasor measurement applications. Annex G of the phase angles of phasors change rather slowly as compared to
standard suggested several benchmark tests for evaluating the nominal power system frequency. Therefore, when
synchrophasor measurement under the transient conditions. considering a short observation window of at most a few power
This section discusses phasor measurements under both types frequency periods, the phasor magnitude and rotation speed
of transient conditions and the effect of antialias filtering. It are almost constant. As the rotor speeds in modern power
should be noted that this discussion is not part of the new systems may deviate from synchronous speed by 0.1–5 Hz, the
standard, but is provided here for the understanding of phasor phase angle behavior during the phasor estimation window is
measurement under transient conditions. approximately linear.
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MARTIN et al.: EXPLORING THE IEEE STANDARD C37.118–2005 1809

Fig. 3. Illustration of phasor aliasing.

C. Interfering Frequencies and Phasor Aliasing

The process of reporting synchrophasors is equivalent to sam-
pling the phasor information, so it is subject to the classical
Nyquist theorem. When expecting a frequency component of
in the phasor magnitude or angular position, one needs to ensure
that the phasor is reported at not less than twice that frequency Fig. 4. PMU coverage of the power system network.
or else aliasing would occur as shown in Fig. 3.
The standard specifies the “interfering frequencies” condition
to impose appropriate antialiasing filtering when reporting
phasors.
User-controlled filtering options in practical implementations
allow balancing speed, accuracy under noise, and response to
interfering frequencies. These options impact the response of
the PMUs under transient conditions.

IV. APPLICATIONS OF SYNCHROPHASORS

Following are a number of applications that demonstrate how

synchrophasors may be used to improve system operation.
Applications may be implemented to address localized or system-
wide issues.

A. State Estimation

State estimation is a process that determines the state of the Fig. 5. Power-voltage (PV) curve.
power system to allow the system operator to make better
decisions aimed at maintaining power system security in the face of
various contingencies. Improvement in the accuracy of the state be directly calculated with linear equations (“indirectly mea-
estimation of the power system network is one of the most im- sured”). These buses are therefore defined as “observable” to
mediate benefits of PMU application. bus S, the PMU location [3].
The state estimation technology currently in use evolved in Similarly the placement of PMUs at buses J and G defines
the 1960s. It uses measurements that do not require a common regions X and Y where the state is accurately measured either
reference: power system active power and reactive power flow directly or indirectly. The remaining buses E, N, L and Q are
measurements, voltage magnitude, etc., collected over a fairly not considered “measurable” with the current PMU placement.
long interval, to estimate the power system state. The process The number of adjacent buses that are not measurable (directly
combines the measurements with the network model to find or via calculations with linear equations) defines the “depth of
the variables of interest by solving nonlinear equations by “nonobservability” for a system with partial PMU coverage. It is
numerical iterations. The process may take several minutes optimum to place the PMUs in such a way to maintain a uniform
or longer to converge to a solution, is prone to errors in the depth of “nonobservability.” For this configuration the depth of
network parameters, and often diverges during those evolving nonobservability is one and state voltage and current quantities
disturbances when a good state estimation is needed most. The at the unobservable buses can be estimated by linear interpola-
industry is constantly developing methods to improve state tion with reasonable accuracy.
estimation accuracy. Power system state-vector determination from PMU mea-
The application of a sufficient number of time-tag synchronized surements offers the most precise method yet for obtaining real-
PMUs across the system will improve state estimation solutions time static and dynamic information about the condition of the
to the point that the process becomes one of state measurement. networks [4].
Consider the placement of PMUs at buses G, J and
S on the power system shown in Fig. 4. B.Voltage Instability
The PMU at bus S measures the voltage phasor (amplitude Visual tracking of the system proximity to an insecure voltage
and angle), and ,current phasors , and . condition with a power-voltage (PV) curve may be done using
Having these phasor quantities and an accurate system model, synchrophasor data. Fig. 5 shows a typical PV curve developed
the voltage phasors at the remote buses M, P, R, and T can from transmission corridor and load impedance data [5]. The
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1810 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2008

come of an evolving swing. Based on this prediction better

out-of-step blocking and tripping decisions can be made [6].
Similar calculations can be done when the transfer capability
margin is being investigated between two parts of the power
system, each of which can be represented by an equivalent
machine, by using the equal area criterion or suitable extensions of
this criterion.

D.Line Parameter Calculation

PMUs deployed at both ends of a transmission line and
measuring both currents and voltages facilitate online tracking
(measurement) of line parameters. Performed continuously,
such measurement accounts for seasonal and temperature
changes. With enough natural unbalance, or when performed
during faults, the measurement will yield not only the positive-
sequence impedance, but negative- and zero-sequence
impedance as well.
More sophisticated line models (eg, -sections) can also be
Fig. 6. Steady-state stability limit with power transfer curve. applied with the synchronized measurements so that the voltage
profile across the line may be determined [7].
Direct measurement of line impedances allows detection
PV curve is characterized by having two possible operating errors in databases used by short circuit, state estimation and
solutions for one
, stable and one unstable, for a given delivered other application packages, as well as improved fault location
power up to a maximum deliverable power of . accuracy.
As the transmission corridor and load impedances change,
E. Transmission Line Thermal Monitoring
the shape of the PV curve also changes affecting the maximum
deliverable power This may. place the operating point Loading of transmission lines is often constrained by thermal
for the delivered power such that sub-very
system ,
or near sequential limits rather than stability concerns. There is a chance that
load changes will cause a voltage collapse. changes in the line resistance that reflect conductor heating
The real-time visualization of the PV curve and operating point and sagging can be accurately measured using synchronously
can be implemented with the corridor's model and the real-time measured voltages and currents at both ends of the line (see
measurement of voltage and current synchrophasors at both previous subsection).
ends of the transmission line or corridor. This will provide ex- A PMU-based approach may complement or replace existing
cellent visibility of transmission corridor, and enable system devices that measure the transmission line's thermal capacity to
operators to correct shortages of reactive power with generation provide an early warning in case of overload, dynamically control
rescheduling, reactive load compensation, load shedding, transmission line capacity, and provide indirect estimation
or other available remedies. The assessment of voltage stability of line sagging [8], [9].
and associated power margin could also be done on any mesh
F. Real-Time Control and Protection Systems
network monitored in real-time with a state estimator. Although
PMUs are not essential, the time scales of interest make them a Synchrophasors provide an ideal measurement for real-time,
very desirable platform for such an application. wide-area control applications. As discussed previously, they
provide a direct measure of system phase angles, an important
C. Transient Transfer Capability Margin indicator of system stability. Beyond single phase or posi-tive-
sequence voltage phasors, PMUs also provide current
Voltage synchrophasors measured by PMUs at both ends of phasors, frequency and its rate-of-change, all of which can be
a transmission corridor make it possible to track the operations used for control applications. Using the C37.118 communication
point between two areas on a traditional power transfer curve protocol, measurements can be sent long distances over
(Fig. 6). standard communication systems in 1–2 cycles. This is fast
When the operating point is in the proximity of a potentially enough for many System Integrity Protection Systems (SIPS)
unstable condition as defined by , preventative actions and system controls. Reference [10] in which a prototype
may be taken. is the maximum permissible steady state op- control using phasor voltage magnitude measurement as an
erating point that is [pre]defined by the existing system state and indication of voltage swing demonstrated an improvement in
potential unstable system configurations that might exist after a an SIPS security margin. In the same project, an alternative
system event. If is greater than then the ,premise is that method using VAR flow calculated from voltage and current
the system will likely become unstable for certain system events phasors also showed improved security. Phase angle seems to
that may require operation at points greater than is the be an ideal measurement for this type of application. Another
operating critical per the equal area criterion). approach for this same project using interarea phase angle
PMU measurements can also be used to provide improved calculated from phasors has also been proposed [11].
out-of-step protection for the power corridor of Fig. 6: voltage Phase angle between busses as shown in Fig. 6 is determined
phasors at the two ends allow real-time prediction of the out- by voltage, power flow, and transmission corridor impedance.
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MARTIN et al.: EXPLORING THE IEEE STANDARD C37.118–2005 1811

While usually considered for indicating power flow, phase angle can also paper is not a substitute for the current standard, which is the ultimate
indicate topology changes that require control actions. authority as to what constitutes compliance. The main differences between
This approach is used in another demonstration SIPS control scheme [12]. the old and the new standards have also been pointed out. The paper also
provides a preliminary discussion of PMU responses to electrical and
electromechanical transients.
G. System Oscillation and Small Signal Analysis This paper discussed several prospective applications for the PMU
technology with significant benefits for system operation and integrity.
System oscillations can be monitored and analyzed using phasors
reported at an adequate rate (see Section III-C). For example, a 30/s
reporting rate (15 Hz Nyquist rate) allows a filtered measurement bandwidth The Working Group hopes that this standard will serve the industry well
of 4–8 Hz, covering most significant system oscillations. Prony or Eigen for years to come.
analysis can be used to determine the system oscillation modes from the
REFERENCES
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