Measurement Uncertainty Considerations in Optimal Sensor Deployment for State Estimation

This paper proposes a method for optimal placement of phasor measurement units (PMUs) for measuring the states of a power system. A method to compute the measurement uncertainty associated with the estimated states is also illustrated in the paper. The PMU placement strategy ensures complete observability of the power system states for normal operating conditions, as well as under the loss of a single transmission line or even a single measurement unit. An integer quadratic programming approach is used to minimize the total number of PMUs required to make the system completely observable, and to maximize the measurement redundancy at the power system busses. The goal of the research is to take into account the measurement uncertainty while determining the optimal number and locations of the PMUs for state estimation. Simulation results on the IEEE 14-bus test system are presented in this paper.