An Accurate Approach for Automatic Segmentation of Power Distribution Voltage Waveforms

This paper addresses one of the fundamental steps in automatic waveform analysis: transient segmentation. We present a new approach which incorporates the advantages of a multilevel wavelet decomposition and the representation of the support vector data description. Real data from a monitoring system developed for lightning overvoltage detection in overhead distribution power lines was used for comparison and validation of segmentation performance. The experiments involve the proposed segmentation approach and usual segmentation methods, such as Kalman filtering, autoregressive models, and standard discrete wavelet transform. The results show that the proposed segmentation method based on DWT+SVDD yields better overall accuracy for transient segmentation when compared to currently used methods, demonstrating the potential for applications in oscillographic recorders for smart distribution networks, where identification, characterization, and mitigation of events are critical for network operation and maintenance.