State Estimation Simulation for the Design of an Optimal On-Line Solution

A state estimation simulation package (SES) developed for studies and educational purposes was further upgraded with on-line capabilities and implemented as a production grade program into a large-scale network control system. Although conceived for different applications and run-time environments, this transformation was realized smoothly and relative quickly without modifying the algorithmic kernel; the result is an efficient state estimation package (SE) with real-time capabilities. The benefits of this development strategy are: - feasibility studies such as optimal metering are possible with a unified SE approach in the early phase of a new control center project; - the existence of a thoroughly tested SE simulation package accelerates the debugging phase of the on-line algorithm; - the joint effort speeds up the know-how transfer and feed-back between R&D and reduces the overall costs. A short description of the SES structure is given. The requirements and design goals of an on-line SE are outlined. Special emphasis is laid upon functional extensions such as: data base interfaces, the mapping of the network connectivity at equipment (terminal) level into a node/branch model and vice-versa, man-machine-interfaces, etc. Methods for software-quality enhancement, performance measurements and results obtained with the on-line SE on a VAX 11/780 are presented.