An expert system for security and economic monitoring

This paper describes the research and development of a prototype real-time expert system, called SYSMON, to assist control engineers in monitoring the most important overall aspects and events on the transmission network: in particular, those involving security and economics aspects. The ultimate objective of the SYSMON project is to extend further so as to emulate the monitoring functions of a junior control engineer. The required decision support system should be able to carry out online analyses of the power system state, identify the most important problems, draw these to the attention of the Control Staff and, where necessary, suggest remedial actions. The SYSMON design identifies a number of coordinated expert system modules. These modules will be linked to a coordinating system database from which they receive data and information. The output of the security and economic modules will reach the human-computer interface via an overall system state monitor (OSM) which will integrate the outputs from the various modules, harmonising any contradictions between these, and determine which are the most important outputs. The OSM is therefore itself an expert system module. The first modules of SYSMON, currently under development, are those for monitoring security and economic operation. The security of an electricity supply network is closely related to economic operation and it is therefore appropriate to develop these particular modules in parallel.