High frequency fault location method for transmission lines based on artificial neural network and genetic algorithm using current signals only

The present transmission systems are rapidly changing principally due to an increasing demand for better utilisation of existing lines resulting in lower transient stability limits, and also due to an increase in the complexity of the networks with small-scale distributed generation being connected into the existing networks. The current protection/fault location techniques are not conducive to such networks. This paper investigates a novel fault location method based on current signals only and utilising Artificial Intelligence technology. Importantly, the robustness and sensitivity of the technique developed is presented through an extensive series of studies and results when applied to complex power networks.