Reliable measurement design against loss of PMUs with variable number of channels

Phasor measurement units (PMU) are rapidly populating the substations and enabling improvements for various network applications, one of which is the state estimator. Installation of large numbers of PMUs which may be required for network observability must be preceeded by a detailed analysis of optimal location and type of these devices. Since PMUs may have different number of channels depending on the manufacturer and model type, this information should be taken into account in formulating their placement problem. Furthermore, despite the advances in related technologies, it is almost impossible to guarantee occasional device or communication failure that will lead to loss of data to be received from a given PMU. This paper illustrates how the measurement design can be made reliable against such events while maintaining the cost of PMU installations at a minimum by using strategically placed PMUs with the proper number of channels. Numerical results are given for small to large size power systems to illustrate the typical numbers of PMUs and their channel capacities that are required for optimal performance.