Phasor data concentrator placement in phasor measurement unit networks considering communication channel uncertainty and failure

One challenge in Wide Area Measurement System is to design a reliable network which assures data availability. The availability of data in Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) networks depends on two factors: 1-Reliable data measurements which depend on performance of PMUs and transmission branches, 2-Reliable data transmission which depends on the reliability of communication networks used to transfer data from PMUs to Phasor Data Concentrators (PDCs) and control centre. The reliability of data transmission can be improved by choosing proper locations for PDCs. In this paper, a novel approach for PDC placement is proposed based on two pre-defined indices; observability reliability and Loss Of Data Expectation (LODE). In the proposed method, the probability of regional communication networks' failure and the uncertainty of failure data for all components are also included in the calculation of these two indices to achieve more realistic results. To handle uncertainty, fuzzy membership functions are obtained for repair time and failure rate of all components, and a fuzzy Monte Carlo method is presented to evaluate both indices for each possible PDCs' location. The minimum LODE is used to find the best locations for PDCs. The proposed method is investigated for three sample systems which prove the system efficacy.