Development of a Real Time Data Collection Unit for distribution network in a smart grid environment

This paper proposes a Real Time Data Collection Unit (RTDCU) to be used in the distribution side of a smart grid for real time data collection. The RTDCU unit uses Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) based approach to compute the voltage and current phasors and frequency of the power system signals. The design, development and testing of such a system is done for a 5-bus micro grid simulator which represents a scaled down model of approximately 25km² grid with a peak demand of 15MW. The RTDCU unit is first simulated and tested in MATLAB environment using synthetic signals and the correctness is ensured. The unit is then implemented in hardware in a dsPIC30f4011 microcontroller and tested for different loads. The future scope of the unit and the ways to improve the performance and synchronized data collection are also discussed.