Hierarchical Wireless network design for synchrophasor communication in Distributed Generation grid

There has been a growing interest in the deployment of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) in a Distributed Generation (DG) grid system. A major obstacle is the lack of a communication network infrastructure that can support phasor measurements for distribution area monitoring as well as providing sensing capabilities for protection against undesirable grid dynamics. In the absence of such a network, the most cost-effective solution would be to consider a wireless network to support centralized control for situational awareness in a DG environment. Therefore, the main objective in this paper is to design and implement a synchrophasor network testbed using Wireless LAN (WLAN) technology. Based on a hierarchical network architecture, we propose an efficient method to reduce the synchrophasor data bandwidth, as well as provide capabilities for control and management at each hierarchical level. This testbed is then used to evaluate different network configurations under various test conditions.