Magnetic field based Phasor Measurement Unit for power grid frequency monitoring

Traditionally, Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) have utilized signals obtained from current transformers (CTs) to compute current phasors. Unfortunately, this requires that CTs must be directly connected with buses, transformers or power lines. This paper will introduce an innovative phasor measurement instrument, the Wireless Frequency Disturbance Recorder (Wireless FDR), which uses the magnetic field generated by power transmission lines to obtain current phasor measurements. The Wireless FDR is developed on the same hardware platform as the Frequency Disturbance Recorder (FDR), which is actually a single phase PMU. Prototype testing of the Wireless FDR in both the laboratory and the field environments were performed. Testing results show that measurement accuracy of the Wireless FDR satisfies the requirements for power system dynamics observation.