Frequency Estimation of Distorted and Noisy Signals in Power Systems by FFT-Based Approach

This paper focuses on the accurate frequency estimation of power signals corrupted by a stationary white noise. The noneven item interpolation FFT based on the triangular self-convolution window is described. A simple analytical expression for the variance of noise contribution on the frequency estimation is derived, which shows the variances of frequency estimation are proportional to the energy of the adopted window. Based on the proposed method, the noise level of the measurement channel can be estimated, and optimal parameters (e.g., sampling frequency and window length) of the interpolation FFT algorithm that minimize the variances of frequency estimation can thus be determined. The application in a power quality analyzer verified the usefulness of the proposed method.