Test platform for synchrophasor based wide-area monitoring and control applications

Synchrophasor technology is considered as a main enabler for the envisioned Smart Grid at the transmission level. Despite some preliminary field test results reported from China Southern Grid, the majority of the synchrophasor applications are still in the engineering or advanced laboratory tests phases. One possible impedance of any real-life adoption of such applicationsis a lack of test platforms that are able to verify the proposed application paradigms in cost efficient manners, and also to demonstrate the interactions between the power system and the supporting ICT systems with sufficient details. In this paper, we report on the continuing research efforts targeting at developing a test platform for the development of the synchrophasor based applications. The platform incorporates a virtual Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU), a real-time simulator for power systems, a real-time simulator for communication networks, and an implementation of an open-source Phasor Data Concentrator. Specifically, this article focuses on the implementation and verification of the virtual PMU, and on the extension of its functionality to incorporate communication over UDP.