Virtualization of synchronized phasor measurement units within real-time simulators for smart grid applications

Synchronized phasor measurement units (PMUs) provide GPS-time tagged, high-sampling rate, positive-sequence voltage and current phasors. When placed in high-voltage substations in power networks, PMUs can provide real-time information that is necessary for the development of Smart Transmission Grid's software applications whose main objective is to improve the power system's monitoring, control and protection. The development of these applications, particularly for use within control centers for on-line purposes, is limited by the availability of and access to real-time PMU data and other information. One attractive approach for application development is the use of real-time simulators to which PMUs can be interfaced as hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) devices to harvest PMU data. However, this approach has technical and economical limitations, which can be tackled by the virtualization of PMU devices. This article describes the development of an entirely software-based synchronized phasor measurement unit for use within real-time simulators to emulate a large number of real-life PMUs, which in turn can be used for creating new phasor-based applications.