To concentrate or not to concentrate: Performance analysis of ICT system with data concentrations for Wide-area Monitoring and Control Systems

Timely and synchronized phasor data at high resolutions holds great promise for more responsible and advanced power grid operations. It is expected that combined effort of developing new application paradigms and the supporting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will enable the miracle of “Smart Grid” at the transmission level. This paper addresses the design of the supporting ICT system for Wide Area Monitoring and Control applications from the performance perspective. The major contribution that distinguishes this paper from previous research efforts in the same area is that this study quantifies the end-to-end data delay with consideration of different levels of data concentrations. The analysis performed in this paper is not limited to the delay caused by individual ICT components but also provides means to view and analyze the delay of the entire supporting ICT system. Moreover, the quantified delay results drawn in this paper will potentially provide valuable input to the discussion on the coming standards for synchronized phasor measurements.