A modular phasor measurement unit design featuring open data exchange methods

Synchrophasor measurements continue to show great potential for innovative protection, control and analytical functions in the emerging Smart Grid. Commercially available Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) are generally produced and sold in a manner that makes their internal workings unavailable, or closed, to the end user. With this in mind, the authors have pursued the goal of producing an open source PMU, the OpenPMU. This paper describes how the functions of the OpenPMU have been separated into distinct modules. This is a significant change in design, and has been done so with the intention of reducing the effort required for persons with interest in PMU technology to adopt OpenPMU components in their designs. Using the design described in this paper, in particular the open data exchange schema, it is possible to interchange modules with ease. For example, one may change the phasor estimation algorithm, without affecting signal acquisition or communication. The modular design also simplifies the use of OpenPMU components in popular simulation environments.