Utilization of chip-scale atomic clock for synchrophasor measurements

Global Positioning System (GPS)-based phasor measurement units (PMUs) are increasingly deployed in the power system in order to monitor the grid status in real time. Nevertheless, GPS receivers inside PMUs tend to lose signal lock when certain uncontrollable and unpredictable factors arise. To address this issue, chip scale atomic clock (CSAC) is proposed to be used as a backup solution for time synchronization in this paper. It is the first time ever reporting the utilization of CSAC in the electric power grid. Test results show that CSAC can work as a reliable and accurate backup for GPS timing.