Searching protection relay response time extremes using genetic algorithm-software quality by optimization

In this work, the authors studying the possibilities of automating the searching and measuring of response time extremes of power system protection relay software using genetic algorithm optimization. The idea is to produce test cases in order to find potentially problematic situations causing processing time extremes in the software of an electric network protection relay. The testing was done using a relay software simulator. In the comparison, the genetic algorithm based method was clearly better than a random test method.