Application of Volterra-series algorithm for power system harmonic estimation

The increasing trend for use of nonlinear loads in power system results in generation of more harmonics and hence deterioration of power quality. This calls for accurate estimation of harmonics in power system so that more effective compensation measures are designed. However, accurate computation of all the harmonics is a challenging problem in power system. Even though many algorithms have been proposed for harmonic estimation to improve the power quality performance, but till date it remains a challenge. In this paper two nonlinear adaptive filtering algorithms called Volterra Least Mean Square (VLMS) and Volterra Recursive Least Square (VRLS) are applied for the first time for estimating harmonic parameters. These approaches have been considered to estimate the amplitudes, phases and frequency in case of time varying power signals containing harmonics in the presence of White Gaussian Noise in MATLAB simulating environment. Also comparison results with VLMS and VRLS algorithms are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed VRLS algorithm.