Distribution automation: impact of communication system on reliability of automatic control

The communication system is essential to the performance of automated distribution systems. It is necessary to perform reliability assessments of communication facilities in carrying out the control functions. The paper describes an approach for reliability evaluation of the communication and control. This approach is based on the event tree methodology, and by using it sensitivity studies are performed to predict the impact of a communication system. The results of the studies are discussed and the importance of the communication system on the reliable automation performance is demonstrated in the paper.