Applying object-orientation and component technology to architecture design of power system monitoring

Future power system monitoring (PSM) systems should provide not only functionality such as alarm and event handling, status monitoring, but also advanced functions like disturbance data analysis and evaluation, primary apparatus monitoring, power quality monitoring, and condition based maintenance. The information should be easily and widely accessible, e.g., through the Internet. The monitoring system should be open, i.e. different data sources, devices and software components should be easily integrated into the system; legacy systems can be replaced by new components without much effort. In this paper, the application of the object-oriented methodology UML (unified modelling language), as well as the Microsoft COM (component object model) technology, a standard to create interoperable components, to the PSM architecture design is presented. Based on these new technologies, the PSM system will be more scalable, extendable, upgradable, flexible, maintainable and reliable, and project specific adaptation can be performed partly automatically. Furthermore, both local and remote monitoring should be possible.