A Sparse-Data-Driven Approach for Fault Location in Transmission Networks

This paper proposes an efficient wide-area fault location method to find single- and double-fault locations in transmission networks. Unlike earlier conventional fault location methods, we only require capturing the phasors in a limited number of buses by phasor measurement units (PMUs). The measured voltage phasors and impedance matrix of the system yield an underdetermined system of equations that can be solved by sparse representation recovery methods. The solution gives a sparse fault current vector whose nonzero elements assign the probable faulty zones. For areas with no faults, current phasors measured by PMUs are sufficiently accurate to calculate the adjacent bus voltages. The new calculated voltages and the measured data are used to estimate the faulted lines accurately. The substitution theorem and least-squares method are used to calculate the differences between pre- and during-fault voltages, and currents in both ends of the faulted lines. Transmission line equations developed based on distributed line parameters are then used to pinpoint the fault location along each faulted line. We demonstrate the satisfactory performance of our noniterative methodology and its low computational load using simulations of the IEEE 39-bus test system with noisy measurements, multiple combinations of all fault types, and different resistances.