Monitor your networks at scale with synchronised waveform data.

As power networks scale up, operators need more detailed information, delivered instantly to prevent incidents and outages. Synaptec can provide synchronised waveform data to monitor all voltage, current, temperature, vibration and strain signals.

Get in touch

Slava Tavoletti

Slava Tavoletti

Business Development

Jeff Williamson

Jeff Williamson

Business Development

North America enquiries

Saul Matthews

Saul Matthews

VP Global Sales

Challenges in wide-area monitoring

As power networks become larger and more complex, the value of high-resolution, time-synchronised data on system conditions and events to network operators and engineers has grown significantly. Operators are now accustomed to deploying phasor measurement units (PMUs) to calculate synchrophasors, and discrete power quality recorders for monitoring grid boundaries and generator efficiency. However, there is increasing demand for higher-resolution, time-synchronised waveform data. This data can reveal far more about local and wide-area conditions without the filtering, limited geographical scope or duration from conventional PMU or PQ meter units, and without the complexity of manual data aggregation.

The high-quality, synchronised waveform data offered is the future of understanding and diagnosing events which relatively coarse synchrophasor or SCADA data are unable to identify. For example, transients during switching events or electrical faults could be detected and logged within the condition monitoring profile for that asset. Such events are unobservable using synchrophasor data.

Our solution

Synchronised waveform data is a powerful tool in the detection of oscillations in power flows or voltages and, as a result, can prevent serious incidents like mass power outages. Synchrophasor or SCADA measurements are usually not suitable for detecting some of these oscillations, particularly for relatively high frequencies (greater than 12 Hz). Our systems perform CPOW monitoring of all voltage, current, temperature, vibration, and strain signals.

As measurements are taken using a passive system without the need for a dedicated power supply or time synchronisation source, synchronised waveform data is an effective, highly accurate way to monitor remote and challenging locations. This can be especially effective for detecting and diagnosing power quality issues from distributed solar generation and in offshore wind networks.

Comprehensive analysis of synchronised waveform data

The data generated by synchronised waveform data monitoring can be as extensive as it is valuable. Our Synthesis™ data analysis system is designed to operate with high-resolution waveform data from a large number of sensors, providing the equivalent of having digital fault recorders and power quality analysers available at all monitored locations, but without the high cost of conventional instrumentation and communications equipment.

Synchrophasors (phasor measurement units)

System operators use synchrophasors (derivable from synchronised waveform data) to enhance the visibility and resilience of modern power systems as well as real-time and post-event analysis and network model evaluation. However, there is significant cost and complexity in networking large numbers of time-synchronised Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) reliably from wide locations. By using distributed current and voltage sensing, our Distributed Electrical Sensing (DES) technology has the potential to deliver synchrophasors at a fraction of the cost of conventional solutions, leading to capex savings of approximately 80% per measurement location, compared to conventional infrastructure. This is achieved primarily by eliminating the need for local Phasor Data Concentrators, synchronised clocks, telecommunications infrastructure, construction of buildings, power supplies, and dedicated merging units at each measurement location. It readily supports the IEEE C37.118.2 output format for integration with other systems.

Distributed, synchronous power quality monitoring

Power quality effects are conventionally measured in substations, particularly on new grid connections for renewable generation schemes. However, Synaptec’s passive sensor capabilities now permit distributed PQ sensing which can be deployed beyond the grid connection to provide permanent and synchronous data in more detail. This allows monitoring for localised flicker effects, or to target the source of poor power quality injections at the level of individual inverters and their array cables.

Watch our panel discussion on  wide-area monitoring

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Sectors we support

Power grids

Renewables

Industrial