5G-Enabled PMU-Based Distributed Measurement Systems: Network Infrastructure Optimization and Scalability Analysis

In recent years, there has been a rapid shift toward a fully digital paradigm in electrical substations. This shift is driven by the need for greater interoperability between different instruments and control actions, which is facilitated by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61850 series of standards. In this article, we specifically focus on phasor measurement units (PMUs) and their role in this digital transformation. One of the challenges in adopting high-performance wired communication standards such as Ethernet and time-sensitive networking (TSN) is the cost associated with wiring over long distances between substations. To overcome this limitation, we explore the feasibility of utilizing a 5G communication infrastructure to transmit PMU measurements. Our study simulates a real-world distribution network and assesses the worst case latency between PMUs and phasor data concentrator (PDC) by scaling the number of PMUs considered. With a mean communication latency of 20 ms, the 5G communication infrastructure proves to be a valuable solution, particularly in distribution networks where the monitoring applications rely on update rates in the order of few tens of millisecond.