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Pulsar Based Timing for Grid Synchronization

Journal Article · · IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [5]
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Hunan Univ., Changsha (China)
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  3. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  4. Hunan Univ., Changsha (China)
  5. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Existing synchronization systems in the power grid, such as the global positioning system, are susceptible to temporary or permanent failures due to various unpredictable and uncontrollable factors such as cyber-attack and electromagnetic interferences, thus affecting the accuracy and reliability of generated timing signal. In this article, a pulsar astronomy-based timing system is proposed to provide an alternative synchronization signal. Further, this clock will offer significant security improvements to power grid applications, such as a wide-area monitoring system, which depends on a precise timing signal. The hardware and software frameworks are described in detail. First, a high-speed sampling hardware platform is designed to collect signals from radio telescopes. Then a periodic pulse extraction method with three steps is proposed to process the pulsar signal, including polyphase filterbanks, incoherent de-dispersion, and sliding window folding. Lastly, three experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the frameworks. The generated pulsar timing pulse is presented, and the factors affecting its accuracy are also discussed. The analysis results demonstrate that the pulsar signals can provide high-accurate timing pulses for grid synchronization.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; 1920025; EEC-1920025
OSTI ID:
2448204
Journal Information:
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 57, Issue 3; ISSN 0093-9994
Publisher:
IEEECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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