Radiometric wireless sensor network monitoring of partial discharge sources in electrical substations

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) with the potential to monitor and locate partial discharge (PD) in high-voltage electricity substations using only received signal strength (RSS) is proposed. The advantages of an RSS-based operating principle over more traditional methods (e.g. Time-of-Arrival and Time-Difference-of-Arrival) are described. Laboratory measurements of PD that emulate the operation of a PD WSN are presented. The hardware architecture of a prototype PD WSN is described and the particular challenge of an RSS-based location approach in an environment with an unknown, and spatially varying, path-loss index are discussed. It is concluded that an RSS-based PD WSN is a plausible solution for the monitoring of insulation integrity in electricity substations.