Information and Communication Infrastructures in Modern Wide-Area Systems

Information and communication infrastructures (ICIs) in modern wide-area systems handle the transmitting, receiving, and storing of high-speed, large-volume synchrophasor data. Such infrastructures are important components in modern wide-area systems. Although power systems are becoming rather complex, with the introduction of synchrophasor technology, the highly accurate, high-speed, widely deployed, and time-synchronized phasor measurement units (PMUs) are providing operators and auditors an unprecedented way to understand the complex power systems. Consequently, these advanced PMUs challenge the current information and communication infrastructures. This chapter reviews the basics, challenges, and visions of the ICIs in wide-area monitoring systems (WAMS). We will first overview some important wide-area ICI topics and share our experience in building an efficient, reliable, and secure distribution-level WAMS, FNET/GridEye. We will introduce some key technologies that ensure the efficiency and reliability of such a WAMS. Finally, some outstanding challenges and future directions of the contemporary ICIs are discussed and envisioned.