S3DK: an Open Source Toolkit for Prototyping Synchrophasor Applications

Synchrophasor data contain a trove of information on the power system and its dynamics. These measurements have a high potential to unlock our ability to cope with changing system conditions and challenges posed by distributed and intermittent energy sources. While Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) have seen a large deployment in the grid, their applications are limited by the software platforms that are deployed in control centers to monitor the grid. In this paper, we present an open source toolkit that enables fast prototyping of PMU applications. The toolkit is akin to a software development kit (SDK) for synchrophasor applications, providing a number of functionalities that enable high-level PMU application development within the LabVIEW environment. This Smart-grid Synchrophasor SDK (S3DK) proposes a paradigm based on the concept of distributed applications, which allows development and deployment to be independent of the existing software stack deployed in control centers and to leverage PMU data at any level of a synchrophasor system hierarchy. This paper serves to introduce the S3DK, which is released as open source software to facilitate broader and fast prototyping of synchrophasor applications.