This project deals with electric power system security. The specific innovation to be studied is the use of integrated decision support systems utilizing sensor fusion techniques. The immediate goal is to provide the theoretical foundation for designing more effective and accessible decision support systems and new indicators for power system management. The project is an outgrowth of automatic contingency selection and voltage collapse studies. At present, energy management systems (EMS's) use various performance indices and models for evaluating system security. Systems are usually designed for the most stressful load demand schedules. The proposed support system will coordinate all the performance indices used and approximate system performance models using data fusion methodologies. The expectation is that the method will permit an advanced approach to allow the operator to master the complex system conditions under heavy load conditions. The novelty of this approach lies in the use of sensor fusion techniques within the framework of statistical decision theory. Architectures for the practical implementation of the technique will also be studied.
