Gossip sensor networks for power quality monitoring in smart grids

This paper intends to give a contribution toward the definition of a fully decentralized power quality monitoring architecture by proposing the employment of Gossip sensor networks. According to this paradigm each node can assess both the performances of the monitored site, computed by acquiring local information, and the global performances of the monitored grid section, computed by local exchanges of information with its neighbors nodes. Moreover, thanks to this feature each node could automatically detect local power quality anomalies. System operators can assess the system power quality index for each grid section by inquiring any node of the corresponding sensor network without the need of a fusion center acquiring and processing all node acquisitions. This makes the overall monitoring architecture highly scalable, self-organizing and distributed.