Title: Software reliability estimation of computer relaying for transmission line protection using user-oriented software reliability model

Authors: Aditya Anil, D.K. Mohanta, D. Sinha Roy, A.K. Panda

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi-835215, India. ' Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi-835215, India. ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Institute of Science and Technology, Berhampur – 761008, India. ' Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Science and Technology, Berhampur – 761008, India

Abstract: Advancement in signal processing techniques and VLSI technology has rapidly substituted conventional electromechanical relays with novel alternatives like digital relays, also termed as computer relays in power system parlance. A computer relay is considered as a digital signal processor which continuously processes the values of line currents and voltages. Hence, the heart of the computer relay is the algorithm that implements the relaying scheme. Therefore, any computer relay software, before implementation in the real-time power system, has to be thoroughly tested for performance under various conditions. This paper presents a reliability estimation method of computer relay software based on modular structure of its components and the overall reliability requirement of its modules that involves the probabilistic inter-modular transitions to be formulated from the program flow based on a Markov model. The case study in this paper validates the efficacy of the proposed software reliability estimation for computer relaying of transmission line protection.

Keywords: computer relays; fault tree analysis; FTA; Markov models; reliability estimation; safety critical systems; software reliability; transmission line protection; digital signal processing; DSP; reliability estimation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPEC.2009.027949

International Journal of Power and Energy Conversion, 2009 Vol.1 No.2/3, pp.300 - 312

Received: 16 Apr 2009
Accepted: 06 May 2009
Published online: 20 Aug 2009 *

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