An L1 norm for efficient power quality monitoring

Real-time monitoring of power quality requires extensive data-handling and data-processing capabilities. These requirements limit the scope of monitoring, despite the fact that microprocessor-based monitoring systems have seen significant increase in their storage and computational power. Development of compact algorithms will benefit power quality in two ways; they will allow monitoring of more points simultaneously for large systems, and they will help create powerful embeddable monitoring architectures within small power devices, such as a breaker, motors, or power drives. This paper proposes use of the distance L1 norm as an indicator of power quality. We show how this approach will improve the computational and storage requirements. This work presents analyses of the proposed norm, how it compares with traditional approaches, and examples of its applications.