1

Effects of the Exponentially Decaying DC Offset in

the Phasor Estimation Algorithms Performance
Nelson L. S. Oliveira e Benemar A. de Souza, Member, IEEE

AbstractThis article aims to evaluate the performance of

phasor estimation algorithms used in digital relays concerning
immunity to the effects of the exponentially decaying dc offset,
steady state response and sampling frequency. The algorithms:
full cycle Fourier, modified Fourier, cosine filter, modified cosine
filter and full cycle Fourier associated with adaptive mimic
filter were compared. Two groups of signals were used in the
evaluation of the filters: analytical signals and signals obtained
by simulations in the software Alternative Transient Programs
(ATP). In the evaluation, the adaptive mimic filter associated
with Fourier of one cycle had the best performance.
Index TermsDC offset, digital relays, phasor estimation.

I. I NTRODUCTION

HE vast majority, the protection functions implemented

in microprocessor relays use phasors of the fundamental
component of voltage and current of the electrical system,
which are obtained from the samples of these quantities using
phasor estimation algorithms [1]. Thus, a phasor estimation
algorithm can be seen as a filter that receives at its input
a signal voltage or current, composed of a fundamental frequency, harmonic components and the exponentially decaying
dc offset, and provides an output frequency of the phasor
fundamental.
The harmonic components are filtered by digital filters
of a cycle, in that Discrete Fourier Transform is the most
popular filtering algorithms these components by calculation
very simple [2]. However, the exponentially decaying dc offset
is not easily removed during the estimation process, due to its
aperiodic behavior with a frequency spectrum relatively broad.
The presence of the exponentially decaying dc offset reduces the accuracy and speed of convergence of the conventional phasor estimation methods [3]. Several strategies
have been published to eliminate the exponentially decaying
dc offset during estimating phasors process [2][7]. In [4],
a filter based on the method Least Squares was used. The
exponentially decaying dc offset was modeled as a linear ramp
downward by the first two terms of expansion Taylor series.
The filter had performed well for different time constants of
the dc offset constant, but not for small values of the order of
0.1 to 0.5 cycles [2].
In [5] was proposed the mimic digital filter. By having your
parameters preset to a particular time constant, this filter is
Nelson L. S. Oliveira is PhD student of the Graduate Program in Electrical
Engineering from University Federal of Campina Grande/COPELE, Brasil
(e-mail: nelson.oliveira@ee.ufcg.edu.br).
Benemar A. de Souza is Prof of Electrical Engineering of University Federal
of Campina Grande (e-mail: benemar@dee.ufcg.edu.br).

only able to completely remove the exponentially decaying

dc offfset when the time constant of the system is equal to
the constant considered in its algorithm, otherwise, the greater
the error in choosing the value of this constant, worse will
the performance of the filter. In real power system can not
determine in advance the value of the constant time, since
this is a function of location and impedance of lack, as well
as the voltage angle at the time of disturbance [6].
Some studies analyze the influence of the exponentially
decaying dc offset in the performance of the algorithms: halfcycle Fourier and full cycle Fourier, to propose a recursive
correction strategy of the phasor estimatio [2], [3], [6] and
[7]. In [2], were used partial sums of samples of the signal,
giving the proposed algorithms perform well in a large range of
values of the time constant of exponentially decaying dc offset.
In [3], corrections in the phasor estimation based themselves
on the difference between full cycle Fourier algorithm applied
to the even-sample-set and odd-sample-set of the signal. In
[6],the parameters of the exponentially decaying dc offset
were determined from three consecutive estimates. In [7],
the mimic filter proposed by [5] is reformulated and the
combined full cycle Fourier algorithm, thus the mimic digital
filter parameters are adapted and the exponentially decaying dc
offset is completely filtered. The performance of the adaptative
mimic filter (AMF) is compared to other filters, according to
the author, the proposed algorithm is more immune to the
effects of the exponentially decaying dc offset than the other
algorithms evaluated.
In [8], it is proposed the cosine filter algoritm, in that the
waveform is processed normally and then it is delayed by
one quarter of cycle to obtain an orthogonal waveform and
again processed. The cosine filter show itself to be immune
to the exponentially decaying dc offset, but leads to a delay
of a quarter cycle in the estimation of the phasor. The delay
in the cosine filter motivated the development of a version
of this filter which requires a delay of only a sample to
estimate the phasor [9]. This article aims to evaluate the
performance of some estimation phasor algorithms commonly
implemented in digital relays, as well as those presented in the
literature technique, which are: full cycle Fourier, Modified
Fourier proposed in [2], Cosine filter, Modified Cosine Filter
proposed in [9], and Adaptive Mimic Filter proposed in [7].
The evaluation is in terms of immunity to the effects of
the exponentially decaying dc offset, sampling frequency and
response in steady state.

c 2012 IEEE
978-1-4673-2673-5/12/$31.00

II. P HASOR E STIMATION A LGORITHMS

E. Adaptive Mimic Filter (AMF)

Where x() a periodic signal, the samples number by

cycle this signal and the sampling step used, we have:
A. Full Cycle Fourier (FCF)
The phasor estimation of the fundamental frequency of x()
occurs by the correlation between the samples of x() in a
cycle and the samples, in a cycle, of the references signals:
sine and cosine [10]:
)
(
1
2
2
,
(1)
x() cos
Y1 () =

1) Determination of the time constant : Initially, is

considered equal to one cycle of the signal. Among the
samples (/2) + 2 e 1, after the occurrence of the
disturbance, this constant is estimated as:

(2)

(12)

x() + x( /2)
.
x( 1) + x( /2 1)

(13)

what:
=

=0

)
(
1
2
2
Y1 () =
,
x() sen

,
1

One cycle after the occurrence of the disturbance, is

estimade by Eq. 12, whereupon:

=0

with the amplitude of the phasor calculated as:

A1 () = Y1 ()2 + Y1 ()2 .

(3)

B. Modified Fourier (MF)

To 1 and 2 defined as:

1 =

x(2 1),

(4)

=1

2 =

x(2),

(5)

=1

we have:
= Y1 (),
(6)
()
2
coth
( 2 1 ), (7)
Y1 () = Y1 () +

with Y1 and Y2 defined by Eqs. 1 and 2.

Y1

()

(14)

with 1 and 2 defined by Eqs. 4 and 5.

2) Adjusting the parameters of the mimic filter: To each
new value of tau estimated, the mimic filter parameters are
readjusted:
( )
,
(15)
=

1
,
2

(1 + ) cos

1
( 2 )]2

[
( )]2 ,
+ sen 2

(16)

where round() is an operator responsible for converting a

floating point number in the nearest whole number. When used
the mimic filter, the estimation of the fundamental frequency
phasor is obtained by:
Y1

()

= [(1 + )Y1 () Y1 ( 1)],

(17)

Y1

()

= [(1 + )Y1 () Y1 ( 1)],

(18)

C. Cosine Filter (Cos)

According to [8], the fundamental component of the signal
x() can be filtered by the cosine filter defined in Fourier
algorithm by Eq. 1, so:
Y1 () =

1
2
x() cos

=0

)
,

)
(
)
1 (
2
2

Y1 () =
cos
.
x +

(8)

(9)

=0

D. Modified Cosine Filter (CosMod)

The delay of a quarter cycle of the cosine filter may be
reduced to only one sample, doing:
)
(
1
2
2
Y1 () =
,
x() cos

=0
( )
Y1 ()
Y1 ( 1) cos 2
( 2)
Y1 () =
.
sen

(10)

with 1 and 1 defined by Eqs. 1 and 2.

III. P ERFORMANCE I NDICES
The performance of phasor estimation algorithms was evaluated by performance indices proposed in [5] and [11].The
first author proposes two indices 1 and 2 , which are
related to fluctuations in the output of the filter in steady
state and the percentage of overshoot, respectively. O second
author proposes the indice 3 , which estimates the speed of
convergence of the filters.
Be the set of samples x(), as following:
x() =

1
=0

(11)

(
cos

(19)

with the full samples number and the time constant of

the exponentially decaying dc offset.

A. Indice 1

2) Signal with Harmonics:

The indice 1 is defined as:

1 ( ) =

x() =

[1 y()]2 ,

(25)

=1

(20)

=0

1
cos( 120).

B. Simulated Signals

where y() is the estimated magnitude phasor in the sample

x() and y(0 ) is the first estimated magnitude phasor to
exceed its value in steady.
The values of 1 close to zero denotes a filter free of
oscilation in the steady state.

The simulations used the simplified electrical system proposed in [7] and illustrated in Fig. 1. Data elements with
subscripts 0 and 1 correspond to the values of magnitudes of positive and zero sequence, respectively. Model and
parameters provided in [12] were used to current transformer
(CT).

B. Indice 2

Barra 1

The indice 2 is defined as:

Barra 2

TC

2 ( ) = ((y() 1)) 100.

S1

Rel

S2

(21)

According to its definition, 2 is the percentage of maximum overshoot present in the process of estimating the
magnitude of the phasor.

Fonte S1

Linha de transmisso

Fonte S2

V = 1,020 o

l = 180 km

V = 0,9820 o

Z 0 = 1,014 + j18,754 W

Z l .0 = 0,532 + j1,541 W/km

Z 0 = 1,127 + j 20,838 W

Z1 = 0,871 + j 25,661 W

Yl .0 = j 2,293 S/km

Z1 = 0,968 + j 28,513 W

Z l .1 = 0,098 + j 0,510 W/km

Yl .1 = j 3,252 S/km

C. Indice 3
Figure 1.

The indice 3 is defined as:

3 ( ) =

(22)

where is the samples number x() requerid for convergence

of phasor estimation algorithm and the samples number per
cycle of the signal. The higher the value assumed by 3 , the
lower the rate of convergence given by the algorithm.
The performance indices used in this study must be calculated for a particular value of time constant . To determine
the sensitivity of the filters on the various values ??of time
constant, [5] proposes to use the average of each of the indices
when calculated for time constants ranging from 0.5 to 5 cycles
of the fundamental, as defined by Eq. 23:
(0, 5)
( ) =

=1

( )

= 1, 2 e 3.

(23)

IV. T ESTING S IGNALS

Two groups of signals were used in the evaluation of the
filters: analytical signals and signals obtained by simulations in
the software Alternative Transient Programs (ATP). Analytical
signals are useful when you want to ensure the presence of
certain harmonic and time constants of exponentially decaying
dc offset in the testing signals. However, the simulated signals
reproduce real situations, considering the different fault types,
with their angles of incidence and points of occurrence.
A. Analytical Signals
1) Signal with One DC Offset:

x() = cos(260) .

(24)

Single line diagram of the electrical system simplified

V. P ERFORMANCE E VALUATION
The influence of the sampling frequency in the filters
performances was evaluated by varying the sampling rate
16, 32 and 128 samples per cycle. The signals described
in Section IV-B were simulated with a step of calculating
corresponding to 160 samples per cycle and pre-processed by a
low pass Butterworth filter of third order with cutoff frequency
at 180 Hz, as described em [7].
A. Signal with One DC Offset
In general, the filters showed reduced overshoot and increase
the oscillations number in its steady state response when the
time constant of the dc ofset was increased and maintained at
the sampling frequency, Fig. 2.
Filters with small overshoots are desirable, however, oscillations in their steady state responses should be viewed with
caution, because they reduce its accuracy and convergence
speed.
According to the results shown in Tab. I, the sampling
frequency influences differently the filters. The FCF filter
showed the worst performance when the sampling frequency
was increased, given that its indices 1 and 2 were
increased and 3 didnt show convergence during the six
cycles, randomly chosen for analysis.The filters: MF, Cos
and CosM reduced the overshoot and increased the speed of
convergence, despite intensified fluctuations in their response.
The combination between FCF filter and AMF filter had
the best performance when compared to others filters in the
same sampling frequency as well as being the one to reduce
fluctuations in their response when the sampling frequency
was increased.

4
Filtro Fourier de Um Ciclo

1.2

with convergence speed stable during the variations in sampling rate. Regarding the modified versions, the MF filter
presented the worst rates of performance without converge
during the simulation when was adopted a sample rate of
16 samples per cycle. The analysis results are summarized
in Tab. II.

0.8
0.6

Componente DC de 0,5 ciclos

Componente DC de 5 ciclos

0.4

0.8

Amplitude

Amplitude

0.6

Componente
DC 0,5
de 0,5ciclos
ciclos
Componente
DC de
Componente DC de 5 ciclos
Componente DC de 5 ciclos

0.4

0.2
0
0

Filtro Fourier de Um Ciclo Modificado

1.2

0.2
1

0
0

Tempo (Ciclos)
Filtro Cosseno

1.2

Tempo (Ciclos)

Filtro Cosseno Modificado

1.2

Filtro Fourier de Um Ciclo Modificado

Filtro Fourier de Um Ciclo

1.2

2.5

Componente DC de 0,5 ciclos

Componente DC de 5 ciclos

0.4

0.6

0
0

0
0

Tempo (Ciclos)

Filtro Fourier de Um Ciclo + FMA

0.6

0
0

Componente DC de 0,5 ciclos

Componente DC de 5 ciclos

0.4

1.4

0.6

0.2
0

Tempo (Ciclos)
Filtro Fourier de Um Ciclo + FMA

1.2

6
Amplitude

1
0.8
0.6

Tempo (Ciclos)

M EAN VALUES OF PERFORMANCE INDICES FOR THE TESTING SIGNAL

WITH ONE DC OFFSET.

FCF+AMF

0.8

Tempo (Ciclos)

Table I

CosM

0.4

0.2

0.6

0.4
0

Cos

Filtro Cosseno Modificado

1.2

Figure 2. Amplitude of the phasor estimated for the testing signal with one
dc offset and sampling rate of 16 samples per cycle.

MF

Tempo (Ciclos)

0.8

Tempo (Ciclos)

FCF

0
0

0.2

Filter

0.4

0.8

0
0

1.2

Amplitude

Filtro Cosseno

1.4

Tempo (Ciclos)
Amplitude

1.2

Tempo (Ciclos)

0
0

1
0.5

0.2

0.2
1

0.6

1.5

0.4

Componente DC de 0,5 ciclos

Componente DC de 5 ciclos

0.4

0.2

Amplitude

0.8

0.8

Amplitude

0.6

Amplitude

Amplitude

0.8

Amplitude

Samples
per
cycle

ID1

ID2 (%)

ID3 (cycle)

16

0,1062

10,4761

Inf.

32

0,2119

10,5739

Inf.

128

0,8437

10,6121

Inf.

16

0,0070

2,7606

Inf.

32

0,0067

1,9105

3,3281

128

0,0129

1,2786

1,3919

16

0,0167

5,2935

Inf.

32

0,0199

4,5422

Inf.

128

0,0468

4,1417

1,4792

16

0,0072

2,7655

Inf.

32

0,0067

1,9118

3,3438

128

0,0127

1,2788

1,3724

16

1, 5689 105

0,1034

1,1354

32

8, 7613 106

0,0547

128

1, 9173 106

0,0144

Figure 3. Amplitude of the phasor estimated for the testing signal with
harmonic and sampling rate of 16 samples per cycle.

Performance indices

Table II
M EAN VALUES OF PERFORMANCE INDICES FOR THE TESTING SIGNAL
WITH HARMONIC .

Filter

FCF

MF

Cos

CosM

B. Signal with Harmonics

The Fourier filter had the best performance in the tests with
1 and 2 null for signals without exponentially decaying
dc offset, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The combination between
FCF filter and AMF filter had the second best performance,

FCF+AMF

Samples
per
cycle

ID1

ID2 (%)

ID3 (cycle)

16

0,9375

32

1.0938

128

1.2109

16

0,0070

2,7606

Inf.

32

0,0067

1,9105

3,3281

128

0,0129

1,2786

1,3919

16

0,0167

5,2935

Inf.

32

0,0199

4,5422

Inf.

128

0,0468

4,1417

1,4792

16

0,0072

2,7655

Inf.

32

0,0067

1,9118

3,3438

128

0,0127

1,2788

1,3724

16

1, 5689 105

0,1034

1,1354

32

8, 7613 106

0,0547

128

106

0,0144

Performance indices

1, 9173

C. Simulated signals
The combination between FCF filter and AMF filter showed
the best performance, maintaining its immunity to the effect
of the dc offset in signals closer to those obtained in a real
fault situation, in which multiple exponentially decaying dc
offset may be present, Fig. 4.

in the presence of exponentially decaying dc offset, only

harmonics or in the presence of exponentially decaying dc
offset and harmonics. Among the algorithms compared, the
combination between FCF filter and AMF filter showed the
best performance. With overshoots less than 2% in most analyzed cases and convergence speed around one cycle, this filter
was capable of eliminating the effects of the exponentially
decaying dc offset during the estimation process phasors.

Amplitude (kA)

3
2,9

R EFERENCES

2,8
2,7
2,6
2,5

TDFCC

CosM

TDFCCM

TDFCC +FMA

Cos
7

10

11

12

13

14

Tempo (Ciclos)

Figure 4. Amplitude of phase current phasor C for AC-ground fault(100 km

of bus 1, angle of incidence equal to 40 , resistance between phases equal to
20 and phase-ground equal to 30) and sampling rate of 16 samples per
cycle.

Table III
M EAN VALUES OF PERFORMANCE INDICES FOR THE TESTING SIMULATED
SIGNAL .

Filter

Samples per
cycle
16

FCF

MF

Cos

CosM

FCF+FMA

Performance indices
ID1

ID2 (%)

ID3 (cycle)

2,9733

10,2164

2,4375

32

5,9531

9,8972

2,0313

128

23,4125

10,2864

1,2344

16

0,2310

2,8270

1,2500
1,3125

32

2,1349

2,5735

128

0,5055

1,4694

1,0547

16

0,4938

4,3026

1,8125
1,3750

32

1,4286

2,9246

128

1,1029

2,3309

0,9453

16

0,2390

2,8711

1,3125

32

2,0832

2,5749

1,3438

128

0,5056

1,4696

1,0547

16

0,0067

0,1593

1,1875

32

1,7364

1,3330

1,1563

128

0,0525

0,0869

0,8594

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Nelson L. S. Oliveira was born in Catole do

Rocha, Paraba, Brasil, in 1985. received the B. Sc
degree and M. Sc. degree from University Federal of
Campina Grande, Brasil, in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Currently,he is a Ph.D. student of the Program
Graduate of University Federal of Campina Grande.
His research has focused in the area of ??protection
of electrical systems potency.

VI. C ONCLUSION
This paper presented a comparison between filtering algorithms used for estimating phasors in digital relays. We
compared algorithms already in use, as well as those recently
reported in the literature, such as the AMF.
The performance indices allowed to compare the algorithms
on different sampling rates with respect to fluctuations in
the steady state response, overshoot and convergence speed.
How were defined test signals, it allowed us to observe the
performance of the algorithms in different scenarios: only

Benemar A. de Souza receve the B. Sc degree, M.

Sc. degree and Ph.D. degree from University Federal
of Campina Grande UFCG, Brasil,in 1977, 1981
and 1995 respectivaly. Currently, he is Professor of
Electrical Engineering at the University Federal of
Campina Grande.