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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY

Altitude Correction of Radio Interference of HVdc

Transmission Lines Part II: Measured Data Analysis
and Altitude Correction
Luxing Zhao, Xiang Cui, Senior Member, IEEE, Li Xie, Jiayu Lu, Kun He, and Yong Ju

AbstractThe prediction and control methods of radio

interference (RI) for HVdc transmission lines passing through
high-altitude region are main key factors in design of the HVdc
transmission lines. In order to obtain the altitude effect and correction of RI for HVdc transmission lines, four HVdc reduced-scale
test lines with the same parameters were built up at 50, 1700, 3400,
and 4300 m elevation, respectively. Simultaneously, two HVdc fullscale test lines with the same conductor type of 4 JL/G1A-500/45
had been set up at altitude 50 and 4300 m as well, respectively. Using these test facilities, a lot of RI measured data were accumulated
in a long time span, from Jan. 2010 to Jul. 2014. By analyzing the
RI measurement data at different altitude regions, it is indicated
that the altitude correction of RI has a nonlinear relation to the
altitude. Meanwhile, the RI altitude correction formula for HVdc
transmission lines has been proposed in this paper. Using the proposed RI altitude correction formula, the RI levels at high altitude
are lower than that predicted by using the RI correction formula
of ac transmission lines, which means that it could save a lot of
investments at high altitudes.
Index TermsAltitude correction, high-voltage direct current
(HVdc) transmission lines, radio interference (RI), test lines.

I. INTRODUCTION
N the future, there are some high-voltage direct current
(HVdc) transmission be built, which will pass through highaltitude regions in China. With the rise of altitude, the air density reduces and the electron mean free path increases, leading
to more serious corona discharge on the same conductor surface at high-altitude regions and obvious radio interference (RI)
generated by the corona [1][3]. Due to the same standard limits for environmental protection for RI of HVdc transmission
lines in high- and low-altitude regions, while building HVdc
transmission lines at high-altitude regions, some measures including increasing conductor bundles and diameters have to be

Manuscript received May 07, 2016; revised July 01, 2016; accepted July
28, 2016. This work was supported in part by the National Basic Research
Program of China (973 Program) under Grant 2011CB209402, and in part by
the Science and Technology Project of State Grid Corporation of China under
Grant GY71-16-010.
L. Zhao is with North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206,
China, and also with China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing 100192,
China (e-mail: zhaolx@epri.sgcc.com.cn).
X. Cui is with North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206,
China (e-mail: x.cui@ncepu.edu.cn).
L. Xie, J. Lu, K. He, and Y. Ju are with China Electric Power Research
Institute, Beijing 100192, China (e-mail: xieli@epri.sgcc.com.cn; lujy@epri.
sgcc.com.cn; kh880622@126.com; juyong@epri.sgcc.com.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEMC.2016.2597304

adopted. But it will lead to a significant increase in the construction cost of transmission lines. Hence, the accuracy of the
prediction method for RI of HVdc transmission lines at highaltitude regions, which directly relates to the construction cost
and environment protection, has become one of key technical
problems to be researched urgently.
In regard to the altitude influence of RI, the current research
results mainly focus on high-voltage alternating current (HVac)
transmission lines. In 1956, the Public Service Company of Colorado and Westinghouse Electric Corporation built a full-scale
test lines at 3200 m (10 500 ft) near Leadville, Colorado, USA
[4]. Westinghouse engineers used the RI test data from Leadville
and other low-altitude regions to propose a RI altitude correction
prediction formula, that is 40(1/0 ), where is the relative
air density [5]. In 1960s, Ente Nazionale per lEnergia eLettrica
(ENEL, Italy) proposed another RI formula which had an additional term for the effect of altitude. The altitude term could be
described as q/300 m, where q was altitude in meters [6]. From
1983 to 1985, V. L. Chartier and others from Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA, USA) carried out a long term RI test for
500 kV double-circuit transmission lines which located in Montana, USA, while the altitude of test lines was 1935 m. They also
compared the RI test data at altitude 1935 m with the prediction values at low-altitude regions. The results showed that the
RI altitude correction value under foul weather conditions was
about 1 dB/300 m [7]. ENEL and ESCOM (South Africa) colaunched a research on the altitude influence of corona current
performance by using corona cage. The Italian corona cage was
located at Suvereto about at sea level, while the corona cage of
South Africa was located near Johannesburg where the altitude
is about 1600 m. By comparing the RI test data between two
altitude regions, the RI altitude correction was about 56 dB,
which is close to 1 dB/300 m [7], [8]. In 2010, with the help of
movable corona cage system, Tang Jian and others from China
carried out an RI experimental research for ac transmission test
lines at four different altitudes in China. They obtained a conclusion that the RI altitude correction factor of HVac transmission
lines is about 3.13 dB/1000 m [9], which was consistent with the
experimental results of other researchers. In summary, through
the test lines and corona cages at different altitudes, research
institutes from various countries have drew a conclusion that
RI altitude correction factor was about 1 dB/300 m. And the
conclusions had been accepted by CISPR (International Special
Committee on Radio Interference) [10].
However, as for HVdc transmission lines, there are few relevant reports on RI altitude correction due to little cases of HVdc

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transmission lines passing through high-altitude regions. Although Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI, USA) brought
forward the altitude correction method of RI for HVdc transmission lines in the literature [11], this approach applies the altitude
correction method of HVac transmission lines directly to HVdc
transmission lines without test basis. Its accuracy needs to be
checked.
In 2010, some Chinese scholars made use of an HVdc test
lines at altitude 2100 m to conduct test measurement on the
RI of 800-kV HVdc transmission lines [12]. However, the
test was conducted at single altitude and a universal RI altitude
correction method still cannot be obtained.
In order to research the RI characteristic of HVdc lines at
high-altitude regions and obtain the law that RI varies with the
altitude, State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) built two
HVdc full-scale test lines whose parameters are the same as the
500 kV HVdc transmission lines, and they are at the altitude
of 4300 and 50 m separately. In addition, SGCC built four HVdc
reduced-scale test lines with 100 m length at altitudes 50, 1700,
3400, and 4300 m, which are under the same parameter. Then,
from Jan. 2010 to Jul. 2014, a lot of detailed test measurements
on RI of these HVdc full-scale and reduced-scale test lines at
different altitudes and different voltages were carried out. This
paper, as the Part II, is a companion paper (the Part I) written by
the same authors. It will convert the RI data from test lines into
infinitely long lines. Finally, based on the large number of test
data, through statistical analysis and comparison, we will obtain
a new RI altitude correction method of HVdc transmission lines.
II. TEST SETUPS AND TEST METHODS
A. Test Setups
The methods of measuring RI may be classified into two
kinds, which are the radiation method and the conduction
method. The radiation method, commonly used in transmission lines or test lines, utilizes antenna to measure RI field
strength. The conduction method, mainly used in corona cage,
makes use of conductor for ground couple circuit to directly
measure corona current and then calculate RI field strength by
the equitation of electromagnetic wave propagation [13]. Owing
to space charge and ion flow field are stably distributed inside
HVdc corona cage while conductor corona happens, it makes
the equivalence between HVdc corona cage and real lines more
difficult than that of HVac. So, there are no commonly accepted
methods so far. In addition, the literature [14] reports that under
the same conductor surface electric field, RI field strength measured by small corona cage is obviously higher than large corona
cage and test lines, so a small cage cannot be used to predict
the RI performance of HVdc transmission lines. Therefore, this
paper selects test lines instead of corona cages.
There are two kinds of test lines: full-scale test lines and
reduced-scale test lines. The conductor and line structure parameters of the full-scale test lines are in accordance with real
dc transmission lines; hence, the test data of full-scale test lines
may directly be used in real HVdc transmission lines design.
However, huge investment makes it is hard to build many fullscale test lines at different altitude regions simultaneously. The
reduced-scale test lines, which reduce the geometry size of real

TABLE I
PARAMETERS OF TEST LINES
Conductor type
Conductor
parameters
Lines
parameters
Altitude
Position
Length of
test lines

Reduced-scale test lines

Full-scale test lines

4 JL/G1A -95/15(13.6 mm),

bundle spacing 40 cm
L = 6 m,
H= 7m
50 m 1700 m 3400 m 4300 m
Beijing Tibet
Tibet
Tibet
TL = MSL = 100 m

4 JL/G1A-500/45(30 m
m), bundle spacing 45 cm
L = 22 m,
H = 15 m
50 m
4300 m
Beijing
Tibet
TL = 605 m,
TL = 500 m,
MSL = 300 m MSL = 300 m

Lpolarity lines distance; Hminimum height in the middle of span.

TLtotal length of test lines; MSLmeasurement section length of test lines.

transmission lines and towers with certain proportion, have some

advantages, such as simple structures, flexible parameters, and
no demand of site selection, which makes it convenient to research the law of RI changing with altitude. But the defect of
reduced-scale test lines is that it is unable to exert a voltage as
large as the operating voltages of the real lines and to mount
conductors with large section.
Therefore, this paper combines the full-scale test lines with
the reduced-scale test lines to conduct the altitude correction research on RI. Table I shows the parameters of full-scale test lines
and reduced-scale test lines. Figs. 1 and 2 show the photographs
of the test lines at different altitudes.
Due to the difference between the conductors used in the fullscale test lines and the reduced-scale test lines, their corona performances absolutely are distinct. However, although the conductors of reduced-scale test lines is smaller, its four-bundled
form of conductor is the same as the full-scale test lines and
the equivalent radius of these two types of test lines is slightly
different. Even if the RI altitude correction values of full-scale
test lines and reduced-scale test lines are different, the RI altitude correction curves for these two types of test lines may
be assumed to be in the same shape. Therefore, we may get
the shape of the RI altitude correction curve by using the four
reduced-scale test lines, and then substitute the measured values
from the two full-scale test lines into the parameterized formula
to determine the undetermined coefficients. Finally, the RI altitude correction formula for practical HVdc transmission lines
may be obtained.
B. Test Methods
The measurement method of the RI of the test lines is in
accordance with CISPR18-2 standard [15]. The height above
the ground of loop antenna is 1.5 m. Antennas planar is vertical
to the ground and parallel with the test lines. The RI receiver
selects the quasi-peak detector whose frequency band width is
9 kHz. One photograph of RI measurement is shown in Fig. 3.
III. ANALYSIS OF THE FACTORS ON ALTITUDE CORRECTION
A. Influences of Measurement Positions
When measuring RI, antenna locations should be located below the lowest point of the conductors. Meanwhile, antenna locations should be perpendicular to the lines direction. However,

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Fig. 2. HVdc full-scale test lines. (a) Altitude 4300 m, Yangbajing, Tibet.
(b) Altitude 50 m, Beijing.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 1. DC reduced-scale test lines. (a) Altitude 50 m, Beijing. (b) Altitude

1700 m, Xiachayu, Tibet. (c) Altitude 3400 m, Bahe, Tibet. (d) Altitude 4300 m,
Yangbajing, Tibet.

One photograph of RI measurement.

it needs to be confirmed that whether different measurement

positions will affect the RI altitude correction values.
As far as we know, the RI of transmission lines is generated
by corona current flowing along the test lines. Take an infinite
and straight conductor as example. Suppose the height of the
conductor is z0 and the horizontal coordinates are y0 . Integrating
the RI caused by single-point corona along the lines, the RI field
strength E(y) generated from all corona currents at the point

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TABLE II
SOIL RESISTIVITY AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
Altitude (m)

50

1700

3400

4300

Soil resistivity (m)

50

900

1300

500

P (x, y, h) [10] is



E(y) = 120

i2 (x)dx F (y)

(1)

where
F (y) =

z02

z0 h
z0 + h + 2p
2 +
+ (y0 y)
(z0 + h + 2p)2 + (y0 y)2


with p = /0 f ; is soil resistivity; f is frequency; 0 is
the permeability of air.
Converting the unit of E(y) into dB (V/m) has


2
E(y) = 20 lg 120 + 10 lg
(i(x)) dx + 20 lg F (y).
0

(2)
Suppose the corona currents of HVdc test lines at different
altitudes h1 and h2 are ih1 (x) and ih2 (x), respectively. Their
corresponding RI electric fields are Eh1 (x) and Eh2 (x). If the
soil resistivity values at these two positions are the same, the RI
correction at the two altitudes may be described as


2

ih 1 (x)/i2h 2 (x) dx .
= Eh 1 (y) Eh 2 (y) = 10 lg
0

(3)
It may be inferred from the previous formula, that is, with
fixed parameters of lines structure and soil resistivity, the RI
correction of HVdc test lines under different altitudes is only
related to corona current. The RI altitude corrections are not
related to the measurement position.
The RI of HVdc transmission lines mainly comes from positive polar lines; thus, the signal of RI under the positive polar
lines is the strongest. Therefore, this paper selects the measured
values of RI under positive polar lines to analyze the RI altitude
correction of HVdc transmission lines.
B. Influences of Soil Resistivity
As geologic structure varies from a region to another region, there are great differences in the values of soil resistivity at different regions. Thus, the influence of soil resistivity
has to be taken into consideration when analyzing the RI altitude correction of HVdc transmission lines [16]. Soil resistivity
mainly affects the RI propagation process, and the impact of
the soil resistivity to RI altitude correction may be estimated by
calculation.
According to a survey of the soil resistivity for different regions, the soil resistivity at different test sites is shown in Table II.
The concerning and measurement frequency of the RI for
transmission lines is 0.5 MHz in this paper. Suppose the RI
excitation function at 0.5 MHz of positive polarity line is 0 dB

Fig. 4. Effect of soil resistivity on the transverse distribution of RI.

(a) Reduced-scale test lines. (b) Full-scale test lines.

TABLE III
0.5 MHZ RI FROM DIFFERENT SOIL RESISTIVITY CONVERTED TO 50 M
Altitude (m)

0
1700
3400
4300

Soil resistivity (m)

5050
90050
130050
50050

RI correction (dB (V/m))

Reduced-scale test lines

Full-scale test lines

0
1.2
1.3
1.0

0
/
/
3.5

(V/m), the RI excitation function of negative polarity may be

ignored [17]. Using the RI values of a 50 m soil resistivity
as the reference value, the transverse distributions of RI of the
reduced-scale test lines and the full-scale test lines for different
soil resistivity values are shown in Fig. 4, where the RI correction
values in Fig. 4 are the deviations between the measured values
and the reference values.
It may be seen from Fig. 4 that in the projection position of
the positive polar lines, RI values at 0.5 MHz for different soil
resistivity values are converted to the values under 50 m. The
RI corrections are listed in Table III.

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IV. TEST AND ANALYSIS OF REDUCED-SCALE TEST LINES

UNDER DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
A. Characteristic Curves of Frequency Spectrum
Fig. 5 gives the typical measurement curves of RI frequency spectrum for the reduced-scale test lines when applying three different dc voltages at altitudes 50, 1700, 3400, and
4300 m.
The measurement results show that the forms of RI frequency
spectrum curves under different voltages are similar, and the separation between the neighboring peaks in the frequency spectrum curve is about 1.38 MHz. Because the length of HVdc
reduced-scale test lines is 100 m, and adding the length of the
sag and the power supply leads, the total length is about 108 m.
Based on the method proposed in the literature [18], in the middle position of test lines, the separation of the neighboring peaks
in the frequency curve is f c/2l = 1.39 MHz that is almost
the same as 1.38 MHz measured.
As for RI measured point at low altitude, when the applied
voltage is relatively low, the signal of RI generated by the test
lines corona is only slightly stronger than background interference. Thus, the overall frequency spectrum curve is not smooth
enough after filtering the background interference and spikes appear at some frequencies. When the voltage gradually increases
or the altitude rises, the RI values are far larger than the values
of background interference, and the frequency spectrum curves
of RI are relatively smooth.
B. Statistical Analysis of RI
From Jan. 2010 to Jul. 2014, the four reduced-scale test lines
at various altitudes were utilized to conduct a long-term RI
measurement. While measuring the RI level of HVdc test lines,
the frequency is generally chosen to be 0.5 MHz. But the RI
value in this frequency is often interfered by the background
interference. Therefore, the range of the measuring frequency
in the test is 0.450.55 MHz, and the smallest value of RI
within the frequency band is chosen as the RI value at 0.5 MHz.
By meteorological conditions, the measuring values of RI at
0.5 MHz at four altitudes under different voltages are classified,
and then the statistical analysis is made separately. It is reported
that humidity has an obvious influence on the RI of HVdc test
lines [19], [20]. Thus, when analyzing the impacts of altitude on
RI, the data measured at the same humidity should be selected
to compare and analyze. In this paper, we choose the data which
measured at the humidity range from 40% to 70%. All the
measuring data should be converted to that for 50 m soil
resistivity. A comparison of RI for the HVdc reduced-scale test
lines at different altitudes is made and shown in Table IV. RI at
0.5 MHz under the positive polar test lines varying with altitude
is shown in Fig. 6.
From Fig. 6, we may see that: 1) with the increase of altitude,
the RI of HVdc reduced-scale test lines first increases slowly and
then rises rapidly; and 2) as the applied voltage increases, the
difference value between high altitude and low altitude gradually
decreases.

Fig. 5. Spectrum curve of the RI of the dc reduced-scale test lines. (a) Altitude
50 m. (b) Altitude 1700 m. (c) Altitude 3400 m. (d) Altitude 4300 m.

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TABLE IV
MEASURED DATA AT 0.5 MHZ RI OF THE HVDC REDUCED-SCALE TEST LINES
AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
U (kV)

Statistical averages dB (V/m)

= 50 m
50 m

220
230
250
270
280

Fig. 6.

46.34
50.53
53.63
57.37
58.93

Altitude correction dB (V/m)

= 50 m

1700
m

3400
m

4300
m

1700
50 m

3400
50 m

4300
50 m

48.29
51.71
54.87
57.93
59.25

53.95
55.66
58.44
60.32
61.29

59.86
61.20
62.67
63.64
64.31

1.95
1.18
1.24
0.56
0.32

7.61
5.13
4.81
2.95
2.36

13.52
10.67
9.04
6.27
5.38

Curve with altitude of the RI on positive reduced-scale test lines.

C. RI Altitude Correction Method Based on Reduced-Scale

Test Lines
Next, we need to fit the curve as a mathematical function
according to the shape of Fig. 6. When doing the fitting, the data
measured at 50 m are set to be the reference level value, 0 m. So,
through analysis, the expression of RI altitude correction fitting
function should be

(4)
y = k/ 1 + eu (x+v )
where y is the correction of RI with the unit of dB (V/m);
x is altitude with the unit of m; k, u, and v are undetermined
coefficients. The use of least square method is made to evaluate
these undetermined coefficients. When the voltage changes from
220 to 280 kV, these coefficients in the fitting formula of RI
altitude correction are listed in Table V.
The comparison between measured values of RI and the values of RI calculated by (4) is shown in Fig. 7.
Generally, the related coefficient R value is used in statistics
to check the performance of fitting. The closer the value of R is
to 1.0, the better the performance of fitting. It may be seen from
Table V that R values are all larger than 0.999 and close to 1.0,
which indicates that the fitting formula is better.
Due to difference in the conductor surface electric field, the
coefficients k, u, and v in RI altitude correction fitting formula are
different under different applied voltages. Although excessive

TABLE V
FITTING FORMULA OF RI ALTITUDE CORRECTION OBTAINED BY THE
REDUCED-SCALE TEST LINES
U
(kV)

E
(kV/cm)

Correlation
coefficient
R

Residual
standard
deviation s

220
230
250
270
280

24.29
25.39
27.60
29.81
30.91

28.30
44.90
24.63
18.79
12.70

0.0010
0.0010
0.0010
0.0011
0.0013

4390
5495
4869
4931
4536

0.9993
0.9996
0.9993
0.9998
0.9999

0.2700
0.1647
0.1821
0.0635
0.0255

Fig. 7. Comparison between the altitude correction curves and the measured
values of the reduced-scale test lines.

variables in fitting formula may benefit the prediction accuracy,

it will bring inconvenience to practical applications of the formula. After a close look is taken at the features of fitting formula,
it is found that the coefficients u and v in altitude correction fitting formula mainly decide the shape of the curves, and the
coefficient k affects the slope of curves. Because the shapes
of the RI altitude correction curves under different conductor
surface electric field strength are similar, RI altitude correction
formula may be further simplified by keeping the undetermined
coefficient u and v constants and remaining the coefficient k
variant.
In order to obtain a set of optimal values of coefficients u, v,
and k, we adopt the following objective function:
min f (ki , u, v) =

5 
4 


yij ki /(1 + e

u (x i j +v )

2
) . (5)

i=1 j =1

In previous formula, i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 correspond to the voltages 220, 230, 250, 270, and 280 kV, respectively;
j = 1, 2, 3, 4 correspond to the altitudes 0, 1700, 3400, and
4300 m, respectively. The optimal values of coefficients u, v are
solved by the optimization method. The RI altitude correction
coefficients of the HVdc reduced-scale test lines are listed in
Table VI.

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TABLE VI
FITTING FORMULA COEFFICIENT OF ALTITUDE CORRECTION OF RI
U (kV)

220
230
250
270
280

41.78
31.83
27.59
18.59
15.71

0.0010

5000

0.9966
0.9992
0.9985
0.9986
0.9952

0.6169
0.2307
0.2691
0.1815
0.2949

TABLE VII
MEASURED RESULTS OF 0.5 MHZ RI FOR THE FULL-SCALE TEST LINES AT
DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
RI [dB(V/m)]

U (kV)

500 kV
600 kV
700 kV

50 m elevation

4300 m elevation

Altitude correction

54.27
62.27
68.15

64.33
71.05
75.62

10.06
8.78
7.48

TABLE VIII
FITTING FORMULA COEFFICIENTS OF ALTITUDE CORRECTION OF RI FOR
FULL-SCALE TEST LINES

Fig. 8. Comparison between the calculated curves and the measured values
of the RI altitude correction formula.

The calculated results by altitude correction fitting formula

and measured results are shown in Fig. 8. It may be seen that
there exists very minor difference between the fitting curves
and the measured data. The related coefficient R is all above
0.995 and close 1.0, and the residual standard deviation s is
almost within 0.6 dB (V/m), indicating that the values listed
in Table VI are suitable.
V. ALTITUDE CORRECTION OF RI FOR REAL HVDC LINES
A. Altitude Correction Fitting Formula of RI for Real HVdc
Lines
From Jan. 2010 to Jul. 2014, two full-scale test lines, located
at Changping District, Beijing, and Yangbajing Town, Tibet,
were used to carry out long-term tests of RI, and a large number
of test data were obtained. The length difference between the
two full-scale test lines leads to different oscillation behaviors
in the frequency spectrum curves for RI. The frequency point
of 0.5 MHz is located at different positions in the frequency
spectrum curves. Thus, the measured data of 0.5 MHz RI for
two full-scale test lines could not be compared directly. All the
RI measurement data should be converted to that corresponding
to an infinitely long line first [21], [22]. The conversion method
has been proposed in a companion paper (Part I) of this paper.
While comparing the RI data at high and low altitudes, it
should be noted that the meteorological conditions and soil
resistivity should be the same. Same as the data processing
method for the reduced-scale test lines, the data measured when
the humidity ranges from 40% to 70% are ferreted out to analyze.

U (kV)

E (kV/cm)

500
600
700

21.41
25.69
29.97

30.31
26.45
22.50

0.0010

5000

0.9996
0.9996
0.9996

The data for soil resistivity of 500 m (at altitude 4300 m) are
turned to that for soil resistivity of 50 m (at altitude 50 m).
The statistical average values of 0.5 MHz RI corresponding to
an infinitely long line are listed in Table VII.
From the data in Table VII, it may be known that with the
increase of applied voltage, the RI level of HVdc test lines at
two altitudes gradually goes up, but the growth gradually slows
down. This indicates that the corona is gradually tending to saturation. As the voltage increases, the RI at low altitude increases
relatively fast, while the RI at high altitude increases relatively
slow, and corona saturation phenomenon is more evident at high
altitude.
For the full-scale test lines, its RI altitude correction formula
may also be expressed in the form same as (4). The values of u
and v may be to the same as that of the reduced-scale test lines,
and the value of k should be evaluated by regression analysis
based on the test data of 50 and 4300 m.
Substituting the correction of 0.5 MHz RI at 4300 and 50 m
into (4), the values of u and v are 0.001 and 5000, respectively.
Consequently, the altitude correction fitting formula of RI for
the full-scale test lines may be obtained. The coefficients are
listed in Table VIII.
B. Comparison of Different Altitude Correction Methods
for RI
In accordance with the report presented by EPRI, its recommending RI altitude correction function of HVac transmission
lines is given as follows:
=

1
x
300

(6)

where x is altitude in m; is altitude correction amount in dB.

Fig. 9 shows the predictions of 0.5 MHz RI correction for
500 kV HVdc lines at the altitude from 0 to 4300 m by (4)
and the ac forecasting method (6).
When designing the HVdc transmission lines in high altitude,
RI altitude correction formula of HVac is adopted to predict RI

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8

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY

of 0.5 MHz RI are about 10 dB (V/m), which is only 70% of

the predicted results from the HVac method.
The application of the formula proposed in this paper to the
design of high-altitude HVdc transmission lines could reduce
the construction cost.
REFERENCES

Fig. 9. Comparison of 0.5 MHz RI prediction values by HVdc and HVac

methods.

generally. However, it may be seen from Fig. 9 that the RI

predicted by altitude correction formula proposed in this paper
is much smaller than that predicted by the HVac formula. Taking
the RI correction at 4300 m elevation, for example, the predicted
value calculated by the RI altitude correction method of HVac is
about 14.3 dB (V/m), and the predicted value evaluated by the
RI altitude correction method of HVdc is about 10 dB(V/m).
The latter is only 70% of the former.
If this method could be applied to the design of HVdc transmission lines, it will greatly reduce investment of the lines. Take
altitude 4300 m as example, if the RI limited value of transmission lines is 55 dB (V/m), we must adopt the conductor type
of 6 JL/G1A-300/40(dia. 23.9 mm) when using the HVac
altitude formula. However, if using the HVdc formula proposed
in this paper, the conductor type of 4 JL/G1A-400/30(dia.
26.8 mm) should be acceptable.
VI. CONCLUSION
From Jan. 2010 to Jul. 2014, the RI tests on the full-scale test
lines at the altitudes of 50 and 4300 m and the reduced-scale
test lines at the altitudes of 50, 1700, 3400, and 4300 m were
conducted. A large amount of RI measurement data for HVdc
lines at different altitudes are obtained in this paper.
Though, the parameters of full-scale test lines and reducedscale test lines are different, their altitude correction curves of
RI are considered to have the similar shapes.
Due to the length difference of full-scale test lines, the RI test
data from them need to be converted to that of indefinitely long
lines to enable a comparison. For the reduced-scale test lines,
the test data in the same frequency points may be compared
directly as they share the same geometry dimensions, but the
influences of soil resistivity in different regions must be taken
into consideration.
Based on the experimental and theoretical analysis, the RI
altitude correction of HVdc transmission lines shows nonlinear
growth characteristics, which is completely different from that
of HVac lines. Using statistical analysis, the altitude correction
of RI at 0.5 MHz has been obtained.
For 500 kV HVdc transmission lines with conductor
4 JL/G1A 500/45 at elevation 4300 m, the corrections

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ZHAO et al.: ALTITUDE CORRECTION OF RADIO INTERFERENCE OF HVDC TRANSMISSION LINES PART II: MEASURED DATA ANALYSIS

Luxing Zhao was born in Jilin, China, in 1983. He

received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, in
2006 and 2008, respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree at North China Electric
Power University, Beijing, China.
He is with China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing. His main research interest includes the
electromagnetic environment in power systems.

Jiayu Lu was born in Hubei, China, in 1957. He received the B.S. degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China, in 1982, the M.S. degree
from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in 1986, and the Ph.D. degree
from Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, China, in
1996, all in electrical engineering.
He is currently with China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing, China. His main research
interests include the theory and calculation of electromagnetic fields and electromagnetic compatibility.

Xiang Cui (M97SM98) was born in Baoding,

Hebei Province, China, in 1960. He received the
B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering
from North China Electric Power University, Baoding, in 1982 and 1984, respectively, and the Ph.D.
degree in accelerator physics from China Institute of
Atomic Energy, Beijing, China, in 1988.
He is currently a Professor and the Vice Director of the State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources,
North China Electric Power University. His research
interests include computational electromagnetics, electromagnetic environment
and electromagnetic compatibility in power systems, insulation, and magnetic
problems in high-voltage apparatus.
Dr. Cui is a Standing Council Member of the China Electrotechnical Society
and a Fellow of IET. He is also an Associate Editor of IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY.

Kun He was born in Hunan, China, in 1988. He

received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical
engineering from Xian Jiaotong University, Xian,
China, in 2010 and 2013, respectively. He is currently
working toward the Ph.D. degree in China Electric
Power Research Institute, Beijing, China.
His main research interest includes the electromagnetic environment in power systems.

Li Xie was born in Xinjiang, China, in 1980. She

received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Beihang University, Beijing,
China, in 2002, 2005, and 2010, respectively.
She is currently with China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing. Her main research interest
includes the electromagnetic environment in power
systems.

Yong Ju was born in Jilin, China, in 1977. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from North China Electric Power University,
Baoding, China, in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
He is currently with China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing, China. His main research
interest includes the electromagnetic environment in
power systems.