An Innovative Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor Capable of
Fault Detection in Radial Power Systems
Amin Moghadas, Ronald Barnes, Mehdi Shadaram
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, TX, USA
Abstract— In this paper, a fiber optic based sensor capable of
fault detection in power systems is presented. This sensor uses
Bragg wavelength shift to measure current in power systems.
Magnetic fields generated by currents in power transmission
lines cause a strain in magnetostrictive material which is then
detected by Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG). Interrogators sense the
reflected FBG signals, and the Bragg wavelength shift is
calculated. It is shown that the faults in the systems cause a
detectable wavelength shift on the Fiber Bragg Grating.
Keywords: fiber Bragg grating sensors, current transformer,
magnetostrictive, magnetic field, power systems.
I. INTRODUCTION
Conventional voltage and current transformers in power lines
use an iron base filled with insulator and iron, which making
them bulky and heavy. Fiber optical current sensors can be
light, small and compact and at the same time immune from
interferences. Already a number of Faraday effect current
sensing has been implemented [1-2]. In this paper, the sensor
built with less complexity and is moderately priced is an
alternative to traditional current and voltage transformers.
Recently with emerging green energy systems and small
renewable systems, the need to monitor electrical plant
remotely has become more popular.
Different media exists for communication in Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) including twisted pair
metallic cable, power line carrier (PLC), microwave radio (2-
40 GHz), point to point Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio,
and satellites like Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) and
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) [3]-[6]. In this paper the authors
designed a sensor which can detect faults in power lines
through fiber optics. Previously, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG)
with piezoelectric stack had been simulated and then
implemented [7].
The device described here can also be used in AC power
transmission lines. We have implemented an optical current
sensor without the need for piezoelectric stack.
II. FBG SENSORS
The advantages of optical fiber sensing are well known and
have been used in the research for many subjects. Advantages
such as electrically passive operation, Electro Magnetic
Interference (EMI) immunity, high sensitivity, and
multiplexing capabilities make them a perfect candidate to for
power systems. FBG sensors are useful for variety of
978-1-4244-5883-7/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE
applications such as temperature or strain sensors. Strain in the
sensor will cause change in the grating pitch and the fiber
index. The sensed strain in FBG sensor is then coded directly
into the wavelength. FBG sensors with arrays can be installed
to allow real time measurement of temperature, strain, and
pressure in the system. Also they have some capabilities to
work on distributed sensing. FBG is an optical fiber that works
as a filter for a particular wavelength. FBG is a periodic
function of the refraction index in the core of the single mode
fiber optic. FBGs reflect a narrowband of light and transmit all
other wavelengths. The principal of a FBG based sensor is to
detect the reflected Bragg wavelength shift due to changes in
temperature, strain, or pressure. The Bragg wavelength is
defined by expression [7].
2 (1)
Where is the grating pitch and is the effective index
of the core. Applying a broadband light source into FBG, a
Bragg wavelength is reflected by the grating. Bandwidth of the
reflected signal depends on several parameters, mainly the
grating length and typically it is around 0.05 to 3 nm.
III. DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPT
The Sensor consists of FBG and a giant magnetostrictive
material which is bounded together with epoxy. The
measurement range of the sensor is variable and the quiescent
point of the sensor can be changed with the DC biasing and
mechanical prestress on magnetostrictive material. The sensor
does not require any CTs and PTs for biasing. Terfenol-D
( ) was chosen as the magnetostrictive material
due to its fast response (< 0.1 ms) and capability to produce
substantial amount of strain in the magnetic field. A
broadband super fluorescent source was used to illuminate the
FBG through a single mode fiber optic and optical coupler.
The principle of fiber Bragg grating is well known [9] and will
not explained in detail here. Change in strain and temperature
both cause wavelength shift on the reflected FBG wavelength
as shown in (2).
. (2)
Where is the wavelength shift, is base wavelength in
nominal temperature and strain, is temperature change, k is
the gage factor (k=0.78), is change of refraction index
with temperature, is strain, and
_ / / .
with assumption of 1550 , If the all the values
plugged in then 1.2 / and
wavelength shift is 13.48 pm/ ° . Generally,
temperature compensation in FBG sensors is used with
reading the two FBG. In this experiment, special arrangement
is applied for temperature compensation. Also, only one FBG
is used and temperature in FBG is compensated with FPGA.
So, the reflected signal response of FBG with respect to strain
will cause a Bragg wavelength shift.
All the sensors should be placed as close as possible to the
phase that they measure current and they should be as far as
possible from the remaining phases. Associate phases have an
effect on the sensor and also these noises will take into
account. Alternative measurement with fiber Bragg grating has
been extensively discussed earlier [10-12]. The principal of
sensor can be shown using magnetic induction of a long wire.
For a long wire, H=I/(2πd) and d is the distance from the wire.
In our study, horizontal power transmission line has been
considered for calculations with p=0.1524 m. System is
calibrated for ambient temperature of 25° degree. Power line
cable with rating of I=900 A with a radius of 12.36 mm is used
in the simulation.
The experimental setup of the system has been shown in Fig.
1. Broad band light emitted from LED has been used for
illuminating the system. A temperature sensor is used to
compensate the temperature effect. The output of this
photodiode is . The reflected light in another path
directly is sent to another photodiode with the output
of . Previously, Melle and Liu [13] have been shown
that the ratio ( / is proportional to the fiber
Bragg wavelength shift:
√
where K is the slope of the edge or tunable filter, is the
Fig.1. Experimental setup of the system.
(3)
Fig. 2. Wavelength shift at Fiber Bragg Grating due to strain.
wavelength at which the edge filter has zero transmittance,
the peak wavelength of the grating, and is the spectral
width of the Bragg reflected spectrum. This method has been
chose because of its simplicity to install and measure the
Bragg wavelength shift.
The cost of an optical cable and installation not including the
cost of the tapping the cable to the sensor, is approximately
$3000 [14]. The total cost of all components and installation is
approximately $15000. Due to enhanced performance and
longevity of the sensor, the cost is offset. The cost of FBG
current sensor is constant irregardless of the voltage level of
the network. In comparison, the cost of prevailing CTs is
increased proportionally with the network voltage.
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
For simplicity we have investigated a simple radial system
with assumption of delta connection for all loaded. This
method is usable in different pole structure and for different
cable size and cable configuration. The horizontal
configuration is used and the sensors are placed 3 cm far away
(4) from each phase. Magnetic field drastically decreases with
increasing the sensor distance from the cable. Also, it is
possible to ignore the effect of other phases in the sensor since
the magnetic field produced from other phases is weak. All
sensors should be installed as close as possible to the phase
that we are measuring the current.
All the sensors installed in the downstream line and close to
the protection relay. Increase in the current due to fault in the
system, cause increase in the magnetic field around the cable.
Solid line in Figure 2 shows broad band signal emitted from
LED and dashed lines shows the reflected FBG signal from
sensors in the normal load condition dotted lines shows the
reflected wavelength signal of each sensor when a fault
happens in the system.
When a short circuit happens, the Bragg wavelength of faulted
bus will shifted due to drastic current change the faulted bus.
All different kinds of fault in the power system including
single line to ground (SLG), double line to ground (DLG) and
three line to ground have been discussed and the sensors
response have been simulated in this paper.

Fig 3. One line Diagram of a radial system with sensor location and their
current in normal operation of the system.
A typical radial system with 6 buses is shown in Fig. 3. In
this simulation all equipments are solidly grounded and three
sensors were implemented for each line. it means one sensor
has been used for each phase. Optical current sensors are
shown with small dot on the lines.
All signals sent to Matlab for processing. All reflected Bragg
wavelengths shift for each sensor in normal operation of the
system has been shown in Fig. 4. It is obvious multiple sensors
can use one fiber optic strand due to straightforward ability of
multiplexing numerous optical current sensors on one optical
fiber.
Wavelength shifts at the sensors , , , , , Fig. 6. Bragg wavelength shift for each sensor location in a double line to the
are continuously monitored in the substation. The
highest measurement of wavelength shift is at and
which hints that the fault should be close to these sensors or
between them. In the control room, the interrogator system
receives all the reflected signals from the fiber Bragg grating
sensors and processes them in order to decide which breaker to
trip.
Fig 4. Bragg wavelength shift for each sensor location in normal operation of
the system.
Fig. 5. Bragg wavelength shift for each sensor location in a single line to the
ground short circuit at bus 4.
ground short circuit at bus 4.
A. Double Line To Ground Fault Simulation Results at bus 4
Fig. 6 shows the current in the system after a double line to
ground (DLG) fault has occurred between phases B and C in
bus 4. As explained earlier, each phase has its own sensor. As
can be seen in Fig. 6, the wavelength shift in phase B and C is
the largest at sensor . However, there is a slight difference
in the wavelength shift of phase A compared to normal
operation of the system; huge wavelength shift at phase B and
C hint that it is a DLG fault at bus 4.
If all the feeders upstream from the bus 4 have an increase in
current in both phases A and B, it assures a DLG fault is
occurring at bus 4.
B. Three Line To Ground Fault Simulation Results at bus 4
Consistently all magnitude of sensors at , ,
, , , are monitored in the substation. Fig. 7
shows three lines to ground fault in the bus 4. Since fault is at
bus 4, all the sensors installed in the feeder conducting the
current toward this bus have to sense the increase in the
current. So, large Bragg wavelength shift can be seen as
shown in fig 7, a wavelength shifts at , , hint
that the fault should be close to these sensors.
Since the system is radial and the highest wavelength shift is
at , the nearest sensor to the faulted location is this sensor.

Fig. 7. Bragg wavelength shift for each sensor location in a three line to the
ground short circuit at bus 4.
CONCLUTIONS
A fiber Bragg grating sensor for detecting fault at power
system is investigated. The new FBG current sensor is light,
easy to install, less expensive, EMI immune, and highly
sensitive which make them a perfect candidate to use on
power systems and especially on the newly developed smart
grid systems. In comparison, conventionally used old PTs and
CTs are bulky and easily saturated. The principles of FBG
sensors are explained. A novel temperature compensated FBG
sensor covered with magnetostrictive jacket is simulated in a
radial power system. Strain in the magnetostrictive jacket due
to short circuit at the system caused a wavelength shift in the
FBG reflected signals and eventually the wavelength shift due
to strain in the FBG is detected. The wavelengths of sensors
are continuously monitored in the substation in order to detect
a fault in the system. All different possible faults including
SLG, DLG and three phases to the ground in a radial system
are investigated. Sensors can sense a fault regardless of
location and type in the radial system.
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Amin Moghadas received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in
2003, and two M.S.; in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical
Engineering in 2006 and 2009 respectively. Currently, he is completing
his Ph.D. in the University of Texas at San Antonio in Electrical
Engineering. His research interests are fiber optic sensing, electric
distribution systems, and power system reliability.
Mehdi Shadaram is the Briscoe Distinguished Professor in the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Associate Dean
of Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His main area
of research activity is in the broadband analog and digital fiber optic and
wireless communication systems. He has published more than hundred
articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings. NASA,
National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, Department of
Education, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas
Instruments, Lucent Technologies and other agencies have funded his
research projects. He has been the General Chair, Session Chair, TPC
Chair, and Panelist in several IEEE conferences. He is senior member of
IEEE and member of OSA, SPIE, ASEE, and HKN. He received his
Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1984 from University of Oklahoma.