SMU Open-Source Platform for Synchronized Measurements.

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Instrumentation

Background:

• Single Board Computers (SBCs) offer flexibility but lack deterministic control for industrial data acquisition.
• Traditional OS-based systems struggle with hardware interrupts and precise timing, limiting their use in critical applications.
• Power systems increasingly require synchronized measurements for grid monitoring and power quality analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an innovative, versatile, and CPU-independent open-source data acquisition platform.
• To address the limitations of OS-based systems in industrial and power system applications.
• To introduce a low-cost solution for high-accuracy, synchronized measurements.

Main Methods:

• Development of a Synchronized Measurement Unit (SMU) based on SBCs.
• Implementation of sub-microsecond synchronization to a GPS time reference.
• Characterization of the SMU's measurement accuracy, bandwidth, SNR, and THD.

Main Results:

• The SMU achieves multichannel simultaneous sampling up to 200 kS/s.
• It demonstrates high accuracy with low offset/gain errors, bandwidth > 20 kHz, SNR > 90 dB, and THD < -110 dB.
• Time synchronization precision is within sub-microseconds to a GPS reference.

Conclusions:

• The proposed SBC-based SMU platform provides a viable solution for reliable data acquisition in OS environments.
• The device's performance meets the stringent requirements for synchrophasor-based applications in power systems.
• This low-cost platform enables advanced, geographically distributed monitoring of grid conditions and power quality.