A Novel Fault Location Approach for Scientific Cabled Seafloor Observatories

Abstract

The maintenance of scientific cabled seafloor observatories (CSOs) is not only extremely difficult but also of high cost for their subsea location. Therefore, the cable fault detection and location are essential and must be carried out accurately. For this purpose, a novel on-line fault location approach based on robust state estimation is proposed, considering state data gross errors in sensor measurements and the influence of temperature on system parameter variation. The circuit theory is used to build state estimation equations and identify the power system topology of faulty CSOs. This method can increase the accuracy of fault location, and reduce the lose form shutting down a faulty CSO in traditional fault location methods. It is verified by computer simulation and the laboratory prototype of a planned CSO in the East China Sea, and the fault location error is proved to be less than 1 km.

Keywords

• on-line fault location
• cabled seafloor observatories
• robust state estimation
• topology identification