Soft computing techniques in power system analysis

Soft computing is a concept that has come into prominence in recent times and its application to power system analysis is still more recent. This thesis explores the application of soft computing techniques in the area of voltage stability of power systems. Soft computing, as opposed to conventional “hard” computing, is a technique that is tolerant of imprecision, uncertainty, partial truth and approximation. Its methods are based on the working of the human brain and it is commonly known as artificial intelligence. The human brain is capable of arriving at valid conclusions based on incomplete and partial data obtained from prior experience. It is an approximation of this process on a very small scale that is used in soft computing. Some of the important branches of soft computing (SC) are artificial neural networks (ANNs), fuzzy logic (FL), genetic computing (GC) and probabilistic reasoning (PR). The soft computing methods are robust and low cost. It is to be noted that soft computing methods are used in such diverse fields as missile guidance, robotics, industrial plants, pattern recognition, market prediction, patient diagnosis, logistics and of course power system analysis and prediction. However in all these fields its application is comparatively new and research is being carried out continuously in many universities and research institutions worldwide. The research presented in this thesis uses the soft computing method of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN’s) for the prediction of voltage instability in power systems. The research is very timely and current and would be a substantial contribution to the present body of knowledge in soft computing and voltage stability, which by itself is a new field. The methods developed in this research would be faster and more economical than presently available methods enabling their use online