9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden – June 11-15, 2006
Using Adaptive Step-Size Least Mean Squares
(ASLMS) for Estimating Low-Frequency
Electromechanical Modes in Power Systems
R. W. Wies1, A. Balasubramanian1, J. W. Pierre2,
1
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775
2
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82070
Abstract-- Information about the stability of heavily
interconnected power systems is found in low-frequency
electromechanical modes. This research complements
model-based and measurement-based approaches to mode
estimation typically requiring much computation and
ringdown from a disturbance, respectively. This paper
discusses an adaptive step-size Least Mean Square
algorithm (ASLMS) for estimating the electromechanical
modes near real time in which the step size (μ) is
adaptively controlled to improve the convergence time of
the estimates compared to the LMS. A simple gradient
vector (γ) and a small positive constant (ρ) are introduced
for controlled adaptation of μ. The improvement in
convergence performance of the frequency and damping
estimates when compared to the LMS estimates is shown
by applying the ASLMS to simulated data containing a
stationary mode from a 19-machine test model and
ambient power system data, while using an initial weight
vector from previous ASLMS, LMS and block processing
algorithm estimates.
Index Terms—Inter connected power systems, low frequency
electromechanical modes, ringdown, adaptive step size, Least
Mean Square, adaptive control, gradient vector, small positive
constant, convergence, 19-machine test model and ambient
power system data.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE stability of a power system can be assessed by the
frequency and strength of low-frequency
electromechanical modes in the system. All the previous
methods and applications for estimating low-frequency
electromechanical modes in power systems, like eigenanalysis
Manuscript received December . This work was supported by the
Bonneville Power Administration and EPRI under grant 97AP34212, and by
Associated Western Universities, Inc., Northwest Division (AWU NW) under
grant DE-FG06-89ER-75522, DE-FG07-93ER-75912 or DE-FG06-92RL-
12451 with the U.S. Department of Energy.
R. W. Wies is with the University of Alaska Fairbanks , Fairbanks , AK
99775,USA (email: ffrww@uaf.edu)
A. Balasubramanian is with University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks,
AK 99775, USA (email: ftab2@uaf.edu)
J. W. Pierre is with the University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 (e-
mail: pierre@uwyo.edu).
© Copyright KTH 2006
1
on system models [1, 2], Prony identification of ring down
from a disturbance [3-5] and spectral analysis methods [6-9]
require or involve tedious matrix calculations [1, 2], ring
down from a fault or a excitation [6-9] and do not give
information about the strength of the electromechanical mode
(damping), respectively. The performance of block processing
techniques like that described in [10] involves selection of the
adequate block size for accurate estimation of the modes. The
LMS adaptive filtering technique was adopted in [11] and [12]
and the technique was applied to ambient and simulated data.
Different step sizes with a zero initial weight vector and initial
estimate from previous LMS estimates were explored. Work is
also being done with substituting an initial weight vector from
block processing techniques into the LMS algorithm. Time of
convergence and variability of the frequency and damping
estimates were the major concerns in [11] and [12] and the
work proposed above.
For faster initial convergence in a non-stationary
environment this work proposes an improved Least Mean
Squares algorithm called the adaptive step size Least Mean
Square algorithm (ASLMS). Control of the step size
parameter plays an important role in controlling the tracking
of an adaptive algorithm and thus improving the convergence
behavior of the LMS filter. The step size parameter is
adaptively controlled and in this process is introduced a
gradient vector ( γ ) and a small positive constant rho ( ρ )
[13]. The initial weight vector estimates from the previous run
of ASLMS algorithm are substituted in the LMS algorithm to
improve the performance of the LMS algorithm as proposed
in [11] and [12].
II. TRACKING TIME VARYING SYSTEMS
If we assign a number to each and every outcome of an
experiment then the number assigned in common terms is
called a random variable x ( ξ ) . Consider a set of events, all
the events have a probability assigned to it and all the events
are collected in a set S. To every outcome ξ of the event we
assign a number x ( ξ ). The symbol x ( ξ ) will represent the
number assigned to the specific out come ξ and the symbol x
determines the relation between any element of the set S and
the number assigned to it [14]. Thus a random variable x is a
 9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden – June 11-15, 2006 2

rule for assigning to every outcome ξ of an event S a number
x ( ξ ). A stochastic processes x ( t ) is a rule for assigning to
every ξ a function x ( t , ξ ). Thus a stochastic process is
dependent on both t and ξ .
A stochastic process describes how a statistical
environment based on probabilistic laws evolves with time. It
is a collection of infinite random variables on each and every
time sample t . Consider a discrete time stochastic processes
represented by the tap inputs
u (n), u (n − 1),...., u (n − M + 1) to a LMS filter with
( M − 1) delay elements. The LMS algorithm is a linear
adaptive filtering algorithm with two separate processes,
filtering processes and adaptive processes. During the filtering
processes the desired response d ( n) is and the tap input
vector u (n) are used to generate an error vector e(n) . fixed, but in a non-stationary environment J min takes a time
In adaptive processes the input vector u( n) and the error varying form. Furthermore, due to the presence of a gradient
vector e( n) are compared and a correction is applied to the noise in the LMS algorithm, the tap weight vector follows a
tap weight vector. The scaling parameter used for this
correction is called the step size parameter ( μ ). The three
important equations governing the LMS operation described
above are [13]:
y (n) = w H (n)u(n − 1) (1)
e ( n ) = u( n ) − y ( n ) (2)
J (∞) and the minimum value of cost function J min is called
the excess mean square error J ex (∞) , the cost paid by the
stochastic mechanism to control the tap weights in the LMS
filter. The misadjustment Μ is given as
J ex (∞)
Μ= (4)
J min
and is a measure of how close the LMS algorithm is to the
optimal solution.
Control of the step size plays an important role in the
variability of the estimates and the convergence time of the
LMS algorithm in a non-stationary environment. In a
stationary environment the minimum cost function J min is
Brownian movement around the minimum point of error
performance rather than terminating on the Weiner solution
[13]. So the adaptive algorithm is further burdened as it has to
track the minimum point first and then track the solution
around the minimum point which makes the adaptive
algorithm produce more variable estimates.
According to first-order Markov process, the tap-weight
vector w o ( n) in a non-stationary environment is defined by
the following relationship [13]:
w o (n + 1) = aw o (n) + ω (n) (5)

w (n + 1) = w (n) + μu(n − 1)e * (n) (3) where ω (n) is the processes noise vector with zero mean and
T correlation matrix R ω and a is a parameter very close to
where u(n-1) = [u(n-1) u(n-2). . .u(n-M)] is the same
unity.
data vector with M past values, w(n) = [w1(n) w2(n)…. In a non-stationary environment the misadjustment
wM(n)]T is a time varying filter tap weights, y (n) is the parameter is not only the measure of how close the solution is
filter output, e( n) is the error estimate, μ is the step size but is also a measure of the degree of non-stationarity.
parameter, and M is the filter order.
J ex (∞) tr[R ω R u ]
A stochastic processes x( t ) is strictly stationary if its Μ= = =α2 (6)
statistical properties are time invariant i.e. two samples of the J min σv 2

processes taken at two different samples are the same. Let p

denote a stochastic process, so that in a strictly stationary where α tr[ ] is the trace
is the degree of non-stationarity,
processes p ( n) = p ( n + α ) where α denotes a time shift.
of a matrix, σ v is the irreducible error variance and R u is
J ( w) is a continuously differentiable cost function which
the correlation matrix of the tap input vector u( n) .
maps the elements of the weight vector into numbers. The
A forth equation is added to the set of three LMS equations
adaptive algorithm has to find an optimal solution w o such (1)-(3) to adaptively update the step size parameter:
that the statement of unconstrained optimization
J (w o ) ≤ J (w ) holds true for all values of the weight vector μ(n) = μ(n − 1) + ρ e(n)γ H (n)u(n) (7)
w.
The difference between the final value of the cost function where γH is the gradient vector defined as the partial

© Copyright KTH 2006

 9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden – June 11-15, 2006 3

derivative of the weight vector at a sample (iteration) with where L is the length of the input data and M represents the
respect to the step size parameter of the same sample. number of tap-weights of the filter.
The difference between the LMS and the ASLMS algorithm
∂ w(n) is in (7) where the step size is updated every iteration. This
γ (n) = (8) step allows the ASLMS algorithm to track the minimum point
∂ μ (n) of error in less time than an LMS algorithm. The time of
convergence of an estimate tracked by the ASLMS algorithm
and ρ is a small positive constant which controls the update is far less than the time taken by the LMS algorithm. Due to
of the step size parameter. If the gradient vector is included in the presence of σ v , the irreducible error variance, the
the update of the step size parameter, the update in step size
tracking of the estimate is more variable using the ASLMS
during each iteration of the adaptation is reduced, therefore
algorithm.
the error estimate e( n) during each iteration is reduced and
this results in better tracking performance in terms of III. PERFORMANCE OF ASLMS ON MEGAWATT DATA
convergence time.
The 19-machine test system shown in Fig. 2 is a reduced order
The result of implementing the gradient vector with the step
replica of the western North American power grid was used to
size parameter in (7) on the LMS algorithm (1)-(3) is the
generate simulation data [15]. The system contains five inter-
adaptive step-size LMS (ASLMS) algorithm. A block diagram
area modes and several local modes. The MATLAB Power
of the ASLMS algorithm is shown in Fig. 1.
Systems Tool Box [16] was used to linearize the non-linear
system into a 92nd order linear system. A one hour window of
FIR FILTER megawatt data was generated from line 17 between buses 22
y
u(n) u
+ and 26. Both stationary modes and moving modes are
Z-1 W(n) γ (n) ∑
e(n) available in the system. The stationary mode location and
- strength are shown in Table I. The location of the mode is
defined by its frequency and the strength is defined by the
LMS percent damping ratio. The stationary mode at 0.2624Hz and a
update damping ratio of 10.33% was the mode used through out this
Fig. 1. Block diagram of ASLMS algorithm. study.
21

23
The weight vectors generated by the ASLMS algorithm 31

give us the information about the modes present in the input 41 38

power system data u( n) which is stochastic in sense. The

25
13 2

9 7
26
roots of the z-domain polynomial are calculated from the 33 34
42

weight vector which is then converted into the s-plane. The z- 35

15 16 6
24

domain polynomial is given by:

17 1
39

−1 −Μ
a ( z , n) = 1 − w 1 (n) z −... w Μ (n) z
22
(9) 10 8
40

32
28 20

Conversion to s-plane is done using the following rule

14 5

36 37 29 30

s(n) = ln(roots(a ( z , n))) / Τ

27
(10)
18 19 4 11 12 3

where T is the sampling period. The total number of roots will Fig. 2. 19-machine reduced order replica of the western North
be equal to the filter tap length M .The roots calculated American power grid.
contain the information about the frequency and damping ratio
of the dominant mode. Table I
For a non-stationary data and a small μ , the LMS Stationary Frequency and Percentage Damping of the
algorithm will converge if [13]: 19- Machine System

0 < μ < (2 / total MSV ) (11) Frequency(Hz) Percentage Damping (%)

0.2624 10.33
where MSV is the mean-square-value given by the relation 0.5835 3.93
0.6202 3.86
Μ L −1 2
total MSV = ∑ u ( n)
L n=0
(12)
0.7347
0.8432
3.17
2.81

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 9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden – June 11-15, 2006 4

Fig. 3 shows the estimated power spectral density of the one

hour megawatt data generated from line 17. The peaks in the
figure verify the frequencies in the above table.

Fig. 4. Mode frequency vs. time for megawatt data between

buses 22 and 26 of the 19 machine system (60 minutes, cold
start, LMS: μ =7.8231 e-06, ASLMS: μ =7.8231 e-06, ρ =
1.8182 e-03).
Fig. 3. Power spectral density of real power on line 17
between buses 22 and 26.

Pre-processing of the megawatt data is performed before

passing the data through the ASLMS algorithm. Pre-
processing of the data involves three stages: low pass filtering,
decimation and high pass filtering. After the mean value is
removed from the data, a Parks/McClellan FIR low pass filter
with a cutoff frequency of 2 Hz is used to remove the high
frequency measurement noise from the data. The data is then
decimated from 10 samples/second to 5 samples/second.
Decimation of the data has two purposes: one is to achieve the
Nyquist criterion in looking at the modes with frequencies
below 2.5Hz and the other is to reduce the order of the filter.
In the third stage of the filtering process the decimated data is
high pass filtered to remove very low frequencies below
0.1Hz and to remove any DC component. Fig. 5. Damping ratio vs. time for megawatt data between
The LMS and ASLMS algorithm was applied to the data buses 22 and 26 of the 19 machine system (60 minutes, cold
generated from the 19-machine test model and set to track the start, LMS: μ =7.8231 e-06, ASLMS: μ =7.8231 e-06, ρ =
0.2624 Hz mode with a damping ratio of 10.33 %. Figs. 4 and 1.00 e-03)
5 represent the estimates of frequency and damping ratios
respectively by the LMS and the ASLMS algorithm with a The mode frequency was estimated over time by the
cold start (zero weight vectors). The same value of step size ASLMS algorithm with a cold start for three different values
( μ =7.8231 e-06) was used in both the algorithms. It is seen of ρ (3.33 e-03, 1.82 e-03, and 1.00 e-03). The damping ratio
from the plots that the ASLMS algorithm performs very well was then estimated over time by the ASLMS algorithm with a
in terms of the convergence time of the estimate. Both the cold start for three different values of ρ (6.67 e-03, 1.43 e-
frequency and damping ratio estimates from the ASLMS
03, and 7.14 e-04). In all the cases mentioned above the same
algorithm have a much lower convergence time when
value of the step size parameter was used ( μ =7.8231 e-06). It
compared to the estimates from the LMS algorithm. The extra
variability exhibited in the ASLMS estimates is due to the is seen from these plots that as the value of ρ decreases the
irreducible error variance σ v mentioned earlier. The small variability of the estimate decreases but the time taken for the
estimate to converge increases. If the value of the small
constant ( ρ ), which controls the adaptation of the step size in
positive constant ρ is increased to achieve a smaller time of
the ASLMS algorithm was set to 1.8182 e-03 in the frequency
convergence of the estimate, then the variability of the
estimate in Fig. 4 and 1.428 e-03 in the damping ratio estimate
estimate also increases.
in Fig. 5.
Figs. 6 and 7 show the ASLMS estimate of frequency and

© Copyright KTH 2006

 9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden – June 11-15, 2006
damping ratio versus time with zero initial weight vectors and
for different values of ρ . If the value of ρ is decreased to a
very small value like 5.55e-04 and 2.85e-04 in the frequency
and damping estimates, respectively, the estimates behave like
an ordinary LMS estimate. Although the ASLMS algorithm
has a more variable estimate, the convergence time is lower
when compared to the LMS algorithm. A combination of the
LMS and the ASLMS algorithm was used to achieve a lower
convergence time and less variability for the estimates.
Fig. 6. Mode frequency vs. time for megawatt data between
buses 22 and 26 of the 19 machine system (60 minutes, cold
start, μ =7.8231 e-06, ρ =1.82e-03, 1.00e-03, 5.55 e-04).
Fig. 7. Damping ratio vs. time for megawatt data between
buses 22 and 26 of the 19 machine system (60 minutes, cold
start, μ =7.8231 e-06, ρ =2.50e-03, 1.43 e-03, 2.85 e-04).
The following three cases were studied using a
combination of the LMS and ASLMS algorithms:
1. The LMS algorithm was reapplied to the same data
set using an initial weight vector estimate 10 minutes
into the previous LMS estimates (LMS-LMS).
2. The ASLMS algorithm was reapplied to the same
© Copyright KTH 2006
5
data set using an initial weight vector estimate 10
minutes into the previous LMS estimates (LMS-
ASLMS).
3. The LMS algorithm was reapplied to the same data
set using an initial weight vector estimate 10 minutes
into the previous ASLMS estimates (ASLMS-LMS).
The step size was also reduced by a factor of 10 (7.8231 e-07)
to help reduce the variability in the mode estimates. Figs. 8
and 9 show the estimates of frequency and damping ratio for
the three cases mentioned above. The step size parameter
could not be reduced further due to the convergence time
constraints. From Figs. 8 and 9 it is clear that the weight
vector from previous ASLMS estimates gives a better estimate
when compared to the weight vector from the previous LMS
estimates. The convergence time in both the frequency and
damping estimates is reduced using case 3.
Fig. 8. Mode frequency vs. time for megawatt data of the 19
machine system (60 minutes, μ =7.8231 e-07, LMS-ASLMS:
ρ =2.00 e-03, ASLMS-LMS: ρ =5.71 e-03).
Fig. 9. Damping ratio vs. time for megawatt data of the 19
machine system (60 minutes, μ =7.8231 e-07, LMS-ASLMS:
ρ =2.00 e-03, ASLMS-LMS: ρ =5.00 e-03).
 9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden – June 11-15, 2006 6

Using the initial weight vector estimate from 10 minutes
into the previous ASLMS estimates (case 3) improves the
convergence time of the frequency estimate in Fig. 8 while the
estimates in cases 1 and 2 did not converge even after tracking
the full 60 minutes of data. The ASLMS algorithm with the
initial weight vector estimate 10 minutes into previous LMS
estimate (case 2) allows the damping estimate in Fig. 9 to
converge in half the time of the full data while the LMS-LMS
case produces a poor estimate. The initial weight vector
estimate from 10 minutes into previous ASLMS algorithm
(case 3) produces a better damping estimate when compared
to case 2 which produces a better estimate than case 1.
lower time of convergence when compared to the estimates
from the LMS algorithm. The small constant ( ρ ) was set to
6.67 e-06 in the frequency estimate in Fig. 10 and 2.00 e-06 in
the damping ratio estimate in Fig. 11. The ASLMS algorithm
converges to the AR estimate in both the frequency and
damping ratio cases. The damping ratio estimate using
ASLMS shows better performance in terms of convergence
time. The variability of the estimate is higher in the frequency
estimate than in the damping ratio estimate. The variability of
the damping estimate from the ASLMS algorithm is about the
same as the LMS algorithm.

IV.USE OF ASLMS IN AMBIENT POWER SYSTEM

DATA
The LMS algorithm was applied to ambient power system
data after preprocessing. The ambient data used is the real
power flow from Malin-Round Mountain #1 (MR #1) at the
California-Oregon intertie on June 7, 2000.
Over-determined AR block processing with different block
sizes was used to determine the dominant mode frequency and
damping ratio using M=0, N=30 and K=57 (M is the
numerator coefficient or the number of zeros in the system, N
is the denominator coefficient or the number of poles in the
system and K is the correlation length). Table II lists the
frequency and damping ratio estimates for different block
sizes of AR block processing. The estimates from the full
block of data were used for comparison with estimates of the Fig. 10. Mode frequency vs. time for ambient megawatt data
LMS and ASLMS algorithm as no ring down was available in (18.85 minutes, cold start, LMS: μ =8.7448 e-07, ASLMS:
the data to perform Prony analysis.
μ =8.7448 e-07, ρ = 6.67 e-06)
Table II
Frequency and Percent Damping Ratio of MR#1 Data

Block Size Frequency Damping Ratio

(Minutes) (Hertz) (%)
5 0.2688 7.479

10 0.2751 8.347

15 0.2745 7.379

18 0.2721 7.395

18.85 (full data) 0.2733 7.382

The LMS and ASLMS algorithms were applied to the

ambient data set to track the 0.2743 Hz mode with a damping
ratio of 7.372 %. Figs. 10 and 11 represent the estimates of
frequency and damping ratios, respectively, using the LMS
and the ASLMS algorithm with a cold start (zero initial
weight vectors). The same value of step size ( μ =8.7448 e-07)
was used in both the algorithms. It is seen from the plots that
the ASLMS algorithm performs very well in terms of the
convergence time of the estimate. Although the frequency
estimate from the ASLMS algorithm is variable, it shows a
Fig. 11. Damping ratio vs. time for ambient megawatt data
(18.85 minutes, cold start, LMS: μ =8.7448 e-07, ASLMS:
μ =8.7448 e-07, ρ = 2.00 e-06)
Figs. 12 and 13 show the mode frequency and damping
ratio estimates over time, respectively, from the ASLMS
algorithm for different values of ρ . The mode frequency was
estimated over time in Fig. 12 using the ASLMS algorithm

© Copyright KTH 2006

 9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden – June 11-15, 2006
with a cold start for three different values of ρ (6.67 e-06,
4.44 e-06, and 1.00 e-06). Similarly, the damping ratio was
then estimated over time in Fig. 13 using the ASLMS
algorithm with a cold start for three different values of ρ
(1.00 e-05, 6.67 e-06 and 5.00 e-07). From Figs. 12 and 13, as
the value of ρ decreases the variability of the estimate
decreases, but the convergence time increases.
Fig. 12. Mode frequency vs. time for ambient megawatt data
(18.85 minutes, cold start, μ =8.7448 e-07 and ρ =1.00 e-05,
6.67 e-06, 4.00 e-06).
Fig. 13. Damping ratio vs. time for ambient megawatt data
(18.85 minutes, cold start, μ =8.7448 e-07 and ρ =5.00 e-06,
2.00 e-06, 1.42 e-06).
The three cases, LMS-LMS, LMS-ASLMS, and ASLMS-
LMS, explored with the simulated data were used again with
the ambient data. The same value of the step size parameter
was used in all cases ( μ =8.7448 e-08). Figs. 14 and 15 show
a comparison of estimates for mode frequency and damping
ratio, respectively, for the three cases mentioned above. The
value of ρ used in the frequency estimate for case 2 is 1.33
e-06 and for case 3 is 6.67 e-03. The value of ρ used in the
© Copyright KTH 2006
7
damping ratio estimates for case 2 is 8.33 e-06 and for case 3
is 1.42 e-05.
Fig. 14. Mode frequency vs. time for megawatt ambient data
(18.85 minutes, μ =8.7448 e-08, LMS-ASLMS: ρ =1.33 e-
06 ASLMS-LMS: ρ =6.67 e-06)
Fig. 15. Damping ratio vs. time for megawatt ambient data
(18.85 minutes, μ =8.7448 e-08, LMS-ASLMS: ρ =8.33 e-
06, ASLMS-LMS: ρ =1.42 e-05)
The ASLMS-LMS case gives the best results in Fig. 14,
while the LMS-ASLMS algorithm moves away from the
actual estimate. Using the initial estimate of the weight vector
from the ASLMS algorithm (case 3) produces an initial
damping ratio estimate near the AR estimate so that the
convergence time and the variability in the estimate are
significantly reduced.
V. CONCLUSION
The ASLMS algorithm gives better performance than the
LMS algorithm in terms of time of convergence. The time of
convergence for all the cases mentioned above is reduced by a
factor of 50% using the ASLMS algorithm. Due to the error
variance inherent in the ASLMS algorithm the estimates of
frequency by the ASLMS algorithm is variable. The error
variance does not have a considerable effect on the damping
 9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden – June 11-15, 2006 8

ratio estimates. Thus the ASLMS algorithm works better with [14] Athanasios Papoulis, S.Unnikrishna Pillai, Probability, Random
Variables and Stochastic Processes, 4th ed., Tata McGraw-Hill Edition.
the damping ratio estimates than the frequency estimates. [15] J. R. Smith, C. S. Woods, F. Fatehi, G. L. Keenan, and J. F. Hauer, "A
Using an initial estimate from ASLMS algorithm in to Low Order Power System Model with Dynamic Characteristics of the
LMS algorithm (case 3) helps to achieve both faster Western North American System," Proceedings of the North American
Power Symposium, Manhattan, Kansas, Sept. 1994.
convergence and less variability compared to case 2 where an
[16] G.J. Rogers, Power Systems Toolbox (PST), Cherry Tree Scientific
initial estimate from the LMS algorithm is used in the ASLMS Software, 1998.
algorithm. Further work on the use of the ASLMS algorithm
for estimating electromechanical modes is needed to reduce BIOGRAPHIES
the variability of the mode estimates. One possible solution Richard W. Wies (S’92-M’99) received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in
would be to track the error vector and move from the ASLMS Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming in 1992, 1995, and
to LMS algorithm when the error vector is within the 1999, respectively.
He was a Department of Energy AWU Graduate Fellow at the University
tolerance limit set so that faster convergence is achieved using of Wyoming Electric Motor Training and Testing Center during the 93-94
the ASLMS algorithm and lower variability is achieved by academic year, a Department of Energy EPSCOR Research Fellow during the
using the LMS algorithm. 95-96 academic year, and a AWU Graduate Fellow at Pacific Northwest
National Laboratories during the summer of 1996. He has been an assistant
professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alaska
VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Fairbanks since 1999. His research interests include the application of
statistical signal processing techniques in electric power systems, hybrid
The authors would like to express their appreciation to John electric energy systems, and electric motor drives.
Hauer and Jeff Dagle at Pacific Northwest National Dr. Wies is a member of the IEEE Power Engineering Society.
Laboratory, Bill Mittelstadt from Bonneville Power
Administration, and Dan Trudnowski at Montana Tech for Ashok Balasubramanian received his B.E degree in 2004 in Electrical and
Electronics Engineering from University of Madras, Chennai, India.
their cooperative efforts in research associated with this paper.
He is currently working towards the M.S degree in Electrical Engineering
from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
REFERENCES
[1] P. Kundur, Power System Stability and Control, New York: McGraw John W. Pierre (S’86-M’86-S’87-M’91-SM’99) received the BS degree in
Hill, 1994. 1986 in electrical engineering with a minor in economics from Montana State
[2] D. J. Trudnowski and J. E. Dagle, “Effects of Generator and Static-Load University, Bozeman. He also received the M.S. degree in 1989 in electrical
Nonlinearities on Electromechanical Oscillations,” IEEE Transactions engineering with a minor in statistics and the Ph.D. degree in 1991 in
on Power Systems, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 1283-1288, Aug. 1997. electrical engineering from the Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
[3] J. F. Hauer, “Applications of Prony Analysis to the Determination of He worked as an electrical design engineer at Tektronix before attending
Modal Content and Equivalent Models for Measured Power System the University of Minnesota. Since 1992, he has been on the faculty in the
Response,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, pp. 1062-1068, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of
August 1991. Wyoming, Laramie, where he is currently a Professor. His research interests
[4] J. F. Hauer, C. J. Demeure, and L. L. Scharf, “Initial Results in Prony include statistical signal processing applied to power systems as well as DSP
analysis of power system response signals,” IEEE Transactions on education.
Power Systems, vol. 5, Feb. 1990, pp. 80-89. Dr. Pierre was a UW NASA Space Grant Faculty Fellow and a Department
[5] D. A. Pierre, D. J. Trudnowski, and J. F. Hauer, “Identifying linear of Energy AWU Faculty Fellow during the summers of 1994 and 1995,
reduced-order models for systems with arbitrary initial conditions using respectively.
Prony signal analysis,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol.
37, no. 6, June 1992, pp. 831-835.
[6] J. J. Sanchez-Gasca and J. H. Chow, “Performance comparison of three
identification methods for the analysis of electromechanical
oscillations,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 14 Issue: 3, pp.
995-1002, Aug. 1999.
[7] I. Kamwa, L. Gerin-Lajoie, “State-space system identification-toward
MIMO models for modal analysis and optimization of bulk power
systems,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 15, no. 1, Feb.
2000.
[8] R. Doraiswami and W. Liu, “Real-time estimation of the parameters of
power system small signal oscillations,” IEEE Transactions on Power
Systems, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 74-81, Feb. 1993.
[9] P. O'Shea, “The use of sliding spectral windows for parameter
estimation in power system disturbance monitoring,” IEEE Transactions
on Power Systems, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 1261-1267, Nov. 2000.
[10] R. W. Wies, J. W. Pierre, and D. J. Trudnowski, “Use of ARMA Block
Processing for Estimating Stationary Low-Frequency Electromechanical
Modes of Power Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol.
18, no. 1, pp. 167-173, Feb. 2003.
[11] R. W. Wies, “Estimating Low-Frequency Electromechanical Modes of
Power Systems Using Ambient Data,” Ph. D. dissertation, University of
Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 1999.
[12] R. W. Wies, J. W. Pierre and D. J. Trudnowski “Use of LMS Adaptive
Filtering Technique for Estimating Low-Frequency Electromechanical
Modes of Power Systems,” Proceedings of the IEEE Power Meeting,
Denver, CO, June 2004.
[13] S. Haykin, Adaptive Filter Theory, 2nd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, 1991.

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