This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIE.2018.2870407, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS
Real-Time Wavelet-Based Grid Impedance
Estimation Method
Denis K. Alves, Student Member, IEEE, Ricardo L. A. Ribeiro, Member, IEEE,
Flavio B. Costa, Member, IEEE, and Thiago O. A. Rocha
Abstract—This paper presents a novel method to es-
timate the grid impedance based on stationary discrete
wavelet packet transform (SDWPT). The proposed method
uses a steady-state technique, by injecting an interhar-
monic current into the grid and measuring the voltage
response at the point of common coupling (PCC) to esti-
mate the grid impedance. The proposed method employed
a standard three-phase photovoltaic (PV) system intercon-
nected to the grid to validate its effectiveness experimen-
tally. Comparisons with a discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-
and continuous wavelet transform (CWT)-based impedance
estimation approaches demonstrate the performance of
proposed method. Besides, the proposed SDWPT-based
impedance estimation provided accurate experimental re-
sults, which make it viable for real-time applications.
Index Terms—Grid impedance estimation, PV grid-tied
inverters, stationary discrete wavelet packet transform.
I. I NTRODUCTION
R ENEWABLE energy sources interconnect the grid via
power converters acting as active front-end (AFE) in-
terfaces for regulating the output power flow [1]. This new
configuration demands efforts to improve the AFEs control
strategies to avoid undesirable grid instabilities. Therefore, the
knowledge of grid impedance is essential to proper control and
operation decisions and its implementation as an embedded
strategy is useful for the actual power system model [2].
Different methods estimate grid impedance through passive
or active approaches [2]. Passive approaches use information
of noncharacteristic voltage and current harmonics already
present in the system to estimate the grid impedance. Their
implementation can use: controlled excitation of LCL based
inverter [3], recursive least-square technique [4], extended
Kalman filter [5], or discretized grid-tied model in a rotating
reference frame analysis [6]. These estimation schemes depend
on the background voltage and current distortions, and present
low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which results in weaker
estimation [6].
Manuscript received April 10, 2018; revised July 04, 2018 and August
10, 2018; accepted September 03, 2018. This work was supported by
the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Develop-
ment (CNPq).
D. K. Alves, R. L. A. Ribeiro, F. B. Costa, and T. O. A. Rocha
are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, UFRN, Natal,
RN, 59072-970, Brazil; e-mail: alvesk3@hotmail.com, rlucio@ct.ufrn.br,
flaviocosta@ect.ufrn.br and toar37@hotmail.com.
0278-0046 (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Active methods that employ a signal injection to estimate
the grid impedance overcome the passive methods drawbacks
[6]. Their implementation can follow transient or steady-state
techniques [2]. The transient methods employ noncharacteris-
tic signal injections as voltage disturbance, or current spike to
estimate the grid impedance over a wide frequency range via
a postprocessing procedure [7]. This complex signal analysis
generates much more data than needed and can overload the
real-time control algorithm of power interfaces. An alternative
is to use the steady-state approach based on a periodic inter-
harmonic signal injection and analyzing the system response
as proposed in [2].
Both transient and steady-state active methods usually use
the discrete Fourier transform (DFT). However, its perfor-
mance can be affected by interharmonic distortions and tran-
sient events. The use of continuous wavelet transform (CWT),
with a complex mother wavelet, instead of DFT demonstrated
to be an alternative to overcome these limitations [8]. However,
the CWT is not usually embedded for real-time applications
due to its complexity and high redundancy of the provided
information.
The discrete wavelet transform (DWT) versions, such as
the SDWPT, with real mother wavelet have been used as
alternative to the CWT successfully in several practical ap-
plications. However, DWT versions with real mother wavelet
present mathematical limitations for estimating phase angle
[9]. Based on this statement, the DWT has been claimed
to be unsuitable for impedance estimation [8]. However, the
use of cross analysis of both voltage and current system
response overcomes the lack of phase information, and makes
the SDWPT-based impedance estimation totally possible, as
demonstrated in this paper.
This paper introduces a real-time SDWPT (RT-SDWPT)
with a real mother wavelet for estimating the grid impedance
considering the steady-state active strategy. As advantages,
the SDWPT presents both the uniform frequency bandwidth
and has the time-invariant property. RT-SDWPT employs the
injection of an irrelevant interharmonic far from low-order
harmonics to avoid power quality problems. Accurate experi-
mental results obtained in a PV generation platform intercon-
nected to the grid validated the proposed real-time grid esti-
mation method, and the embedded RT-SDWPT demonstrated
its practical applicability. Besides, the proposed SDWPT-based
impedance estimation provided accurate experimental results,
which make it viable for real-time applications.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIE.2018.2870407, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS

II. T HE WAVELET-B ASED G RID I MPEDANCE E STIMATION The reactance of the grid impedance is determined by a
The PV voltage source inverter (VSI) injects an interhar- simple mathematical procedure as follows:
monic in the reference current of its standard current control
Xgw (k) = Xfwint (k)ω1 /ωfint , (7)
loop. The PV control system uses the most generic current
control mode approach, based on a multi-loop scheme, in where ωint and ω1 are frequencies of the interharmonic
which the inner loop refers to the current regulation. Therefore, and fundamental. Therefore, the grid impedance estimation is
the interharmonic injection corresponds to modify the standard given by
reference current by adding the interharmonic synthesized q
(if int ) by the estimation algorithm. The method considers Zgw (k) = (Rgw (k))2 + (Xgw (k))2 . (8)
that there is no actual current interharmonic component in the
frequency selected to add the synthetic current interharmonic.
III. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
The frequency of the interharmonic (fint ) must be higher
than the system fundamental frequency (f ) and low-order Fig. 1 shows the block diagram of the PV laboratory setup
harmonics for avoiding disturbances on the PV operation. The employed for realizing experimental tests. It comprises of an
SDWPT sampling frequency must attend two criteria: 1) the 8 kWp PV three-phase grid-tied inverter interconnected to an
harmonic components (odd and even harmonics) are at the actual 15 kVA power grid. A dSPACE executes the standard
cutoff frequencies of the wavelet packet decomposition, and control algorithm of the PV system.
2) the choice of interharmonic frequency corresponds to the The RT-SDWPT grid impedance estimation technique is
center of one of wavelet sub-bands. also embedded in a dSPACE and employs a sampling fre-
fint
The spectral energy of the interharmonic (Ej,x ) is esti- quency of fs = 1920 Hz (32 cycles of the fundamental f =
mated, in the real-time, with the wavelet coefficient energy 60 Hz). Four-level decomposition (j = 4) was necessary to
of the signal x, at scale j, which include the interharmonic include all harmonics in the cutoff frequencies. The selected
frequency fint in the band center, as follows: interharmonic frequency is fint = 630 Hz, centered in the
k
X Xh
L−1 i2 wavelet band [600 - 660] Hz far from the fundamental and
fint
Ej,x (k) = sfj int (n − l) , (1) low-order harmonics. The grid impedance estimation uses the
fint fint
n=k−N +1 l=0 wavelet coefficients energy variables E4,V and E4,I based
where k ≥ N -1, s is the wavelet packet coefficients of x on the mother wavelet of the Daubechies family with 30
at scale j, and N is the number of samplings per cycle of coefficients (vanishing moments of 15).
the power system frequency (f = 50 or 60 Hz). The discrete
PV array LCL
time-domain root mean square (RMS) interharmonic voltages
dc-link Filter ig PCC
and currents can be described in terms of the wavelet packet a lg rg vg
coefficients as follows [10]: VSI igb
q Boost lg rg vg
fint
Xf int (k) = Ej,x /2N , (2) converter igc lg rg vg

where X = V for voltage or X = I for current; vgabc

At the actual sampling k, the phase angle between power
system voltage and current of the interharmonic (θf int ) and the
interharmonic impedance (Z bfint ) can be properly computed by Control PWM
using the RT-SDWPT-based approach as follows: vga ZSDWPT
ifint Hz PV Control
 k
"L−1 #
1 X X fint fint
Display
Ej,v (n − l)Ej,i (n − l)  Injected vg System
 2N

 abc ZDFT
n=k−N+1 l=0
θfint (k) = cos−1 
 
Vfint (k)Ifint (k)

 
  Fig. 1. Block diagram of the 8 kWp PV three-phase laboratory setup.

(3)
The proposed RT-SDWPT grid impedance estimation was
bfint (k) = (Vfint (k)/Ifint (k))6 θfint . similar to the DFT- and CWT-based methods such as shown
Z (4) in Fig. 2 and 3. Red dotted lines present the average values
obtained via DFT method and black dashed ones represent the
bfint (k) refers to the resistance of the grid
The real part of Z average values obtained via offline analysis by the CWT in two
impedance: intervals: before and after grid impedance changes, whereas
time-domain graphs show the grid impedance estimation via
bfint (k)} = Vfint (k) cos(θfint (k)).
Rgw (k) = Re{Z (5) the SDWPT approach in the real-time.
Ifint (k)
Fig. 2 depicts the experimental results (1 second) for
The reactance related to the interharmonic frequency corre- grid resistance step changing by adding external resistors of
sponds to the imaginary part of Zbf int (k) given by
Re = 0.5 Ω in series with the grid. Initially, the proposed
method estimated the standard grid impedance composed by
bfint (k)} = Vfint (k) sin(θfint (k)).
Xfwint (k) = Im{Z (6)
Ifint (k) Rgw ≈ 0.6 Ω and Xgw ≈ 0.15 Ω (according to the grid

0278-0046 (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIE.2018.2870407, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS

1.5 Raverage
Raverage 1.5
Grid resistance (Ω)

1.2

Grid resistance (Ω)

1.2
Grid resistance Increase
0.9 Grid resistance increase 0.9 0.5 Ω
0.5 Ω
0.6
0.6
SDWPT Grid resistance after SDWPT
0.3 DFT Raverage Raverage Grid resistance after added
added a resistor 0.3 DFT
CWT CWT a resistor and inductance
0.0 0.0
(a)
0.18 (a) Xaverage
Grid reactance (Ω )

0.40
0.15

Grid reactance (Ω)

0.12 Xaverage 0.32
Grid reactance Increase
0.09 Grid reactance 0.24 0.21Ω
Grid reactance after
0.06 0.16
added a resistor
0.03 Xaverage Grid reactance after added
0.08
0.0 a resistor and inductance
(b) 0.0
1.5 (b)
Z average Z average
1.5
Grid impedance (Ω)

1.2

Grid impedance (Ω)

1.2
0.9 Grid impedance increase Grid impedance Increase
0.5 Ω 0.9 0.70Ω
0.6
Z average Grid impedance after 0.6
0.3 Z average Grid impedance after added
added a resistor
0.3 a resistor and inductance
0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Time (s) 0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
(c) Time (s)
(c)

Fig. 2. Experimental results of grid impedance estimation with the re-

sistance step changing: (a) grid resistance estimation; (b) grid reactance Fig. 3. Experimental results of grid impedance estimation with the induc-
estimation and; (c) grid impedance estimation. tance step changing: (a) grid resistance estimation; (b) grid reactance
estimation and; (c) grid impedance estimation.

transformer nameplate). When the controlled switches inter-

connected the external resistors (Re ), the proposed method
estimated a resistance around Rgw ≈ 1.1 Ω that corresponds
to the predicted resistance of composed grid impedance.
Fig. 3 depicts the experimental test for grid inductance
step changing by inserting external inductors of Le = 0.5
mH, with internal resistances of Rgw ≈ 0.63 Ω, in series
with the grid. When the controlled switches interconnected
the external inductors, the proposed method estimated values
around Rgw ≈ 1.3 Ω and Xgw ≈ 0.37 Ω, which corresponds
to the predicted values of grid impedance association. Both
experimental results with the RT-SDWPT-based method have
not used any kind of post-processing filter or an average value
to the estimation of the grid impedance.
IV. C ONCLUSION
On the contrary of stated in the literature that discrete
wavelet transforms with the real mother wavelet are unable
to estimate the grid impedance, this paper introduced an RT-
SDWPT-based method for grid impedance estimation based on
steady-state active approach. The proposed method presents
easy implementation and is proper for the insertion in AFEs
as an embedded algorithm. The proposed approach estimated
the grid impedance under step changing of resistance and
inductance with reasonable accuracy. Experimental results
obtained from a PV laboratory setup, compared with DFT and
CWT estimation methods, demonstrated the feasibility of the
proposed RT-SDWPT estimation method.
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0278-0046 (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIE.2018.2870407, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS

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