Work

A Field-Deployable Sensing Platform for Online Monitoring of Transmission Tower Grounding Systems

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Grounding systems are critical to the safe and reliable operation of electrical power systems, especially in high-voltage transmission networks, where their performance directly influences fault current dissipation, equipment protection, and overall system reliability and security. To address the need for continuous field assessment of these structures, this work presents a complete measurement system for remote online monitoring of electrical quantities associated with transmission tower grounding systems. The proposed platform combines Rogowski-coil current sensing at the four tower legs, voltage measurements around the tower base, analog signal conditioning, embedded waveform acquisition and processing, and remote communication. The system was implemented in a 525 kV transmission tower and validated by comparison with an oscilloscope and commercial instruments, showing consistent waveform, rms, and harmonic measurements. Field tests under different counterpoise connection conditions further demonstrated that the measured electrical variables can support the diagnostic assessment of the grounding structure. The results indicate that the proposed system provides reliable field acquisition and enables the development of methods for online supervision of transmission tower grounding behavior.

Source: IEEE Sensors Letters

DOI: 10.1109/lsens.2026.3728699