The Role of High-Resolution Waveform Monitoring in Large-Load Disturbance Analysis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-2026

Subject: LCSH

Electric power systems, Cathode ray oscillographs

Disciplines

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Abstract

The rapid growth of data centers and other large computational loads is creating new challenges for power systems monitoring and disturbance analysis. This white paper examines the July 22, 2026 Northern Virginia large-load disturbance using a hardware-accelerated prototyping platform and the ERP500 high-speed power-quality monitoring platform.

The study demonstrates how high-resolution measurement can improve the detection and characterization of rapid grid disturbances. The ERP500 provides native waveform measurement at 51.2 kS/s and supports a broad range of electrical and power-quality measurements. For the quantitative assessment in this study, frequency and RMS voltage were selected as the primary analysis parameters.

The analysis evaluates the emulated disturbance using frequency- and voltage-based detection criteria. The results demonstrate channel-dependent voltage responses and characterize the disturbance near its observed onset. The analysis also highlights the importance of measurement resolution, threshold selection, and power-quality data in the characterization of large-load disturbances. In addition, the white paper discusses the potential value of harmonic, interharmonic, flicker, and sequence-component measurements as complementary indicators for disturbance characterization and engineering analysis.

Comments

Copyright © 2026 GridERP Inc.

Publisher Citation

GridERP Inc., “The Role of High-Resolution Waveform Monitoring in Large-Load Disturbance Analysis,” August 2026.

Link to Full Text

Check your library

Share

COinS