Voting scheme for time alignment

1. A method comprising:

receiving a phasor measurement including a time stamp as a time-stamped phasor measurement at a phasor data concentrator from an intelligent electronic device in electrical communication with a component of an electric power delivery system;

receiving other time-stamped phasor measurements from a plurality of other components of the electric power delivery system;

filtering the time-stamped phasor measurement based on a time window determined by a voting scheme;

determining whether the time stamp of the time-stamped phasor measurement corresponds with a corresponding time slice; and

aligning the time-stamped phasor measurement with time-stamped phasor measurements from the other time-stamped phasor measurements associated with corresponding time stamps by adding the time-stamped phasor measurement into the corresponding time slice.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein filtering the time-stamped phasor measurement comprises:

determining whether the time-stamped phasor measurement falls within the time window; and

in response to determining that the time-stamped phasor measurement does not fall within the defined time window, re-establishing the time window based on the voting scheme.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein aligning the time-stamped phasor measurement comprises:

in response to determining that the corresponding time slice exists for the time-stamped measurement, adding the time-stamped measurement to the corresponding time slice.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein aligning the time-stamped phasor measurement comprises:

in response to determining that the corresponding time slice does not exist for the time-stamped measurement:

creating a new time slice corresponding to the time-stamped measurement; and

adding the time-stamped measurement to the new time slice.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the voting scheme comprises:

tallying votes to determine a valid current time from a plurality of time stamps, wherein each measurement source provides a respective time stamp of the plurality of time stamps; and

re-establishing the time window based on the valid current time and user input.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein each respective time stamp receives one vote for contributing a time stamp, one vote for a determination the measurement source is an active source, and one vote for a determination the measurement source provides a time stamp with good time quality.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the time-stamped phasor measurement includes the next expected time stamp; and

in response to determining that the time-stamped phasor measurement includes the next expected time stamp, advancing the time window.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the time slice is complete;

outputting the completed time slice; and

constraining the time window based on the completed time slice.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the time slice has expired;

outputting the expired time slice; and

constraining the time window based on the expired time slice.

10. A phasor data concentrator comprising:

an input configured to receive a time-stamped phasor measurement from an intelligent electronic device in electrical communication with a component of an electric power delivery system and to receive other time-stamped phasor measurements from a plurality of other components of the electric power delivery system;

a time alignment module configured to:

filter the time-stamped phasor measurement based on a time window determined by a voting scheme;

determine whether the time stamp of the time-stamped phasor measurement corresponds with a corresponding time slice; and

align the time-stamped phasor measurement with time-stamped phasor measurements from the other time-stamped phasor measurements associated with corresponding time stamps by adding the time-stamped phasor measurement into the corresponding time slice.

11. The phasor data concentrator of claim 10 , wherein the time alignment module is further configured to:

determine that the time-stamped phasor measurement falls within the time window; and,

in response to determining that the time-stamped phasor measurement does not fall within the defined time window, re-establishing the time window based on the voting scheme.

12. The phasor data concentrator of claim 10 , wherein the time-alignment module is further configured to:

in response to determining that the corresponding time slice exists for the time-stamped phasor measurement, adding the time-stamped phasor measurement to the corresponding time slice.

13. The phasor data concentrator of claim 10 , wherein the time-alignment module is further configured to:

in response to determining that the corresponding time slice does not exist for the time-stamped phasor measurement:

create a new time slice corresponding to the time-stamped phasor measurement; and

add the time-stamped phasor measurement to the new time slice.

14. The phasor data concentrator of claim 10 , wherein the time alignment module, to finalize a time slice, is configured to:

determine whether a time slice is complete; and

constrain the time window based on the complete time slice.

15. The phasor data concentrator of claim 10 , wherein the time-alignment module, to finalize a time slice, is configured to:

determine whether a time slice is expired; and

constrain the time window based on the expired time slice.