The main purpose of this paper is to implement a new methodology based on Genetic Algorithms (GAs) to extract the fundamental voltage and current phasors from noisy waves in power systems to be applied to a faster distance protection. GAs solve optimization problems based on natural selection principles. This application was then formulated as an optimization problem, and the aim was to minimize the estimation error. A 440 kV, 150 km transmission line was simulated using the ATP (Alternative Transients Program) software in order to show the efficiency of the new method. The results from this application show that the global performance of GAs was highly satisfactory concerning speed and accuracy of response, if compared to the traditional Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT).
Distance Protection; Discrete Fourier Transform; Transmission Lines; Genetic Algorithms
