Resilient Distribution System Restoration with Communication Recovery by Drone Small Cells

TL;DR

This paper proposes using drone small cells to restore wireless communication in distribution systems after disasters, enabling faster load recovery through an integrated restoration strategy validated by case studies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining drone small cells with distribution system restoration, enhancing communication recovery and operational efficiency after disasters.

Findings

Drone small cells effectively restore communication in damaged distribution systems.

The integrated strategy outperforms benchmark methods in recovery speed.

Case studies demonstrate improved resilience and load recovery times.

Abstract

Distribution system (DS) restoration after natural disasters often faces the challenge of communication failures to feeder automation (FA) facilities, resulting in prolonged load pick-up process. This letter discusses the utilization of drone small cells for wireless communication recovery of FA, and proposes an integrated DS restoration strategy with communication recovery. Demonstrative case studies are conducted to validate the proposed model, and its advantages are illustrated by comparing to benchmark strategies.