Frequency Response of Windowed DFT Phasor Estimation: Impact on Oscillation Observability

Abstract

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are widely used for sub-synchronous oscillation monitoring, yet the effect of windowed discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-based phasor estimation on oscillation observability is not fully characterized. This letter derives the complete complex-valued frequency response of the windowed DFT phasor estimator under both magnitude and phase modulation. The analysis shows that the estimation window introduces both frequency-dependent magnitude attenuation and phase shift to oscillation components, governed by the complex gain. A simple recovery method is also proposed to restore the true oscillation amplitude and phase from PMU data using the analytically known complex gain. The results are validated through time-domain simulations and provide guidance for industry practitioners on interpreting PMU-based oscillation measurements and selecting appropriate window lengths.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Magnitude of the complex gain $H_1$ versus oscillation frequency $f_m$.
• Figure 2: Complex-plane trajectory, magnitude, and phase of $H_1(e^{j\lambda})$.
• Figure 3: Phasor data using windowed DFT at 60 fps.