The need of electric market regulation and the connection of neighboring electric grids motivate the use of wide area monitoring systems from which utilities have improved visibility of the power grid. Many utilities in the United States of America (USA) received grants from the Department of Energy (DOE) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to create wide area monitoring systems. Wide area monitoring systems are measurement systems that use information communication technology (ICT) to transmit digital and / or analogue data measured by field sensors.
