Paolo Castello

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• phd
• Professor (Associate) at University of Cagliari

DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) is a dark matter detection experiment under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. It utilises ∼ 100 t of low radioactivity argon from an underground source (UAr) in its inner detector, with half serving as target in a dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The UAr cryogenics system must ma...

DarkSide-20k is a novel liquid argon dark matter detector currently under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) that will push the sensitivity for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) detection into the neutrino fog. The core of the apparatus is a dual-phase Time Pro...

The direct search for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) is performed by detecting nuclear recoils produced in a target material from the WIMP elastic scattering. The experimental identification of the direction of the WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a crucial asset in this field, as it enables unmistakable modul...

Dark matter lighter than 10 GeV/c2 encompasses a promising range of candidates. A conceptual design for a new detector, DarkSide-LowMass, is presented, based on the DarkSide-50 detector and progress toward DarkSide-20k, optimized for a low-threshold electron-counting measurement. Sensitivity to light dark matter is explored for various potential en...

The Aria cryogenic distillation plant, located in Sardinia, Italy, is a key component of the DarkSide-20k experimental program for WIMP dark matter searches at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. Aria is designed to purify the argon, extracted from underground wells in Colorado, USA, and used as the DarkSide-20k target material, to...

Modern power systems are rapidly transitioning towards a fully digital substation paradigm. Based on the IEC 61850, a common communication protocol between the different intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) promises a significant enhancement in terms of efficiency and interoperability. In this context, synchronization represents a crucial aspect a...

Monitoring the technical performance of a power system is significantly enhanced when distributed instrumentation produces coherent field data, i.e., synchronized by GPS timestamping. In this paper a practical methodology is presented to improve the localisation of the source of a voltage dip on power grids. The proposed solution makes use of synch...

Wide Area Monitoring Protection and Control (WAMPAC) systems have emerged as a critical technology to improve the reliability, resilience, and stability of modern power grids. They are based on Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) technology and synchronized monitoring on a wide area. Since these systems are required to make rapid decisions and control ac...

Dark matter lighter than 10 GeV/c$^2$ encompasses a promising range of candidates. A conceptual design for a new detector, DarkSide-LowMass, is presented, based on the DarkSide-50 detector and progress toward DarkSide-20k, optimized for a low-threshold electron-counting measurement. Sensitivity to light dark matter is explored for various potential...

In recent years, electrical substations are experiencing a rapid transition toward a fully digital measurement infrastructure in terms of data acquisition, storage, and processing. The IEC Std 61850-9-2 defines the data format, also known as sampled value (SV), to be employed by instrument transformers, merging units, and controller devices. In thi...

Different power system applications based on synchrophasors measured in different nodes of the electric grid require information about the statistical distribution of the errors introduced by the Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). The performance of these applications can be significantly affected by possible incorrect assumptions. The Gaussian distr...

Aria is a plant hosting a 350m cryogenic isotopic distillation column, the tallest ever built, which is being installed in a mine shaft at Carbosulcis S.p.A., Nuraxi-Figus (SU), Italy. Aria is one of the pillars of the argon dark-matter search experimental program, lead by the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration. It was designed to reduce the is...

Future liquid-argon DarkSide-20k and Argo detectors, designed for direct dark matter search, will be sensitive also to core-collapse supernova neutrinos, via coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. This interaction channel is flavor-insensitive with a high-cross section, enabling for a high-statistics neutrino detection with target masses of...

Proportional electroluminescence (EL) in noble gases is used in two-phase detectors for dark matter searches to record (in the gas phase) the ionization signal induced by particle scattering in the liquid phase. The “standard” EL mechanism is considered to be due to noble gas excimer emission in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV). In addition, there are...

The widespread diffusion of nonlinear power electronics-based devices in distribution grids has raised the interests towards power quality monitoring. In this respect, the estimation of synchronized harmonic phasors would enable the employment of algorithms that allow identifying the sources of harmonic disturbances, which, until now, have been onl...

Future liquid-argon DarkSide-20k and ARGO detectors, designed for direct dark matter search, will be sensitive also to core-collapse supernova neutrinos, via coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. This interaction channel is flavor-insensitive with a high-cross section, enabling for a high-statistics neutrino detection with target masses of...

Traffic reduction and air-quality improvement are among the main goals of several projects worldwide. This paper presents a fine particle monitoring based on heterogeneous air quality mobile sensors and an advanced data concentrator, AdDC, so that the level of pollution in the urban area, where few accurate fixed measurement stations are present, c...

Nowadays the increased diffusion of nonlinear power electronics based devices in electric distribution grids has raised the interests towards power quality monitoring. In this respect, the use of synchronized harmonic phasors can be a powerful tool that allows identifying the sources of power quality issues such as harmonic disturbances. However, t...

Proportional electroluminescence (EL) in noble gases is used in two-phase detectors for dark matter search to record (in the gas phase) the ionization signal induced by particle scattering in the liquid phase. The "standard" EL mechanism is considered to be due to noble gas excimer emission in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV). In addition to it, there...

13 pages, 8 figures. Corresponding author: E. S\'anchez Garc\'ia

Large liquid argon detectors offer one of the best avenues for the detection of galactic weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) via their scattering on atomic nuclei. The liquid argon target allows exquisite discrimination between nuclear and electron recoil signals via pulse-shape discrimination of the scintillation signals. Atmospheric argo...

Phasor measurement units (PMUs), which are the key components of a synchrophasor based wide-area monitoring system (WAMS), were historically conceived for transmission networks. The current trend to extend the benefits of the synchrophasor technology to distribution networks requires the PMU to also provide trustworthy information in the presence o...

The main components of an advanced measurement system based on synchrophasor technology for the monitoring of power systems are the phasor measurement unit (PMU), which represents the ‘sensor’, and the phasor data concentrator (PDC), which collects the data forwarded by PMUs installed on the field. For the purpose of extending the benefit of synchr...

Taylor–Fourier (TF) filters represent a powerful tool to design phasor measurement unit (PMU) algorithms able to estimate synchrophasor, frequency, and rate of change of frequency (ROCOF). The resulting techniques are based on dynamic representations of the synchrophasor, and hence, they are particularly suitable to track the evolution of its param...

The availability of accurate measurements is the prerequisite for the actual implementation of many monitoring and management applications in smart distribution networks. Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) can provide synchronized voltage and current measurements, referred to a common time reference (usually the Coordinated Universal Time, UTC). This...

Nowadays, synchrophasor technology is becoming an important element for monitoring power systems. The base elements of the measurement architecture are represented by the Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) and the Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC). The PMU is the “sensor” of the measurement system and the PDC is the collector of the data forwarded by PMUs...

Classical Wide-Area Monitoring Systems (WAMSs) are characterized by a hierarchical architecture, which is composed of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and different levels of Phasor Data Concentrators (PDCs). The WAMS, based on synchrophasor technology, was originally designed for transmission systems; nevertheless, with the development of the smart...

The Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC) is a function in charge to receive and combine the time-tagged synchrophasor data from Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). The tasks of the PDC can include data handling, processing, and storage. Collected data are forwarded to the next higher-level element of the hierarchical monitoring architecture, which means eit...

Effective monitoring and management applications on modern distribution networks (DNs) require a sound network model and the knowledge of line parameters. Network line impedances are used, among other things, for state estimation and protection relay setting. Phasor measurement units (PMUs) give synchronized voltage and current phasor measurements,...

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are the measurement devices fostering the transformation of electric power networks towards the smart grid paradigm. They should accurately measure synchrophasors, frequency, and rate of change of frequency (ROCOF), so that the management and control applications relying on PMU-based distributed monitoring systems ca...

A novel adaptive distribution system state estimation (DSSE) solution is presented and discussed, which relies on distributed decision points and exploits the Cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Up to now, DSSE procedures have been using fixed settings regardless of the actual values of measurement accuracy, which is instead affected by...

This chapter focuses on the design of the treated a system that combines three subsystems: the data acquisition section, which samples the analog signals and converts them into a digital form; the digital signal processor, where the measurement procedures are implemented; and the synchronization system, which provides the common time reference. The...

Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) are currently used for the monitoring of the electrical quantities mainly in the transmission networks. Nevertheless, they are expected to become an important element also in the monitoring of the dynamic and complex scenario of the future smart distribution grids. The IEEE standard C37.118.1 defines the measurements...

This paper presents an adaptive Distribution System State Estimation (DSSE) which relies on a Cloud-based IoT paradigm. The methodology is adaptive in terms of the rate of execution of the estimation process which varies depending on the indications of the distributed measurement system. The system is composed, in particular, of Phasor Measurement...

This paper presents an adaptive Distribution System State Estimation (DSSE) which relies on a Cloud-based IoT paradigm. The methodology is adaptive in terms of the rate of execution of the estimation process which varies depending on the indications of the distributed measurement system. The system is composed, in particular, of Phasor Measurement...

This paper presents an IoT cloud-based state estimation system for distribution networks in which the PMUs (Phasor Measurement Units) are virtualized with respect to the physical devices. In the considered system only application level entities are put in the cloud, whereas virtualized PMUs are running in the communication network edge (i.e. closer...

This paper presents an IoT cloud-based state estimation system for distribution networks in which the PMUs (Phasor Measurement Units) are virtualized with respect to the physical devices. In the considered system only application level entities are put in the cloud, whereas virtualized PMUs are running in the communication network edge (i.e. closer...

The accuracy of the measurements provided by a Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU), such as phasor amplitude and phase angle, frequency and rate of change of frequency (ROCOF), can be very high. Nevertheless, other factors should be considered for a proper employment of the measurement devices. In particular, sufficiently low reporting latency should be...

The Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) are becoming an important element for the measurement systems of the electrical grid. To assure the high penetration of these measurement devices, the interoperability of the PMUs from different vendors must be ensured. The IEEE Standard C37.118.1-2011, with its amendments of 2014, defines two accuracy classes, P...

Distributed Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) is a performing solution to measure synchrophasors in an IEC 61850 compliant scenario. The standard IEEE C37.118.2-2011, about data transfer of synchrophasor measurements, requires to give time quality information along with time stamped measurement data. In a distributed PMU, the time quality of the system...

Protection and measurement systems in electrical substations are required to have high availability. In an all-digital substation protection system, all the components (instrument transformers, processing units, merging units, intelligent electronic devices, communication network, and synchronization source) may affect the overall availability leve...

The IEEE Standard C37.118.1 defines two performance classes, P and M, for phasor measurement units (PMUs), respectively for protection and monitoring oriented applications. The goal of this paper is to define an algorithm that allows the requirements of both classes to be met simultaneously, thus avoiding an a priori selection of either the fast re...

This paper presents the results of an experimental characterization performed to assess the accuracy of custom algorithms developed for Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). In particular, some of the most recent and efficient methodologies used for synchrophasors estimation under dynamic conditions are considered. The techniques are implemented in a mo...

Protection and measurement systems in electrical substations are requested to have high availability. When considering an all-digital substation protection system, all the components and infrastructure devices (instrument transformers, processing units, merging units, intelligent electronic devices, communication network and synchronization source)...

This paper proposes a new distributed architecture to measure synchrophasors in power substations, inspired by the standards IEC 61850. The new scheme is implemented in the process bus, where a high performance merging unit (MU), synchronized by precision time protocol (PTP), according to the standard IEEE 1588-2008, sends the sampled values (SVs)...

In this paper solutions aiming at achieving a Phasor Measurement Unit that is simultaneously compliant with both M and P classes of the standard IEEE C37.118.1, for synchrophasor estimation at a fixed reporting rate, are presented. In particular, a new version of the Taylor-Fourier Transform (TFT) based adaptive algorithm previously proposed by the...

This paper proposes a novel architecture, compliant to IEC 61850, for a distributed IED based phasor measurement unit to be used in electrical substations. In particular, a measurement architecture based on process bus and sampled values synchronized with IEEE 1588-2008 is proposed, so that voltage and current signals are acquired by a Merging Unit...

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are becoming one of the key issues of power network monitoring. They have to be able to perform accurate estimations of quantities of interest either under steady-state or transient conditions. Among all the sources which may contribute to the uncertainty introduced by PMUs, this paper analyzes the impact of the phas...

This paper proposes a modified version of the synchrophasor estimation algorithm which uses the non-orthogonal transform defined as a Taylor-Fourier Transform (TFT) and which is based on a Weighted Least Squares (WLS) approximation respect to a second order of Taylor model. The aim of the proposed changes is to improve the performance of the algori...

Synchrophasor measurement is becoming one of the key issue of power network monitoring. The actual standard IEEE C37.118 concentrates on phasor estimation requirements under steady state conditions. The standardization process is going towards a complete framework that keeps into account dynamic conditions. This paper focuses on algorithms proposed...

Different methods for the measurement of synchrophasors under dynamic conditions are analyzed in this work. The focus is on the comparison of their behavior in the presence of different situations where it is no longer valid the assumption of steady state, on which the definitions provided by the international standard are based.