Sensor Selection via Convex Optimization in Remote Contact-free Measurement of Currents

The sensor positions have substantial effect on the accuracy of remote contact-free reconstruction of currents in power transmission lines from magnetic field data, measured by a set of sensors located under the conductors. By maximizing a performance metric, based on the Fisher information matrix, Nopt sensors are selected from N candidate sensors. The main optimization problem is changed to a convex optimization problem using a relaxation of the integer constraints. The result for optimized sensor positions for a remote current reconstruction in power transmission lines using a planar sensor array is demonstrated.