KEVIN T.

CABANTE
EE5-1
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT 101)

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON ELECTRICAL

ENGINEERING
An Essay
Humankind has been harnessing the power of information since time
immemorial. It was the secret to our survival in this very complex world, and
eventually to our conquest of the planet. We used it to gather food, avoid
harm, reproduce, build communities and develop culture. It has been
immortalized in our works of art, books and music. However, with the advent
of computer and its associated technologies, the way we acquire, process
and use these information drastically changed. Today, we can have access to
a lot of data in seconds without even having to read piles of books. Music
and videos can be played instantaneously at the palm of our hands. Works of
art have been digitalized and new forms are even emerging thanks to the
use of multimedia. We communicate almost at all instant in varied forms,
whether in SMS, online messaging, video chat or phone call, all in a single
device. All of these are attributable to our advances in the field of
information technology.
The impact of information technology can be seen on all aspects of our
society. Engineering was no exception. Much more electrical engineering.
Electrical engineering is a complex field wherein the main subject, electricity,
cannot be seen unlike in other branches of engineering. In order to
comprehend and predict its behavior, electrical engineers need data which
will help describe the behavior. Most important among these data are the
voltage, current, power, frequency and power factor values, whichever is
applicable to a system. These data, though, only provides a limited amount
of information when used independently from each other. However, when
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they are related to one another using engineering terms and formulas, they
can provide meaningful information as to the status and behavior of
electrical engineering systems. This is where the use of information
technology enters the picture.
During the early days of the development of modern alternating
current systems, early electrical engineers needed systems to process data.
Before the invention of computers, system data needs to be calculated by
hand or through the use of tables. This is a tedious job especially in very
large systems where many variables must be considered. Moreover, AC
systems are modeled as systems of differential equations which adds to the
difficulty. The advent of computers changed the course of electrical
engineering. Not only can computers solve simultaneous differential
equations faster, they can also provide printed data which can be easily
interpreted real-time.

This added ability paved way for a more reliable

electric power system.

One

particular

field

which

information

technology

improved

in

electrical engineering is remote monitoring and control of devices through

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). It is an advancement in
industrial control which are basically computer-based systems which control
actual industrial operations, in this case, monitoring and control of power
system devices. Through SCADA, a central station can inquire real-time
status of transmission and distribution facilities without the personnel even
having to be physically present in the facility. Data acquired by conventional
equipment, such as current transformers and potential transformers, are
processed by computers to provide data such as frequency and power flow
values. These data are then sent through communication cables built along
the transmission facility. These data are then received by supervisory
stations and displayed as system conditions. Aside from real-time update,
supervisory stations can also send control commands, such as opening and
closing of circuit breakers, to field components such Programmable Logic
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Controllers (PLC), Remote Terminal Units (RTU), protective relays and

associated devices. This is an example of an intuitive use of information
technology to maximize resources without jeopardizing system reliability.
At the same time, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition will never
be possible without the use of computers in operating the tedious task of
calculating power flow. In electrical power systems, it is important to
determine the impact of adding additional system components, for example
generators and loads, to system values and flow of both reactive and real
power. In a typical power system with thousands of terminals, called buses, it
is a painstakingly time-consuming process because the number of buses is
usually equal to the number of state variables. These state variables must be
determined in the shortest time possible to provide corrective measures in
the system once values does not conform to standard values. For example,
once voltage in a particular bus drops below or rise above a pre-determined
value, reactive compensation is usually employed through connecting
reactors in the bus. Likewise, a drop in the value of the frequency in systems
employing load shedding protocols will mean that the system had to drop a
predetermined load once it happens. These must be done at the shortest
time possible to avoid system damage and power fluctuations. However, the
models for these systems are systems of simultaneous differential equations.
In the past, hand calculation where employed through repetitive iterations. It
is both time-consuming and inaccurate. With computers, these repetitive
processes are done by computer programs million times faster than hand
calculations and with superb accuracy. Hence, answers are acquired realtime and control can be initiated faster.
Another

area

of

electrical

engineering

drastically

improved

by

information technology is the distribution business. Distributing electrical

energy to a lot of consumers requires distribution utilities to meter and bill
every consumer. With thousands of consumers, billing is a complex task
requiring a lot of manpower and resources if done through traditional
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methods. However, it is not the case if information technology comes into

the picture. Thousands of accounts can be handled, processed and printed
with minimal human intervention. Metering have seen promising advances
also. Use of smart meters and prepaid meters are picking up. These will
eventually replace conventional meters. With prepaid meters, consumers will
just pay a certain amount of energy to the distribution utility before the
scheduled consumption. The data as to the real-time amount of consumption
are periodically sent by the prepaid meters wirelessly via SMS to central
stations which processes the information for billing. In the set-up, the central
station can even update the customer through SMS as to the remaining
balance of the prepaid meter. Payment systems have been improved also
with having more option today to pay other than going to payment centers.
One can pay through mobile banking and money transfer which basically
uses information technology. All of these not only lessen the work and
expenses of distribution utilities but also can be felt by consumers as
possible reduction in electricity rates.
Research and development in electrical engineering and allied fields
have also improved with information technology. In the past, developments
are slow due to difficulty of sharing information among researchers in the
field. Correspondence are slow by mail and requires that both the sender and
receiver are acquainted with each other. Journals and publications are
constrained by geographic limitations. However, the introduction of the
internet and World Wide Web paved way for faster information exchange
with almost no geographical limit. One can access the works of other
researchers even if you dont have any correspondence with the author.
Online journals and publications are available in large volumes. Researches
and other resources can be searched for specific topics or areas of concern
thanks to metadata management systems. As a result, researches are
gaining pace which have not seen before as well as getting diversified with
more and more researchers coming in to play.
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What has been cited previously are few of a lot of application of

information technology in electrical engineering. A lot is expected to come in
the near future. It is hard to deny that the way we live in the 21 st century is
greatly shaped by our harnessing of the potentials of information technology.
As developments in the field occurs, we expect more positive changes to
come, not just in the area of electrical engineering, but also in all other areas
of our modern lifestyle. #