Abstract

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Paper
A Spatial Approximation Method for Electrical Substation Service Area Delineation
Track: Homeland Security/Homeland Defense
Author(s): Steven Castongia, Wei-Ning Xiang, William Tolone, Andrew Schumpert, Seok-Won Lee

In the practice of homeland security planning, an important task is to isolate service areas that would be affected by a future catastrophic event in a power grid. The delineation of such areas is often hindered by the lack of information because most critical infrastructure (CI) data is in the private sector. Professionals who work in homeland security planning must experiment with a variety of spatial approximation methods in delineating service areas. The resource allocation method is more advantageous methodologically as it is capable of considering surface conditions. However, this method has two major challenges: (1) how to define and represent the demand of electricity and (2) how to allocate resources to meet the demand under certain constraints. Previous research has not dealt with these challenges. This paper will conclude with a real-world application of the methodology in a GIS and an assessment of its reliability and accuracy.

Steven Castongia
University of North Carolina - Charlotte
Geography and Earth Sciences
15331 Great Glen Ln
Huntersville , NC 28078
US
Phone: 704-948-1624
E-mail: scastongia@hotmail.com

Wei-Ning Xiang
University of North Carolina - Charlotte
Geography and Earth Sciences
9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte , NC 28223
US
Phone: (704) 687-4247
E-mail: wxiang@email.uncc.edu

William Tolone
University of North Carolina - Charlotte
Software and Information Systems
9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte , NC 28223
US
Phone: (704) 687-8664
E-mail: wjtolone@email.uncc.edu

Andrew Schumpert
University of North Carolina - Charlotte
Geography and Earth Sciences
9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte , NC 28223
US
Phone: 704-763-3576
E-mail: alschump@uncc.edu

Seok-Won Lee
University of North Carolina - Charlotte
Software and Information Systems
9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte , NC 28223
US
Phone: (704) 687-8662
E-mail: seoklee@email.uncc.edu