Classification of Fault Characteristics in Transmission Networks Based on Disturbance Fault Recorder (DFR) Using CNN-LSTM
Abstract
The availability and reliability of the power transmission system are crucial to ensuring the continuity of the electrical energy supply. Disturbances caused by natural events, vegetation interference, or animal activity can lead to widespread blackouts, necessitating rapid and accurate fault analysis. This study proposes a multi-representation deep learning framework for fault classification using a hybrid Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) architecture driven by raw Disturbance Fault Recorder (DFR) data. To ensure rigorous evaluation and strictly prevent data leakage, an initial dataset of 457 raw DFR recordings is partitioned using a stratified split method. Exactly 87 validation and 54 testing samples are strictly isolated to preserve their real-world integrity, while the remaining 316 training samples are synthetically augmented to a perfectly balanced 1,500 samples (500 per class). These are processed seamlessly into 1D time-series signals and 2D stacked spatial images at a 224x224 resolution. Furthermore, an Uncertainty Rejection strategy utilizing a 60% confidence threshold is implemented to dynamically intercept ambiguous transient anomalies and prevent forced misclassifications. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid CNN-LSTM model achieves an overall classification accuracy of 96.3%. While this 3.7% accuracy improvement corresponds to exactly a 2-sample difference on the constrained testing set compared to the established standalone baselines (LSTM and CNN, both at 92.6%), it serves as preliminary evidence demonstrating that the hybrid architecture can resolve specific, ambiguous edge-cases that single-view models fail to classify. The proposed framework offers a reliable, visually-explainable foundation that can be implemented in a monitoring system to assist operators in making faster and more accurate decisions in fault handling.