I. Introduction
For any network configuration there are many failure patterns that can cause a major blackout to an entire network or to parts of a network. Control centers monitor only a part of a grid and not the entire grid. When more than “n − 1” outages occur in a grid, the impact of these isolated outages in parts of the system and their impact on the entire network as a “whole” can not be easily assessed or visualized in real time. These findings are particularly relevant to restoring power to de-energized distribution systems containing thousands of feeders and load points which are not monitored in “real time”[2], [3]. The primary operational difficulties during major grid outages are to locate and identify the cause of the outages, to isolate the faulty parts and begin the complicated process of resorting power to the system [4]–[7]. The protection schemes during major outages and/or grid blackouts fracture a network into many parts (e.g., islands). The process of restoring power to these isolated islands in a logical operational manner to again have a completely operational network is extremely complex and time consuming when no detailed operational procedures and no “real time” monitoring are in place particularly for distribution systems.