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The excitation system of a synchronous generator has a major role in proper operation and control of the generator. Loss of excitation (LOE) may cause harmful effects on the both generator and power system. This paper presents a new approach to detect LOE based on calculating the synchronous generator internal voltage. This parameter is considerably sensitive to LOE and can be used as a straightforward index to discriminate LOE events from system disturbances more quickly and robustly than the conventional indices. A novel and practical technique with minimum computational burden is presented to calculate the generator internal voltage. To evaluate the proposed algorithm, LOE events in a multimachine test system are investigated. In addition, the proposed approach is experimentally evaluated on a 10 kVA synchronous generator. Performed studies demonstrate that the proposed strategy not only noticeably decreases the LOE relay operation time, but also desensitizes its maloperation to system disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]