Intelligent electronic device

An Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) is a term used in the electric power industry to
describe microprocessor-based controllers of power system equipment, such as circuit breakers,transformers,
and capacitor banks.
IEDs receive data from sensors and power equipment, and can issue control commands, such as tripping
circuit breakers if they sense voltage, current, or frequency anomalies, or raise/lower voltage levels in order to
maintain the desired level. Common types of IEDs include protective relaying devices, load tap changer
controllers, circuit breaker controllers, capacitor bank switches, recloser controllers, voltage regulators, etc.
Digital protective relays are primarily IEDs, using a microprocessor to perform several protective, control, and
similar functions. A typical IED can contain around 5-12 protection functions, 5-8 control functions controlling
separate devices, an autoreclose function, self monitoring function, communication functions etc. Hence, they
are aptly named as Intelligent Electronic Devices.
Some recent IEDs are designed to support the IEC61850 standard for substation automation, which provides
interoperability and advanced communications capabilities.

Protocol
SNTP
NTP :- Network time protocol
IEC 61850
SNMP :- simple network management Protocol

TCP/IP PROTOCOL
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the basic
communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a
communications protocol in a private network (either an intranet or
an extranet). When you are set up with direct access to the Internet, your
computer is provided with a copy of the TCP/IP program just as every other
computer that you may send messages to or get information from also has a
copy of TCP/IP.
TCP/IP is a two-layer program. The higher layer, Transmission Control Protocol,
manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are
transmitted over the Internet and received by a TCP layer that reassembles the
packets into the original message. The lower layer, Internet Protocol, handles

the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right destination.
Each gateway computer on the network checks this address to see where to
forward the message. Even though some packets from the same message are
routed differently than others, they'll be reassembled at the destination.
TCP/IP uses the client/server model of communication in which a computer user
(a client) requests and is provided a service (such as sending a Web page) by
another computer (a server) in the network. TCP/IP communication is primarily
point-to-point, meaning each communication is from one point
(or host computer) in the network to another point or host computer. TCP/IP and
the higher-level applications that use it are collectively said to be "stateless"
because each client request is considered a new request unrelated to any
previous one (unlike ordinary phone conversations that require a dedicated
connection for the call duration). Being stateless frees network paths so that
everyone can use them continuously. (Note that the TCP layer itself is not
stateless as far as any one message is concerned. Its connection remains in
place until all packets in a message have been received.)
Many Internet users are familiar with the even higher layer application protocols
that use TCP/IP to get to the Internet. These include the World Wide Web's
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet
(Telnet) which lets you logon to remote computers, and the Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol (SMTP). These and other protocols are often packaged together with
TCP/IP as a "suite."
Personal computer users with an analog phone modem connection to the
Internet usually get to the Internet through the Serial Line Internet Protocol
(SLIP) or the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). These protocols encapsulate the IP
packets so that they can be sent over the dial-up phone connection to an access
provider's modem.
Protocols related to TCP/IP include the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which is
used instead of TCP for special purposes. Other protocols are used by network
host computers for exchanging router information. These include the Internet
Control Message Protocol (ICMP), the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), the
Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP), and the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

IEC 60870
In electrical engineering and power system automation, the International Electrotechnical Commission 60870
standards define systems used for telecontrol (supervisory control and data acquisition). Such systems are
used for controlling electric power transmission grids and other geographically widespread control systems. By
use of standardized protocols, equipment from many different suppliers can be made to interoperate. IEC
standard 60870 has six parts, defining general information related to the standard, operating conditions,
electrical interfaces, performance requirements, and data transmission protocols. The 60870 standards are
developed by IEC Technical Committee 57 (Working Group 03).

IEC 60870-5
Main article: IEC 60870-5
IEC 60870 part 5 [1] provides a communication profile for sending basic telecontrol messages between two
systems, which uses permanent directly connected data circuits between the systems. The IEC TC 57 WG3
have developed a protocol standard for telecontrol, teleprotection, and associated telecommunications
for electric power systems. The result of this work is IEC 60870-5. Five documents specify the base IEC 608705:

IEC 60870-5-1 Transmission Frame Formats

IEC 60870-5-2 Data Link Transmission Services

IEC 60870-5-3 General Structure of Application Data

IEC 60870-5-4 Definition and Coding of Information Elements

IEC 60870-5-5 Basic Application Functions

The IEC TC 57 has also generated companion standards:

IEC 60870-5-101 Transmission Protocols, companion standards especially for basic telecontrol tasks

IEC 60870-5-102 Companion standard for the transmission of integrated totals in electric power
systems (this standard is not widely used)

IEC 60870-5-103 Transmission Protocols, Companion standard for the informative interface of
protection equipment

IEC 60870-5-104 Transmission Protocols, Network access for IEC 60870-5-101 using standard
transport profiles

IEC 60870-5-101/102/103/104 are companion standards generated for basic telecontrol tasks, transmission of
integrated totals, data exchange from protection equipment & network access of IEC101 respectively.
[edit]IEC

60870-6

Main article: IEC 60870-6

IEC TC 57 WG3 also generated standards for telecontrol protocols compatible with ISO standards and ITU-T
recommendations. These standards include:

IEC 60870-6-1 Application context and organization of standards

IEC 60870-6-2 Use of basic standards (OSI layers 14)

IEC 60870-6-501 TASE.1 Service definitions

IEC 60870-6-502 TASE.1 Protocol definitions

IEC 60870-6-503 TASE.2 Services and protocol

IEC 60870-6-504 TASE.1 User conventions

IEC 60870-6-601 Functional profile for providing the connection-oriente d transport service in an end
system connected via permanent acc ess to a packet switched data network

IEC 60870-6-602 TASE transport profiles

IEC 60870-6-701 Functional profile for providing the TASE.1 application service in end systems

IEC 60870-6-702 Functional profile for providing the TASE.2 application service in end systems

IEC 60870-6-802 TASE.2 Object models

DNP3
DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) is a set of communications protocols used between components
in process automation systems. Its main use is in utilities such as electric and water companies. Usage in other
industries is not common. It was developed for communications between various types of data acquisition and
control equipment. It plays a crucial role in SCADA systems, where it is used by SCADA Master Stations (aka
Control Centers), Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), and Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). It is primarily used
for communications between a master station and RTUs or IEDs. ICCP, the Inter-Control Center
Communications Protocol (a part of IEC 60870-6), is used for inter-master station communications.

History
While IEC 60870-5 was still under development and had not been standardized, there was a need to create a
standard that would allow interoperability between various vendors' SCADAcomponents for the electrical grid.
Thus, in 1993, GE-Harris Canada (formerly known as Westronic, Inc.) used the partially completed IEC 608705 protocol specifications as the basis for an open and immediately implementable protocol that specifically
catered to North American requirements. The protocol is designed to allow reliable communications in the
adverse environments that electric utility automation systems are subjected to, being specifically designed to
overcome distortion induced by EMI, aging components (their expected lifetimes may stretch into decades),
and poor transmission media.
[edit]Security
Although the protocol was designed to be very reliable, it was not designed to be secure from attacks
by hackers and other malevolent forces that could potentially wish to disrupt control systems to disable critical
infrastructure.
Because smart grid applications generally assume access by third parties to the same physical networks and
underlying IP infrastructure of the grid, much work has been done to add Secure Authentication features to the
DNP3 protocol. The DNP3 protocol is now compliant with IEC 62351-5. Some vendors implement elliptic curve
cryptography which the US NSA considers sufficient to protect information as "top secret" with only 384 bits.
Implementation of ECC over DNP3 is not very widespread yet.
The DNP3 protocol is also referenced in IEEE Std. IEEE 1379-2000, which recommends a set of best practices
for implementing modern SCADA Master-RTU/IED communication links. These include not just encryption but
other practices that enhance security against well known intrusion methods.

[edit]Technical

details

The DNP3 protocol has significant features that make it more robust, efficient, and interoperable than older
protocols such as Modbus, at the cost of somewhat higher complexity.
In terms of the OSI model for networks, DNP3 specifies a layer 2 protocol. It provides multiplexing, data
fragmentation, error checking, link control, prioritization, and layer 2 addressing services for user data. It also
defines a Transport function (somewhat similar to the function of layer 4) and an Application Layer (layer 7) that
defines functions and generic data types suitable for common SCADA applications. The DNP3 frame strongly
resembles, but is not identical to the IEC 60870-5 FT3 frame. It makes heavy use of Cyclic redundancy
check codes to detect errors.
The improved bandwidth efficiency is accomplished through event oriented data reporting. The Remote
Terminal Unit monitors data points and generates events when it determines that the data should be reported
(for example, when it changes value). These events are each placed in one of three buffers, associated with
"Classes" 1, 2 and 3. In addition to these, Class 0 is defined as the "static" or current status of the monitored
data.
The Remote Terminal Unit is initially interrogated with what DNP3 terms an "Integrity Poll" (a combined Read of
Class 1, 2, 3 and 0 data). This causes the RTU to send all buffered events and also all static point data to the
Master station. Following this, the Master polls for the event data by reading Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3. The
reading of the classes can all be performed together or each class can be read at a different rate, providing a
mechanism to create different reporting priorities for the different classes. After an Integrity Poll, only significant
data changes are sent. This can result in significantly more responsive data retrieval than polling everything, all
the time, irrespective of whether it has changed significantly.
The Remote Terminal Unit can also be configured to spontaneously report Class 1, 2, or 3 data, when it
becomes available.
The DNP3 protocol supports time synchronization with an RTU. The DNP Protocol has time stamped variants
of all point data objects so that even with infrequent RTU polling, it is still possible to receive enough data to
reconstruct a sequence of events of what happened in between the polls.
The DNP3 protocol has a substantial library of common point-oriented objects. The focus of this extensive
library was to eliminate the need for bit-mapping data over other objects, as is often done in
many Modbus installations. For example, floating point number variants are available, so there is no need to
map the number on to a pair of 16 bit registers. This improves compatibility and eliminates problems such
as Endianness.
A Remote Terminal Unit for the DNP3 protocol can be a very small, simple embedded device, or it can be a
very large, complex rack filled with equipment. The DNP User Group has established four levels of subsets of
the protocol for RTU compliance. The DNP Users Group has published test procedures for Levels 1 and 2, the
simplest implementations.
While this protocol is robust, efficient, compatible, and secure; it is getting more and more complex and subtle
as it ages. While this is partly due to more demanding industrial applications, it is also a reflection

that SCADA concepts are not as simple as they might first seem. The goal of compatibility seems more and
more elusive as issues emerge from field experience.
[edit]IEEE

Standardisation

The IEEE adopted DNP3 as IEEE Std 1815-2010

IEC 61850
IEC 61850 is a standard for the design of electrical substation automation. IEC 61850 is a part of
the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) Technical Committee 57 (TC57)[1]reference architecture
for electric power systems. The abstract data models defined in IEC 61850 can be mapped to a number of
protocols. Current mappings in the standard are to MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification), GOOSE,
SMV,[clarification needed] and soon to Web Services. These protocols can run over TCP/IP networks or
substation LANs using high speed switched Ethernet to obtain the necessary response times below four
milliseconds for protective relaying.

Standard Documents
IEC 61850 consists of the following parts detailed in separate IEC 61850 standard documents

IEC 61850-1: Introduction and overview

IEC 61850-2: Glossary

IEC 61850-3: General requirements

IEC 61850-4: System and project management - Ed.2

IEC 61850-5: Communication requirements for functions and device models

IEC 61850-6: Configuration language for communication in electrical substations related to IEDs - Ed.2

IEC 61850-7: Basic communication structure for substation and feeder equipment

IEC 61850-7-1: Principles and models - Ed.2

IEC 61850-7-2: Abstract communication service interface (ACSI) - Ed.2

IEC 61850-7-3: Common Data Classes - Ed.2

IEC 61850-7-4: Compatible logical node classes and data classes - Ed.2

IEC 61850-7-10: Communication networks and systems in power utility automation Requirements for web-based and structured access to the IEC 61850 information models [Approved
new work]
IEC 61850-8: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM)

IEC 61850-8-1: Mappings to MMS (ISO/IEC9506-1 and ISO/IEC 9506-2) - Ed.2

IEC 61850-9: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM)

IEC 61850-9-1: Sampled values over serial unidirectional multidrop point to point link

IEC 61850-9-2: Sampled values over ISO/IEC 8802-3 - Ed.2

IEC 61850-10: Conformance testing

[edit]History
Multiple protocols exist for substation automation, which include many proprietary protocols with custom
communication links. Interoperation of devices from different vendors would be an advantage to users of
substation automation devices. An IEC project group of about 60 members from different countries worked in
three IEC working groups from 1995. They responded to all the concerns and objectives and created IEC
61850. The objectives set for the standard were:
1. A single protocol for complete substation considering modelling of different data required for
substation.
2. Definition of basic services required to transfer data so that the entire mapping to communication
protocol can be made future proof.
3. Promotion of high interoperability between systems from different vendors.
4. A common method/format for storing complete data.
5. Define complete testing required for the equipments which conforms to the standard.
[edit]Features
IEC 61850 features include:
1. Data Modeling Primary process objects as well as protection and control functionality in the
substation is modelled into different standard logical nodes which can be grouped under different
logical devices. There are logical nodes for data/functions related to the logical device (LLN0) and
physical device (LPHD).

2. Reporting Schemes There are various reporting schemes (BRCB & URCB) for reporting data from
server through a server-client relationship which can be triggered based on pre-defined trigger
conditions.
3. Fast Transfer of events Generic Substation Events (GSE) are defined for fast transfer of event data
for a peer-to-peer communication mode. This is again subdivided intoGOOSE & GSSE.
4. Setting Groups The setting group control Blocks (SGCB) are defined to handle the setting groups
so that user can switch to any active group according to the requirement.
5. Sampled Data Transfer Schemes are also defined to handle transfer of sampled values using
Sampled Value Control blocks (SVCB)
6. Commands Various command types are also supported by IEC 61850 which include direct & select
before operate (SBO) commands with normal and enhanced securities.
7. Data Storage Substation Configuration Language (SCL) is defined for complete storage of
configured data of the substation in a specific format.
[edit]Related

standards

IEC 61850-7-410 Hydroelectric Power Plants - Communication for monitoring and control.
[Published]

IEC 61850-7-420 Communications systems for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) - Logical
nodes [Published]

IEC 61850-7-500 Use of logical nodes to model functions of a substation Automation system.
[Approved New Work]

IEC 61850-7-510 Use of logical nodes to model functions of a Hydro Power Plant. [Approved New
Work]

IEC 61850-90-1 Use of IEC 61850 for the communication between substations [Published]

IEC 61850-90-2 Use of IEC 61850 for the communication between control centres and substations
[Approved New Work]

IEC 61850-90-3 Using IEC 61850 for Condition Monitoring [Approved New Work]

IEC 61850-90-4 IEC 61850 - Network Engineering Guidelines [Approved New Work]

IEC 61850-90-5 Use of IEC 61850 to transmit synchrophasor information according to IEEE
C37.118 [Approved New Work]

IEC 61850-80-1 Guideline to exchanging information from a CDC-based data model using IEC
60870-5-101 or IEC 60870-5-104 [Published]

IEC 61400-25 IEC 61850 Adaptation for Wind Turbines

IEC 61400-25-1 Wind turbines - Part 25-1: Communications for monitoring and control of

wind power plants - Overall description of principles and models [Published]

IEC 61400-25-2 Wind turbines - Part 25-2: Communications for monitoring and control of

wind power plants - Information models [Published]

IEC 61400-25-3 Wind turbines - Part 25-3: Communications for monitoring and control of

wind power plants - Information exchange models [Published]

IEC 61400-25-4 Wind turbines - Part 25-4: Communications for monitoring and control of

wind power plants - Mapping to communication profile

Mapping to SOAP-based web services [Work under progress]

Mapping to MMS [Refer to IEC 61850-8-1 (published)]

Mapping to OPC XML DA [Work under progress]

Mapping to IEC 60870-5-104 [Refer to IEC 62445-3 (Work under progress)]

Mapping to DNP3 [Work under progress]

IEC 61400-25-5 Wind turbines - Part 25-5: Communications for monitoring and control of

wind power plants - Conformance testing [Published]

IEC 61400-25-6 Wind Turbines - Part 25-6: Communications for monitoring and control of
wind power plants - Logical node classes and data classes for condition monitoring [Work under
progress]

IEC 62271-3 Communications for monitoring and control of high-voltage switchgear (published)

IEC 61850 is a widely accepted international standard for power system communication. IEC 61850 and its related
standards have been adopted to substations, hydro power plants, wind energy networks and distributed energy resources,
mainly because of the superior interoperability capabilities. The protocol, with ongoing enhancements on security and
communications, is aligned to Smart Grid developments across the world.
IEC 61850 includes several Ethernet-based communications protocols, along with standardized naming and object
modeling. It also includes an XML-based substation configuration language (SCL), which enables the exchange of

configuration data between tools. SCL is used to design, document and exchange both device level and substation level
configurations.IEC 61850 is a more comprehensive approach in integration standards than previous efforts in substation
integration. IEC 61850 uses advanced communications techniques to address data management and simplify integration of
applications.

IEC 61850
Network
Architecture

Substation
Application

Benefits

Data from lEDs available to all

applications via network

Communication path
unaffected when adding
devices or applications

Standard network gear provides

high performance & flexibility
with environmental protection

Applications and IEDs Share

common :
- Protocols
- Data Format and Context
- Data Addressing / naming
conventions
- Configuration Language

IEC 61850 CC-Substation

Integration
Control Center
Applications

Reduced configuration costs

from common naming and
automatic point configuration
and retrieval

Equipment migrations occur

with minimal Impact on
applications

Application changes have

minimal effect on devices,
network or other applications

Benefits

Creates a single virtual network

that eliminates barriers to data
access

Performance and flexibility

Network migration

Applications access data

independently

Application migration

Market driven solutions

expanding rapidly for WAN:
- Wireless
- Frame Relay /ATM
- Metropolitan Fiber rings

System capabilities Eliminates

configuration dependencies :
add a point w/o reconfiguring
Intervening equipments

Improved maintainability via

use of generic widely available

technology
IEC 61850 Network Architecture

Relay to Relay
Applications

Relays share a common

network making sophisticated
protection schemes possible
Number of links for N relays is
N and shared with SCADA
Relays send their status to all
other relays at once using
GOOSE

Status exchanged continuously

High performance

IEC 61850-9-2 Process Bus

Transducer
Interfaces

Transducer and I/O signals are

shared via network

Only one transducer or I/O

point per signal

Minimisation of calibration and

maintenance

Incremental cost is linear

(signals only)

Future: Integrated MU with

digital Fiber optic transducers

Features of IEC 61850

Accommodates all generation and storage options

Benefits

Reduction of wiring costs

More flexible programming

that is Independent of wiring

Reliability: Link status known

before use

New capabilities not cost

effective with hardware systems

Higher performance with more

data

Benefits

Reduction of wiring costs

Reduction in commissioning
time as potential miswiring is
eliminated

Sharing of signals by
multicasting provide identical
sampled values for all IEDs

It is being expanded to include object models for distributed and renewable generation. Can be expanded for almost any
application.
Enables new products, services and markets
Non conventional sensors with digital interface
Provides the power quality for a range of needs
Includes power quality monitoring models
Optimizes asset utilization and operating efficiency
Includes equipment (transformer, breaker) monitoring models
Operates resiliently to disturbances, attacks, and natural disasters
Based on reliable ISO and IETF transport profiles and includes specifications for redundancy, performance targets, and
electrical network protection
Cyber security and physical security
Methods available using IEC 62351 to provide authenticated and encrypted data communications services
Communicating and coordinating across inter-system interfaces
Standards underway for substation-to-substation and substation-to-control-center communications (IEC 61850-90)
Wide area situational awareness
Standards underway for substation-to-substation and substation-to-control-center communications (IEC 61850-90).
Standards being developed along with IEEE C37.118 to use IEC 61850-8-1 and IEC 61850-9-2 for phasor measurement
communications
Smart grid-enabled response for energy demand
Based on IEC 61850-7-420 and planned extensions communication to energy generation as well as to controllable load /
storage (e.g. electrical vehicles) possible
Electric storage
Work underway to expand models to include electric storage.
Distribution grid management
Applicable to both transmission and distribution substations. Work underway to address feeder automation specifically.

One of the significant challenges that substation engineers face is justifying substation
automation investments. The positive impacts that automation has on operating costs, increased power
quality, and reduced outage response are well known. But little attention is paid to how the use of a
communication standard impacts the cost to build and operate the substation.
Legacy communication protocols were typically developed with the dual objective of providing the necessary
functions required by electric power systems while minimizing the number of bytes that were used by the
protocol because of severe bandwidth limitations that were typical of the serial link technology available 10-15
years ago when many of these protocols were initially developed.

Later, as Ethernet and modern networking protocols like TCP/IP became widespread, these legacy
protocols were adapted to run over TCP/IP-Ethernet.
This approach provided the same basic electric power system capabilities as the serial link version while
bringing the advantages of modern networking technologies to the substation. But this approach has a
fundamental flaw: the protocols being used were still designed to minimize the bytes on the wire and do not
take advantage of the vast increase in bandwidth that modern networking technologies deliver by providing a
higher level of functionality that can significantly reduce the implementation and operational costs of substation
automation.
Top

Modern Networking Technologies

IEC 61850 is unique. IEC 61850 is not a former serial link protocol recast onto TCP/IP-Ethernet. IEC 61850
was designed from the ground up to operate over modern networking technologies and delivers an
unprecedented amount of functionality that is simply not available from legacy communications protocols.
These unique characteristics of IEC 61850 have a direct and positive impact on the cost to design, build, install,
commission, and operate power systems. While legacy protocols on Ethernet enable the substation engineer to
do exactly the same thing that was done 10-15 years ago using Ethernet, IEC 61850 enables fundamental
improvements in the substation automation process that is simply not possible with a legacy approach, with or
without TCP/IP-Ethernet.
To better understand the specific benefits we will first examine some of the key features and capabilities of IEC
61850 and then explain how these result in significant benefits that cannot be achieved with the legacy
approach.
Top

Key Features
The features and characteristics of IEC 61850 that enable unique advantages are so numerous that they
cannot practically be listed here. Some of these characteristics are seemingly small but yet can have a
tremendous impact on substation automation systems.
For instance, the use of VLANs and priority flags for GOOSE and SMV enable much more intelligent use of
Ethernet switches that in and of itself can deliver significant benefits to users that arent available with other
approaches. For the sake of brevity, we will list here some of the more key features that provide significant
benefits to users:

Use of a Virtualized Model

The virtualized model of logical devices, logical nodes, ACSI, and CDCs enables definition of the data,
services, and behavior of devices to be defined in addition to the protocols that are used to define how the data
is transmitted over the network.

Use of Names for All Data

Every element of IEC 61850 data is named using descriptive strings to describe the data. Legacy protocols, on
the other hand, tend to identify data by storage location and use index numbers, register numbers and the like
to describe data.

All Object Names are Standardized and Defined in a Power System Context
The names of the data in the IEC 61850 device are not dictated by the device vendor or configured by the user.
All names are defined in the standard and provided in a power system context that enables the engineer to
immediately identify the meaning of data without having to define mappings that relate index numbers and
register numbers to power system data like voltage and current.

Devices are Self-Describing

Client applications that communicate with IEC 61850 devices are able to download the description of all the
data supported by the device from the device without any manual configuration of data objects or names.

High-Level Services
ACSI supports a wide variety of services that far exceeds what is available in the typical legacy protocol.
GOOSE, GSSE, SMV, and logs are just a few of the unique capabilities of IEC 61850.

Standardized Configuration Language

SCL enables the configuration of a device and its role in the power system to be precisely defined using XML
files.
Top

Major Benefits
The features described above for IEC 61850 deliver substantial benefits to users that understand and take
advantage of them. Rather than simply approaching an IEC 61850 based system in the same way as any other
system, a user that understands and takes advantage of the unique capabilities will realize significant benefits
that are not available using legacy approaches.

Eliminate Procurement Ambiguity

Not only can SCL be used to configure devices and power systems, SCL can also be used to precisely define
user requirement for substations and devices. Using SCL a user can specify exactly and unambiguously what is
expected to be provided in each device that is not subject to misinterpretation by suppliers.

Lower Installation Cost

IEC 61850 enables devices to quickly exchange data and status using GOOSE and GSSE over the station LAN
without having to wire separate links for each relay. This significantly reduces wiring costs by more fully utilizing

the station LAN bandwidth for these signals and construction costs by reducing the need for trenching, ducts,
conduit, etc.

Lower Transducer Costs

Rather than requiring separate transducers for each device needing a particular signal, a single merging unit
supporting SMV can deliver these signals to many devices using a single transducer lowering transducer,
wiring, calibration, and maintenance costs.

Lower Commissioning Costs

The cost to configure and commission devices is drastically reduced because IEC 61850 devices dont require
as much manual configuration as legacy devices. Client applications no longer need to manually configured for
each point they need to access because they can retrieve the points list directly from the device or import it via
an SCL file.
Many applications require nothing more than setting up a network address in order to establish
communications. Most manual configuration is eliminated drastically reducing errors and rework.

Lower Equipment Migration Costs

Because IEC 61850 defines more of the externally visible aspects of the devices besides just the encoding of
data on the wire, the cost for equipment migrations is minimized. Behavioral differences from one brand of
device to another is minimized and, in some cases, completely eliminated.
All devices share the same naming conventions minimizing the reconfiguration of client applications when
those devices are changed.

Lower Extension Costs

Because IEC 61850 devices dont have to be configured to expose data, new extensions are easily added into
the substation without having to reconfigure devices to expose data that was previously not accessed. Adding
devices and applications into an existing IEC 61850 system can be done with only a minimal impact, if any, on
any of the existing equipment.

Lower Integration Costs

By utilizing the same networking technology that is being widely used across the utility enterprise the cost to
integrate substation data into the enterprise is substantially reduced. Rather than installing costly RTUs that
have to be manually configured and maintained for each point of data needed in control center and engineering
office application, IEC 61850 networks are capable of delivering data without separate communications frontends or reconfiguring devices.

Implement New Capabilities

The advanced services and unique features of IEC 61850 enables new capabilities that are simply not possible
with most legacy protocols. Wide area protection schemes that would normally be cost prohibitive become
much more feasible.
Because devices are already connected to the substation LAN, the incremental cost for accessing or sharing
more device data becomes insignificant enabling new and innovative applications that would be too costly to
produce otherwise.
Top

Conclusions
IEC 61850 is now released to the industry. Ten parts of the standard are now International Standards (part 10 is
a draft international standard). This standard addresses most of the issues that migration to the digital world
entails, especially, standardization of data names, creation of a comprehensive set of services, implementation
over standard protocols and hardware, and definition of a process bus.
Multi-vendor interoperability has been demonstrated and compliance certification processes are being
established. Discussions are underway to utilize IEC 61850 as the substation to control center communication
protocol. IEC 61850 will become the protocol of choice as utilities migrate to network solutions for the
substations and beyond.