IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 26, NO.

2, APRIL 2011

1101

Standard Function Blocks for Flexible IED

in IEC 61850-Based Substation Automation
Lin Zhu, Student Member, IEEE, Dongyuan Shi, and Xianzhong Duan, Member, IEEE

AbstractFlexible intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) are

highly desirable to support free allocation of function to IED
by means of software reconfiguration without any change of
hardware. The application of generic hardware platforms and
component-based software technology seems to be a good solution.
Due to the advent of IEC 61850, generic hardware platforms with
a standard communication interface can be used to implement
different kinds of functions with high flexibility. The remaining
challenge is the unified function model that specifies various
software components with appropriate granularity and provides a
framework to integrate them efficiently. This paper proposes the
function-block (FB)-based function model for flexible IEDs. The
standard FBs are established by combining the IEC 61850 model
and the IEC 61499 model. The design of a simplified distance
protection IED using standard FBs is described and investigated.
The testing results of the prototype system in MATLAB/Simulink
demonstrate the feasibility and flexibility of FB-based IEDs.
Index TermsFlexible IED, IEC 61499, IEC 61850, logical node,
standard function blocks, substation automation.

Directory

IEC 61850 services for data access.

DO

Data object.

ECC

Execution control chart.

FB

Function block.

GAPC_FB

FB model of generic automatic process

control.

GGIO_FB

FB model of generic process I/O.

GndPDIS(i)_FB

FB model of ground distance protection

(zone I, II, or III).

GOOSE

Generic object-oriented substation events.

IED

Intelligent electronic device.

LD

Logical device.

LLN0

Logical node for logical device

information.

LN

Logical node.

LPHD

Logical node for physical device

information.

MMXU_FB

FB model of measurement.

MSQI_FB

FB model of sequence and imbalance.

PDIS_FB

FB model of distance protection.

PhPDIS(i)_FB

FB model of phase-to-phase distance

protection (zone I, II, or III).

NOMENCLATURE
ACSI

Abstract communication services

interface.

ARCO

FB model of reactive power control.

ATCC

Automatic tap changer controller.

CDC

Common data class.

CFB

Compound function block.

CILD_FB

FB model of islanding.

CILO_FB

FB model of interlocking.

PTOC_FB

FB model of time over current protection.

CLSD_FB

FB model of load shedding.

PTRC_FB

FB model of trip condition.

CSWI_FB

FB model of the switch controller.

RCVA_FB

DA

Data attribute.

FB model of characteristic values

algorithm.

DataSet

IEC 61850 services for a group of data

objects and data attributes.

RFLT_FB

FB model of filter algorithm.

RPHS_FB

FB model of phase selection.

RPSB_FB

FB model of power swing

detection/blocking.

RREC_FB

FB model of autoreclosing.

RSTR_FB

FB model of startup criterion.

RSYN_FB

FB model of synchronism-check or
synchronizing.

SAS

Substation automation system.

SAV

Sampled analog value.

Manuscript received May 21, 2010; revised September 20, 2010; accepted
October 23, 2010. Date of publication December 23, 2010; date of current
version March 25, 2011. This work was supported in part by the National
Science Youth Foundation of China under Grant 50907024 and in part by the
Project of the National Key Technology R&D program of China under Grant
2008BAA13B00. Paper no. TPWRD-00379-2010.
The authors are with the College of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
(e-mail: zhl_hustceee@163.com).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2010.2091154

0885-8977/$26.00 2010 IEEE

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SGCB

Setting group control block, the IEC

61850 services for settings.

SIFB

Service interface function block.

ZerPTOC(i)_FB FB model of zero-sequence over current

protection (zone I or II).

I. INTRODUCTION
URING the last decades, electromechanical devices in
substation automation system (SAS) have been replaced
by intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). Most functions including protection and control are now performed by IEDs [1].
As more advanced and powerful hardware platforms become
available, there is growing interest not only in the integration of
more functions into fewer IEDs for low cost, but also in flexible
IEDs that support free allocation of functions to devices for
short project duration [2], [3]. A flexible IED is expected to
permit different kinds of function integration or distribution
by means of software reconfiguration without any change of
hardware.
However, current IEDs generally consist of vendor-specific hardware and hardware-dependent software with limited
flexibility. Due to the cable connection to sensors and circuit
breakers (CBs), the hardware platforms of IEDs have to provide complex analog input/output (I/O) interfaces to map the
electrical signals for designated functions. It may be necessary
to add new analog I/O interfaces when adding new functions.
On the other hand, the hardware-dependent software cannot
be reused and integrated on different hardware platforms for
other new applications. In addition, the software system is still
implemented with little software engineering methodology,
which makes it inconvenient to develop and maintain IEDs,
especially to add, remove, or replace functions.
The application of generic hardware platforms and component-based software technology seems to be a good solution for
flexible IEDs. With the rapid development of IEC 61850-based
substation automation, traditional point-to-point cables are replaced by a process bus-based shared communication network
[4], [5]. Since standard communication removes the differences
of various dedicated hardware platforms, generic hardware
platforms with a standard network interface can be used to
implement protection, control, metering, recording, as well as
any combination. If the function assigned to an IED changes,
it is necessary to modify several communication parameters to
collect the required information rather than add or remove many
analog I/O interfaces. Meanwhile, the application of generic
hardware platforms separates software from hardware and
makes it possible to construct a flexible and hardware-independent software system [6], [7]. For example, component-based
software technology will be adopted to encapsulate mature
algorithms into standard and reusable software components [8],
[9]. A developer is likely to select several software components
containing protective relay algorithms, control algorithms, or
communication services, set their parameters, and then integrate them with software tools to implement an IED with high
flexibility.

Since generic hardware platforms are available in the worldwide commercial market, the remaining challenge of flexible
IEDs is the unified function model, which specifies various software components with appropriate granularity and provides a
framework to construct flexible software system efficiently. Although the IEC 61850 standard defines the unified information
model for IEDs and SAS, it lacks specification of detailed function algorithms and function-related data objects [10]. In fact,
the IEC 61850 model describes the data that need to be exchanged with other IEDs for communication purposes; thus, it
is not sufficient to describe the unified function model of IEDs.
The second edition of the IEC 61850 standard is under revision,
but current modification and extension still focus on the information model [11].
Another international standard IEC 61499 providing a
generic function model based on the function block (FB) for the
control device and distributed control system may make up this
disadvantage. An FB is considered as an abstract of a software
component by encapsulating algorithms, state transitions, and
well-defined event/data interfaces [12]. The unified function
model of IEDs can be established based on the concept of FB,
while the IEC 61850 model must be preserved for communication purposes. Therefore, it makes significant sense to combine
the two models to construct standard FBs for flexible IEDs
[13], [14].
The aim of this paper is to provide a standard FBs-based function model for flexible IEDs. The modeling approach and application of standard FBs are also introduced. The remainder
of this paper is organized as follows. Section II summarizes the
main characteristics of the IEC 61850 model and the IEC 61499
model. The modeling approach of standard FBs is presented in
Section III. Section IV demonstrates the application of standard
FBs, followed by a description of a simplified distance protection IED based on FBs. In Section V, the prototype system is implemented in PSCAD/EMTDC and MATLAB/Simulink to validate the feasibility and flexibility of FBs-based IEDs. Finally,
Section VI concludes this paper.
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE IEC 61850 AND
THE IEC 61499 MODELS
A. Characteristics of the IEC 61850 Model
IEC 61850 is a popular international standard for communication networks and systems in substations. It provides abundant information model for IEDs and SAS. The hierarchical information model is shown in Fig. 1.
Logical node (LN) is an important concept in the IEC 61850,
which represents the smallest part of a function that exchanges
data [10]. Each LN consists of mandatory, conditional, or
optional data objects (DOs) containing corresponding data
attributes (DAs). LNs can be grouped into a logical device
(LD), while LDs can be grouped into a server representing the
communication visible behaviors of an IED. Furthermore, the
standard also offers a series of communication services to access the information model and exchange data (e.g., directory,
data access, event report, and log). The interoperability among
IEDs from different manufacturers is achieved if they adopt the
standard information model and communication services.

ZHU et al.: STANDARD FUNCTION BLOCKS FOR FLEXIBLE IED IN IEC 61850 BASED SUBSTATION AUTOMATION

Fig. 1. Information model of the IEC 61850.

1103

The FB model is the elementary model of the standard. An FB

is a functional unit consisting of a set of event inputs/outputs, a
set of data inputs/outputs, and several encapsulated algorithms.
An FB receives event/data from input interfaces, processes them
by algorithms, and produces event/data outputs. The causal relationships among event inputs, event outputs, and execution of
algorithms are specified by an execution control chart (ECC),
which is similar to a state machine. Basic FBs are generally integrated into a composite FB (CFB) to represent complex functions. Besides the control algorithms, communication protocols
can also be encapsulated into an FB. The protocols of communication services for data exchange are usually modeled by service-interface FBs (SIFBs).
In the IEC 61499 architecture, other models can be constructed based on FBs. For example, the application model is
built by an FB network, whose nodes are basic FBs, CFBs, or
SIFBs, and whose branches are event/data connections. The
resource model is comprised of one or more local application
and communication interfaces. The device model contains
one or more interfaces (communication interface or process
interface) and one or more resources.
The FB-based architecture of the control device enables a
modularization design approach and makes the development
process more simplified and efficient. Nevertheless, since the
IEC 61499 model is a conceptual reference model for generic
purposes, it is necessary to establish a derived class model of
FBs for a particular application from an object-oriented point
of view.
C. Combination of the Two Models
The IEC 61850 model lacks specification of detailed functions and function-related data, but it should be reserved for
communication. The IEC 61499 model is designed for general purpose and, thus, it needs some modification before being
adopted in particular applications. Therefore, it makes significant sense to combine the two models to buildup standard FBs
for flexible IEDs. In this way, software system of IEDs can be
viewed as an integration of standard and reusable software components, such as protective relay algorithms, control algorithms,
and communication services. The FB-based architecture is also
convenient to design and develop IEDs with high flexibility in
a cost-effective way.

Fig. 2. Function model of the IEC 61499.

III. MODELING OF STANDARD FBS

A. Basic Modeling Principles

As the IEC 61850 model is totally utilized for communication

purposes, it only describes the data that need to be exchanged
with other IEDs. The model is a partial abstract of function entities without the specification of detailed functions and function-related data. Therefore, the IEC 61850 model is not sufficient to represent the function model of IEDs.
B. Characteristics of the IEC 61499 Model
The IEC 61499 standard defines a generic function model
based on FBs for distributed control and automation systems.
The four main models (FB, application, resource, and device)
of the standard are shown in Fig. 2.

Since both standards adopt an object-oriented approach, the

model architectures are hierarchical and similar. It is not difficult to establish a mapping between the IEC 61850 model and
the IEC 61499 model. As shown in Table I, DOs are represented
by basic FBs, while LNs are represented by CFBs. LDs and
servers are mapped into resources and devices, respectively. In
addition, abstract communication services interfaces (ACSI) are
mapped into SIFBs.
The authors of [14] propose direct mapping from an LN to
CFB to implement a decentralized power-supply restoration
system consisting of several devices. However, some indispensable functions not defined in the IEC 61850, and the ECC of

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TABLE I
OBJECT MODEL MAPPING BETWEEN IEC 61850 AND IEC 61499

FBs are not considered, which are important for the design and
implementation of an individual IED. Hence, the modeling of
standard FBs in this paper will focus on three aspects besides
inheritance of all DOs of an LN: 1) definition of detailed
function algorithms: 2) execution logic of the algorithms
(ECC); and 3) the specification of function-related event/data
interfaces. In the following subsections, we propose different
methods for modeling standard FBs: 1) extend existing LNs for
functions mentioned in the IEC 61850; 2) create new FBs for
functions not mentioned in the IEC 61850: and 3) encapsulate
the communication services into SIFBs.
B. Extension of Existing LNs
For the functions that have been mentioned in the IEC 61850
standard, corresponding FBs can be modeled by means of extension of existing LNs [15]. First of all, the DOs and DAs
contained in LNs must be inherited. Second, several function
algorithms (e.g. protective relay algorithms and control algorithms) should be specified and encapsulated. Since existing
DOs may not include the data inputs or outputs of the function
algorithms, several DOs should be created and added for a complete event/data flow. Finally, the sequence of algorithm invocations is declared in an ECC. The name of an FB inherits that
of the corresponding LN and is distinguished with the postfix
_FB.
The FB model of distance protection (PDIS_FB) is illustrated
in Fig. 3(a). Common LN information, settings, and status information are inherited from the PDIS class in the IEC 61850.
ACD, SPS, INS, etc. are CDCs that represent the data type of the
DOs. Characteristic values (voltage and current value of each
phase) are extended DOs as data inputs feeding into different
algorithms, including phase-to-ground and phase-to-phase distance protection. The WITH qualifier (graphical sign ) specifies an association among the input events and data (or output
events and data). Common LN information, settings. and status
information (Str) are loaded with initial values if the initialization event (INIT) occurs. When the FB receives an execution
event (EX1 or EX2), it begins to deal with the characteristic
value to make a trip decision with the PhtoGnd or PhtoPh algorithm. If the PDIS_FB decides to operate, the data output Op
is produced with the event outputs EX1O or EX2O. Fig. 3(b)
shows the ECC describing the relationship between event inputs/outputs and algorithm invocations. The FB model of every
existing LN can be established in a similar way.

Fig. 3. Modeling of FBs by extending existing LNs. (a) PDIS_FB. (b) ECC.

C. Creation of New FBs

Some indispensable functions, such as startup criterion
and digital signal processing, are important for substation
IEDs, but there are no corresponding LNs defined in the IEC
61850. Therefore, several new FBs and associated DOs may
be created to represent these functions. Examples of these
FBs are RSTR_FB (startup criterion), RFLT_FB (filter algorithm), RCVA_FB (characteristic values algorithm), RPHS_FB
(phase selection), CLSD_FB (load shedding), and CILD_FB
(islanding).
Fig. 4(a) shows the RSTR_FB as an example. The FB
deals with the sampled valves with different startup criterion
algorithms (using mutational value or steady value) to decide
whether to generate a startup signal. When the FB receives
,
, and
the INIT event, the startup settings (e.g.
) are loaded with initial values. The execution sequence is controlled by the ECC shown in Fig. 4(b).
D. Modeling of Communication Services
There are two kinds of communication services in the IEC
61850 standard: one is Publisher-Subscriber (e.g., sampled
analog value (SAV) and generic object oriented substation
events (GOOSE), and the other is Server-Client (e.g., directory,
report, and file transfer [16]). Both of them are mapped into
SIFBs. Generally, a couple of FBs are needed to represent the
sender and the receiver, respectively.

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Fig. 4. Creation of new FBs. (a) RSTR_FB. (b) ECC.

Setting Group Control Block (SGCB) RESPONDE is illustrated in Fig. 5(a) as an example and the SGCB REQUEST that
does not appear in Server IEDs is omitted. Six kinds of communication services are offered by this FB: SelectActiveSG,
SelectEditSG, SetSGvalues, GetSGvalues, ComfirmEditSGvalues, and GetSGCBvalues. When the FB receives a request
), corresponding communication serevent (REQ1, REQ2
vices are performed. The execution sequence is controlled by
the ECC shown in Fig. 5(b).
With the aforementioned modeling methods, the standard FB
library can be built for flexible IEDs and part of the library is
shown in Table II ( : new FBs created in this paper). The standard FBs are still a class model from the object-oriented point
of view. It is necessary to create their instances for flexible IEDs
in practical applications.
IV. FLEXIBLE IED BASED ON STANDARD FBS
Based on generic hardware platforms and standard FBs, a
software system of IEDs can be viewed as an integration of
reusable software components with high flexibility. The design
and development of an IED is a stepwise but simple process with
the following steps:
Step 1) Decompose the required application function to a degree of granularity of the existing FBs.
Step 2) Select corresponding FBs from the standard FB
library for all the decomposed subfunctions, then

Fig. 5. SIFBs of server-client service. (a) SGCB RESPONDE. (b) ECC.

create instances of the selected FBs, set their parameters, and connect these FBs with data flow and
event flow.
Step 3) Validate the whole IED model to avoid errors. For
example, check whether all of the DOs of the corresponding LN model are contained in the FB instance, and whether the FBs are connected with
complete data flow and event flow.
Step 4) Integrate physical components to IEDs and perform
comprehensive testing.
As an example, the design of a simplified distance protection
IED using standard FBs is given. Fig. 6 shows the FB architecture of the IED. The IED consists of three main modules: 1)

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Fig. 6. FB architecture of a simplified distance protection IED with reclosure function.

TABLE II
STANDARD FBS LIBRARY

protection and control; 2) communication services for station

bus; and 3) communication services for the process bus.
In the module of communication services for the process bus,
SAV SUBSCRIBE and GOOSE SUBSCRIBE are designed
to capture sampled values and status information for the IED,
respectively. GOOSE PUBLISH is expected to provide communication services for the publication of trip and reclosure
messages.

Since distance protection (phase-to-ground and phase-tophase) and zero-sequence overcurrent protection are multizone relays, each zone should be represented as an individual
FB. As shown in Fig. 6, GndPDIS1_FB, GndPDIS2_FB,
GndPDIS3_FB (three-stage phase-to-ground distance protections), PhPDIS1_FB, PhPDIS2_FB, PhPDIS3_FB (three-stage
phase-to-phase distance protections), as well as ZerPTOC1_FB
and ZerPTOC2_FB (two-stage zero-sequence overcurrent protections) are configured in the main function module. When the
RSTR_FB deduces power system is in a real fault condition,
sampled values are imported into different protection FBs after
processing in RFLT_FB, RCVA_FB, and RPHS_FB. PTRC_FB
is designed to combine the output data of protection FBs and
then transmit a single-phase or triphase trip signal via GOOSE
PUBLISH. RSYN_FB and RREC_FB are used to monitor the
status of the CB from GOOSE SUBSCRIBE, check synchronization and send reclosure command via GOOSE PUBLISH.
Directory RESPONDE, Dataset RESPONDE, and SGCB
RESPONDE, etc., are applied to provide communication
services for the station bus. All of the existing DOs are input
data of directory RESPONDE (the DOs of GndPDIS1_FB are
illustrated in Fig. 6), while the extended DOs and LNs are invisible in the IEC 61850 communication services. System LNs
(LPHD and LLN0), without any function, are also included
in the IED as indicators to communication services. Setting

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Fig. 7. Power system model used for the function test of protection IED.

TABLE III
RELATED PARAMETERS OF THE POWER SYSTEM MODEL

values of different protection FBs are gathered as input data of

DataSet RESPONDE and SGCB RESPONDE.
V. PROTOTYPE SYSTEM AND TESTING
A. Prototype System Implementation
The prototype system is implemented in the MATLAB/
Simulink environment to demonstrate the feasibility and
flexibility of FB-based distance protection IED. Particularly,
SIFBs providing communication services are represented by
S-Function blocks that encapsulate the source code of the
MMS-EASE Lite software package. The software package
encapsulates all of the network protocols referred to in the IEC
61850 and offers a C language application program interface
for the Manufacturing Message Specification protocol [17].
The software packet is now widely applied when implementing
IEC 61850-based IEDs.
Transient data for protection and control function testing
come from a two-machine system modeled in PSCAD/EMTDC.
The power system model used for distance protection IED
testing is shown in Fig. 7, and the related parameters are
given in Table III [18]. The illustrated IED is not modeled
in PSCAD/EMTDC since it is more convenient to integrate
MMS-EASE Lite source code in MATLAB/Simulink than in
PSCAD/EMTDC.
B. Function Testing
Various cases, such as different fault types, fault locations,
and inception angles have been considered to examine the performance of protection and reclosure functions. Fig. 8 shows test
results in the occurrence of an instantaneous grounding fault on
Phase A. The fault occurs on 0.098 s and is isolated on 0.138
s. After checking the voltage of the two ends, RREC_FB sends
GOOSE a message to reclose the CB on 0.954 s. Fig. 8(a) shows
the current waveform of faulting phase A. The tripping signal of
GndPDIS1_FB and the reclosure signal of RREC_FB are shown
in Fig. 8(b) and (c), respectively. Test results of different cases

Fig. 8. Function test of the illustrated IED. (a) Current waveforms of Phase A
in the occurrence of the instantaneous grounding fault on Phase A. (b) Tripping
signal. (c) Reclosure signal.

TABLE IV
TEST RESULTS OF DIFFERENT CASES

are given in Table IV. Through the simple function testing, the
correctness of the proposed function model is demonstrated.
C. Communication Services Testing
The IEDScout software package is applied as an IEC 61850
client to connect the IED and perform communication services
testing [19]. Fig. 9 shows part results of Directory service and
GetSGValues service. The IED server consists of two LDs
(E1Q1SB1CTRL and E1Q1SB1PROT) containing several
LNs. The tree-structure data model is definitely shown by the
Directory service.

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Fig. 9. Communication services testing of the illustrated IED.

GetSGValues service is designed to read values of the setting

group. In the prototype system, settings are also grouped into
a dataset. Thus, the result of GetSGValues service is equal to
that of GetDateSetValues service reading the values of the correspondingdataset.AsshowninFig.9,theDataSetE1Q1SB1PROT/
LLN0.RelaySet describes the settings of all protection FBs,
while the DataSet E1Q1SB1CTRL/LLN0.AutoCtrl describes
the settings of synchronization check and reclosure.
D. Flexible Function Extension
Based on the modulated FB architecture, the existing FBs and
software components do not need to be re-implemented when
application requirements change. It is only necessary to add
some new FBs and rearrange the connections between the existing FBs and added FBs. An example of adding Power Swing
Blocking FB (RPSB_FB) will be shown.
When the power system is in swing condition, slow periodic changing of measured impedance may result in tripping
of the distance protection. RPSB_FB is used to block the output
of protection FBs by checking the changing rate of measured
impedance. For convenience, the instances of RPSB_FB should
have the same instance numbers, such as the GndPDIS_FB and
PhPDIS_FB per zone. As shown in Fig. 10, when the power
system is swinging, the phase angle between the two-end machines and the voltage waveform of each phase are periodic
changing. The measured impedance is also periodic changing
and is sometimes located in the operation zone of PhPDIS2_FB
and, thus, the distance protection is prone to misoperate. However, due to the existence of PhRPSB2_FB, Blk (output data of

PhRPSB2_FB) indicates that the power system is in swing condition and the misoperation is prevented.
E. Discussion and Future Work
The use of FBs for designing substation IEDs has many obvious and potential benefits. Perhaps the simplest but most important one is that the same IED is applicable for different function installations by means of software reconfiguration. It is
also feasible to add, remove, and replace some functions of an
IED on service when application requirements change. Another
significant advantage is simplicity of design and development
since it is possible to construct a software system with existing
reusable software components. Modularization design and visual programming can be adopted to further expedite the development process. In addition, the reliability of the software
system is also guaranteed when using software components containing mature algorithms.
However, in order to implement IEDs using standard FBs,
several software tools for modeling, integration, verification,
and testing would be highly desirable. First of all, the modeling tool should include the complete FB library and enable the
developer to build various data types, function block types, resource types, device types, and system configurations. Second,
the integration and verification tools allow developers to connect
selected FBs with event/data flows and configure their parameters. The whole model is validated to avoid latent error before
the generation of source code. Finally, with the testing tools, the
software system can be simulated and its performance can be assessed before IED implementation.

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VI. CONCLUSION
The application of generic hardware platforms and component-based software technology has the potential to enhance the
flexibility of substation IEDs. We propose the FB-based function model to construct a flexible software system for IEDs in
a cost-effective way. The standard FBs are established with the
extension of the IEC 61850 information model using the concept of the IEC 61499. The model enables an IED to not only
integrate reusable software components to perform customized
functions but also interoperate with other IEDs. Considerable
merits of the proposed function model have been discussed in
this paper. The prototype system in MATLAB/Simulink demonstrates the feasibility and flexibility of FB-based IEDs. Our future research work will focus on a complete standard FB library,
experiment on a physical IED, and necessary software tools for
flexible IED design and implementation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive comments. They would also like to thank Zhongyuan
Huadian Science and Technology Co. Ltd. for the valuable software tools and references.
REFERENCES

Fig. 10. Swing blocking. (a) Voltage waveform of phase A when the power
system swings. (b) Measured impedance and operation zone. (c) Tripping signal.
(d) Blocking signals.

Since the main content of this paper is the function model

based on the IEC 61850 and IEC 61499, we investigate whether
the model is able to represent functions of IEDs and support
the IEC 61850 communication standard through the comparatively simple experiment. Although the example cases in the
experiment may be sufficient to demonstrate the correctness
of the proposed function model, the experiment should still be
further improved. Our future research work will focus on three
aspects: 1) construct a complete standard FB library for all IED
subfunctions, especially for the actual subfunctionsthose
that are insufficient or not mentioned in the IEC 61850 (e.g.,
IED self-check, alarm, and human-machine interface); 2) implement a physical IED using the proposed FB-based design
methodology to verify its feasibility in practical engineering,
especially code efficiency and possible impacts on protection
performances; and 3) necessary software tools for flexible IEDs
design and implementation.

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Lin Zhu (S07) was born in Anhui, China, in 1982.

He received the B.S. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan,
China, in 2005, where he is currently pursuing
the Ph.D. degree in the College of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering.
Currently, he is attending a continuous academic
project that involves postgraduate and doctoral
study at HUST. His main research interests include
industrial Ethernet, substation automation systems,
networked control systems, and its application to the
power system.

Dongyuan Shi was born in Hunan, China, in

1974. He received the B.S and Ph.D degrees from
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
(HUST), China, in 1996 and 2002, respectively.
Dr. Shi is an Associate Professor in the College of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering at HUST. His
preference includes power system analysis and application of IT in power systems.

Xianzhong Duan (M03) was born in Hunan,

China, in 1966. He received the B.S. and Ph.D.
degrees from Huazhong University of Science and
Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China, in 1987 and
1992, respectively.
Currently, he is a Full Professor in the College of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering at HUST. His
preference includes power system analysis and planning, voltage stability, flexible ac transmission systems, and the application of IT in power systems.