New Challenges with Substations utilizing

Communication Networks
Dr. Fred Steinhauser

Dr. Fred Steinhauser is with OMICRON electronics, A-6833 Klaus, Austria.
Abstract--The new series of standards IEC 61850 about
Communication Networks and Systems in Substations is on its
way. By applying these communication systems in substations,
totally new challenges arise for the planning, commissioning and
operation of those installations. This paper addresses some of
these challenges and anticipates how the solutions could look like.
Index Terms--Substation Communications, IEC 61850,
Substation Network, Intelligent Electronic Device, Configuration,
Testing.
I. NOMENCLATURE
ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One
CT Current Transformer
GOOSE Generic Object Oriented Substation Event
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
IED Intelligent Electronic Device
IPSec IP Security
MMS Manufacturing Messaging Specification
OSI Open System Interconnection
PT Potential Transformer
SV Sampled Value
SCL Substation Configuration description Language
SSL Secure Sockets Layer
TC57 Technical Committee No. 57 of the IEC, Power
System Control and Associated Communications
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
XML Extensible Markup Language
II. INTRODUCTION
The common name of the IEC 61850 series of standards is
Communications Networks and Systems in Substations. It
consists of several parts and sections, focussing on distinct
issues. Most parts are finalized ore were already issued as
standards, while others ([3], [5]) approach the final phase. The
working groups intend to have the standard complete until end
of 2003. Some prominent device vendors have already
announced first compatible devices for 2004 [1].
The application of the IEC 61850 in real installations will
have effects on many aspects during the whole lifecycle of a
substation installation. Communication equipment will become
an integral part of the substation installation.
In the planning phase, suitable equipment has to be
selected, appropriate communication architectures have to be
chosen, and the logical device interconnections have to be
configured.
During commissioning, the network infrastructure has to be
put in place, the communication parameters, such as IP
addresses, have to be set up before the actual function
parameters are configured into the devices. Testing the
installation requires the use of protocol aware testing tools to
analyze the data streams on the network.
For operation, maintenance and routine testing, a subset of
the tasks performed during commissioning may be performed,
requiring similar skills and tools.
This might look frightening on the first view, but smart
tools will support the engineers in their work, allowing them to
exploit the benefits which are offered by the new technology.
III. COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE
A. Substation Networks
The communication infrastructure is guided by the choice
of Ethernet for the network layers. There have been concerns
because of the non-deterministic nature of Ethernet, but in the
meanwhile it is widely accepted that this technology can be
used for this purpose. One important benefit of using this
established technology is the instant availability of a wide
range of products.
Components for the communication system like cables,
connectors, hubs, switches, and routers have to be selected.
For the cabling, the optical fiber is an obvious choice. It
avoids galvanic couplings and provides excellent noise
immunity.
To guide the data streams effectively and to utilize the
present bandwidth in the best possible way, the use of network
switches instead of simple hubs will be imposed. Different
priorities will be assigned to distinct types of messages on the
network. The established feature of priority tagging is
proposed to perform this, so the network devices must support
this.
Paper accepted for presentation at 2003 IEEE Bologna Power Tech Conference, June 23th-26th, Bologna, Italy
0-7803-7967-5/03/$17.00 2003 IEEE
Reliability is very important for components in a substation.
The communication network becomes the backbone of the
substation, being a "mission critical" component. One way to
achieve this is redundancy. The standard does not impose
redundancy, but the system integrator may choose such
networking topologies. On the other hand, network
technologies offer supervision functions to check also inactive
connections for availability, while a broken wire in a classical,
hard wired binary I/O loop would remain undetected.
B. Communication Capabilities for Substation Devices
Developing a communication unit to make an IED "speak"
IEC 61850 can be a challenging task. For the first generation
of devices, adding a communication unit to existing, well
proven protective relays, RTUs, transducers, etc. will be the
most common choice. Some large vendors will have several
reasons to start their own developments. They aim to higher
volumes and have the development resources and expertise in
house. Other vendors will find it more difficult to spend
resources for developing a communication hardware and to
port the protocol stack on it. Modeling the device functions in
logical nodes according to the standard and mapping the data
items is another task to be performed. Purchasing such
components and services from specialized suppliers can be a
faster and more efficient way to obtain an IEC 61850
compliant product.
IV. PROTOCOLS
A. Application Protocols
Depending on the application, purpose, and nature of the
transmitted data, different services and application protocols
are defined (see Fig. 1).
Reading and writing the functions parameters (the logical
node data), logging, and reporting are implemented as client-
server services. These services need not to be handled in real
time and can have lower priority.
Status information, like trip commands, is transmitted via
GOOSE messages. From this, the high priority of these
messages becomes obvious. Nevertheless, the GOOSE
mechanism is designed to be robust. The system will not fail if
a GOOSE gets lost for whatever reason. Beside this, the
content of a GOOSE is configurable, e.g. it could also contain
measurands.
The sampled values (SV) from CTs and PTs contain the
instantaneous values of the primary quantities and have to be
transferred in a fixed time frame and without any losses.
Sufficient bandwidth has to be provided to assure this.
B. Transport Protocols
Different transport mechanisms are used for the application
protocols. For the client-server services, MMS over TCP/IP
(and also OSI transport) will be used. For transmitting the real
time services GOOSE and SV, some layers of the OSI model
will be skipped to increase performance (see Fig. 1).
The device vendors will undertake measures to keep these
layers and the related problems away from the users.
Conformance tests at the vendor's laboratories or at
independent test institutes should ensure compatibility of the
transport layers and interoperability for the applications.
IEC 61850-10 [5] gives guidance how these conformance tests
have to be performed. This is not a new topic. Already during
the introduction of the IEC 60870-5 protocols, communication
problems have showed up. The vendors resolved these
problems to be able to deliver interoperable products. In the
meanwhile, the link layer implementations are so mature that
problems on this level have almost disappeared.
C. Security
For the data inside the substation, restricting physical
access to the substation and network components will be the
most effective security measure. An intruder in the substation
can easily cause much more damage with very simple means
than by forging data packets on the substation networks, which
requires high sophisticated tools and skills. But at least when
the data get in or out of the substation, data security becomes a
topic. Cryptography is the keyword to address this issue.
WG15 of TC57 works on security solutions for the substation
protocols. Standard internet security solutions like SSL and
IPSec seem to be applicable for use in substation
communication as well.
Client-Server-
Services
IEC 61850-8-1
GOOSE
IEC 61850-
8-1
SV
IEC 61850-
9-2
MMS
ASN.1
TCP/
IP
OSI
Ethernet
Fig. 1. Simplified diagram of IEC 61850 protocols and communication layers
V. APPLICATIONS
A. Skills
Of course, substation engineers will acquire more and more
networking skills in the future, but it must not be a necessary
precondition that a substation engineer is a communications
expert to perform his work in a IEC 61850 equipped
substation. The same applies for the engineering of a
substation.
New tools will be needed to handle these issues. One focus
will be to maintain the established procedures. For example,
the planning system has to serve the IED database with
configuration data as defined in the SCL. Where new
procedures and tools must be introduced to account for the
new nature of certain components, they must be implemented
in the language of the utility engineer. To continue the above
example, during commissioning the IEDs can be initialized
using the data from the IED database.
The network related issues must be clearly separated from
application issues, so the utility engineer can focus on his main
tasks.
B. Profiling
To make efficient use of the data communication features
and to gain a competitive advantage out of it, any user must
make a useful selection how he will apply the features
provided by the standard in his systems. This experience had
already been made with IEC 60870-5-101, which also provides
a wide variety of options how the features can be used. Re-
inventing addressing schemes and mappings for any new
substation is for sure ineffective, so users have generally set up
rules to use the same features in the same way in all their
installations. These rules are called a profile of the protocol.
The application specific protocol IEC 60870-5-103 is a profile
of the IEC 60870-5-101 which has become even a standard by
itself. Such a profiling for restricting variety to a reasonable
level will be also necessary for IEC 61850. The size of the
group joining the profiling process has essential effect on the
outcome. A larger group will most likely bring in more
different requirements, leaving more variance in the resulting
profile or having the need for many detailed, sparsely used
conventions. On the other hand, most commercial benefits can
be expected when a profile applies to a large group of users
and many applications. Again, the restriction of variety is the
key for commercial benefits. The room for utility specific
protection philosophies is getting narrower in order to achieve
effectiveness.
C. Common Data Repository
IEC 61850-6 [3] defines how the IED configuration and
substation configuration information has to be structured. It
uses XML for the configuration description.
The different configuration tools from the different vendors
produce a variety of configuration information for the devices,
from which only a part is aggregated in the substation
configuration file. Other configuration data, like logical
function programming, marshalling, etc., is not covered by
IEC 61850. Nevertheless, there is a natural need to integrate
also these data on the substation level. IEC 61850-6 provides
options for this in the SCL, the so called private data. Inside
these entities, vendors can pack their own, proprietary data that
they need for their proprietary functions. It should be an easy
task to provide plug-ins for vendor independent tools to view
or manipulate these proprietary data. The schema awareness of
the SCL supports this. The need for vendor specific setting
tools would be significantly reduced, which is not only an
advantage for the user of substation equipment. Also relay
manufacturers who have different setting programs for any
relay model or family could benefit from this. In the long run,
the vendors could get rid of maintaining their setting software
and concentrate on their core competences in protection.
Substation
Configuration
Database
IEDs
Device
Models
Engineering
Tools
Testing
Tools
Device Setting
Tools
(legacy)
Device
Browser
(generic)
Self Description
Fig. 2. Vision of the central data repository serving multiple applications
D. Interoperability and Interchangeability
Users of substation equipment have a natural desire for
interchangeability of the devices, and there were hopes that
IEC 61850 could serve this need. Despite this, it has been
emphasized that IEC 61850 provides interoperability, but not
interchangeability. This is obvious since the logical nodes hold
the actual parameters of the device functions. Interoperability
means that any logical node has to issue and accept the same
parameters in the same format, but it does not assure that two
devices would have the same parameter values when they are
set for the same protection task. This is because the actual
implementation of a function is not part of IEC 61850, the
vendors will still use their individual algorithms, which they
regard as best suited to perform a certain task. The setting
rules for different relays will most likely lead to different
setting values when applied for the same protection task. For
instance, two distance relays from different vendors will have
different settings for the resistive and reactive reach for
covering the same percentage of the line length or providing
comparable arc resistance tolerance.
When interchanging devices, it must be made sure that the
function parameters match the protection task. In the worst
case, the whole setting rules must be applied again for the new
relay. There are more straightforward cases, like interchanging
a IDMT overcurrent relay or a "classical" Mho-relay by
another, since most of these have identical function principles,
independent of the vendor.
VI. PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES
Although many parts of the standard are not published yet,
there have already been several demonstrations of prototypes.
From this prototype work, very essential experience and
knowledge for the implementation of released products could
be gained.
The first demonstration of this kind was a setup utilizing
GOOSE messaging, which was presented at the UCA
Substation Interoperability Demonstration in Vancouver in
May 2001. The demonstration setup consisted of a protection
test set, two protective relays, and a CB-simulator. All
components communicated via GOOSE. The test simulated a
power system fault and one relay issued a trip command. The
other relay performed the autoreclosure function and issued a
CB-on command. The CB-simulator operated on the
commands and signaled the actual breaker position. All events
involved were recorded and visualized by the test set.
Fig. 3. GOOSE Demonstration setup in Vancouver 2001
The prototype hardware used in this early stage was not
optimized. There is considerably processing involved for the
GOOSE handling, as ASN.1 coding and decoding of the
messages, but even with this simple equipment, a satisfactory
timing performance could be achieved. The trip command was
also monitored in parallel via a conventional, hard-wired
binary I/O circuit. It appeared that the GOOSE arrived faster
than the output contact of the relay, so the delay through the
communication stacks was less than the mechanical delay of a
binary output contact. The network was an unswitched
Ethernet running on 10Mbit/s, while the standard proposes the
use of network switches and 100Mbit/s. Of course, the
configuration was still rudimentary at this stage; it was done
via XML files which had to be copied manually. Taking all the
aspects into account, this demonstration was a clear proof of
the concept.
In 2002, a setup with the protocol for SVs according to
IEC 61850-9-1 was demonstrated at several occasions. Each
participating vendor supplied a merging unit and a protective
relay; an energy meter was involved as well. To prove the
interoperability, the merging unit of one vendor supplied the
relay / meter of the other vendor with the SVs from the
process. Also the feature of concatenating multiple samples
into one Ethernet packet was already used in this
implementation. This method is provided for keeping packet
rate and network load low while using an increased sampling
rate for the data. Four samples were concatenated together at a
packet rate of 1kHz, giving the signal processing system a
sample rate of 4kHz for the process values.
At the CIGR 2002 exhibition in Paris, a complete process
bus implementation, utilizing both SVs and GOOSE signaling
was demonstrated. The system consisted of a compact
switchgear with non-conventional CT and PT, a feeder
controller, and a feeder protection. The whole signaling was
done over the Ethernet without conventional hard-wired
connections between the devices.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
IEC 61850 offers many new options and benefits. To
exploit the benefits, some preconditions have to be met.
Certain new skills will have to be acquired, but new tools
will support the users on their application level.
Although not yet fully defined and finished, the SCL
concept promises many advantages, such as consistent
description of the device and substation configuration and the
possibility to use vendor independent software tools.
Profiling to reduce variety is crucial for the efficient use of
the features. Experiences already made with IEC 60870-5-101
can be re-used in this process.
With these preconditions in place, the utility engineer can
again concentrate on his main task: to use the equipment in an
optimized way for the reliable and economical generation,
transmission, and distribution of electric energy.
VIII. REFERENCES
Conference Proceedings (Published):
[1] Proceedings of FGH/VDN Fachtagung Kommunikationsnormung fr
die Schutz- und Stationsleittechnik IEC 61850 - Der Weg in die Praxis,
March 2003, Mannheim.
Standards:
[2] Final Draft for International Standard IEC 61850-5. Part 5:
Communication Requirements for Functions and Device Models. IEC
document number 57/604/RVC.
[3] Committee Draft for Vote for IEC 61850-6. Part 6: Substation
Automation System Configuration Description Language. IEC
document number 57/614/CDV.
[4] Committee Draft for Vote for IEC 61850-8-1. Part 8-1: Specific
Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) - Mapping to MMS
(ISO/IEC 9506 Part 1 and Part 2) over ISO 8802-3. IEC document
number 57/617/CDV.
[5] Committee Draft for IEC 61850-10. Part 10: Conformance Testing. IEC
document number 57/634/CD.
IX. BIOGRAPHIES
Fred Steinhauser was born in Feldkirch, Austria, in 1960. He studied at the
Technical University of Vienna, where he obtained his diploma in 1986 and
received a Dr. of Technical Sciences in 1991.
From 1990 to 1998 he worked for SCAPA Group plc, specializing in
process control and automation for the production of forming fabrics.
In 1998 he joined OMICRON as project engineer, where he worked on
several aspects of testing power system protection. Since 2000 he works as a
product manager with a focus on applications and new technologies, includ-
ing substation communication issues. Fred Steinhauser is a member of the
WG12 in the TC57 of the IEC working on the standard IEC 61850.