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Reprint - ABB review 3/2011

Advanced power grid protection


Next generation teleprotection solutions
Advanced power
grid protection
Next generation teleprotection solutions

D
Romeo Comino, isturbances and faults in tion equipment and a telecommunica
Michael Strittmatter power systems can result in tions system 1. Teleprotection acts
Teleprotection is vital for the reliability severe voltage collapses and as a physical interface b etween the
and economy of modern electric power power blackouts, affecting t elecommunication infrastructure and
systems. With the emerging deploy- entire regions or even countries. Due to the protection relays. It is therefore
ment of non-deterministic Ethernet/IP its heavy reliance on electric power, essential for the conveyance of signals
technology in wide-area communication modern society cannot accept such generated by protection relays (com
networks, utilities around the world power outages
are concerned that protection signaling, neither for their
which ensures fast and selective i mpact on public
Protection systems must meet
isolation of faults in the power network, life nor for their
might be compromised. Thanks to economical conse sensitivity, time response,
the companys vast experience in
teleprotection and utility communica-
quences. It is there
fore vital to avoid
selectivity and reliability speci
tions, ABB has been able to drive the major disturbances fications in order to satisfy
development of new interfaces for by all possible
its teleprotection platform NSD570, means. A key ele fault clearing requirements.
allowing secure, reliable and depend- ment for the isola
able operation of protection signaling tion and fast clearing of faults is a sound mands), and to ensure that their
equipment over Ethernet/IP WAN protection practice. response time and selectivity needs

networks for the first time. are met in case of power system fault
Protection systems must meet sensi conditions.
tivity, time response, selectivity and reli
ability specifications in order to satisfy Performance criteria for tele
fault clearing requirements. Protection protection: security, dependability
schemes, in particular for high-voltage and transmission time
transmission lines, rarely meet all these Since any telecommunication system
requirements without using telecommu is subject to various forms of inter-
nications. ference and impairment (such as jitter
and bit errors in digital networks or
The typical protection-system archi corona noise and attenuation variations
Title Picture
tecture on a high-voltage transmis- on a power line carrier channel), the per
Utilities are concerned that protection signaling
in substations might be at stake due to non-deter sion line consists of three main com formance of the teleprotection equip
ministic Ethernet communication. ponents: protection relays, teleprotec ment under these disturbed channel

2 Advanced power grid protection | ABB review 3/2011 - Reprint


Disturbances may neither simulate a
command that was not transmitted (security),
nor unduly delay or suppress a command
that was transmitted(dependability).

1 Typical protection system architecture

Substation A Substation B
High-voltage line

Protection Teleprotection Teleprotection Protection


Telecommunication
equipment/ equipment/ equipment/ equipment/
system
function function function function

Teleprotection system

conditions is characterized by the terms time requirements, as defined in the


security, dependability and transmission IEC60834-1 standard [1].
time.
Security, dependability, transmission
An important criterion is the available time and bandwidth (or data rate) are in
bandwidth on analog links and the terrelated parameters. The combination
data rate of digital or Ethernet channels. of high security and high dependability
The higher the
bandwidth or data
rate, the
the
lower
transmission
ABBs next generation
time that usually
can be achieved
telep rotection equipment of
with the teleprot type NSD570 is ready to
ection equipment.
allow E thernet connectivity
For the protection
system, it is of ut
by means of a 10/100 Mbps
most importance interface.
that disturbances
in the telecommunication channel must with short transmission time and narrow
neither simulate a command at the re bandwidth (or low data rate) are conflict
ceiving end when no corresponding ing requirements. As a result, the em
command signal was transmitted (secu phasis must either be on dependability
rity), nor unduly delay or even suppress a or on security, or on transmission time,
command that was actually transmitted depending on the protection scheme
(dependability). used, ie, whether protection signaling is
applied in permissive tripping, direct trip
In this regard, all teleprotection equip ping or blocking schemes.
ment must comply with relevant secu-
rity, dependability and transmission

ABB review 3/2011 - Reprint | Advanced power grid protection 3


2 NSD570 Ethernet WAN Interface type G3LE

Another important criterion is the avail Power line carrier (PLC) links
ability of the communication channel Fiber-optic links Teleprotection
itself, in order to perform the required
Copper wires / pilot cables
function at any moment in time within a Microwave-radio links systems normally
given interval [2]. The availability level for
a telecommunication system used for The physical property of the interface be
rely on telecommu
teleprotection should be at least 99.99 tween the teleprotection equipment and nication channels
percent. To achieve this critical objective, the communication terminal is either an
a profound knowledge of the applied analog circuit with voice frequency band that provide a
telecommunication technology is essen
tial. Moreover, an appropriate network
width, or a digital/optical circuit with a
certain data rate, eg 64 kbps 3.
d eterministic signal
design, implementation of self-healing or transmission delay
recovery mechanisms and necessary re ABBs next generation teleprotection
dundancy and back-up methods are es equipment NSD570 offers a complete and have a con
sential. set of interfaces to the telecommunica
tion system as mentioned above, and
stant bandwidth.
Beside the availability of the communica enables Ethernet connectivity by means
tion channel, the electromagnetic com of a 10/100 Mbps interface, which will be
patibility (EMC) of the teleprotection sys discussed later in this article.
tem and its immunity against interference
from fast transient bursts and other out Is Teleprotection compromised with
side disturbances is critical. The entire deployment of Ethernet/IP based
design of the teleprotection system and networks?
respective hardware has to be such that Teleprotection systems rely on telecom
it can withstand interference precisely at munication channels that provide a de
the moment of a fault in the power sys terministic signal transmission delay and
tem, ie, at the time when its ability to reli have a constant bandwidth or bit rate
ably transmit commands is most required. over time, without any delay variation.
Static multiplexing techniques such as
Teleprotection via different telecom- plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH)1
munication media and channels
Various types of transmission media can be
Footnote
used for teleprotection. As point-to-point
1 A plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH) network
communication links are still commonly is a network in which different data streams are
used, the following media prevail today: nearly, but not quite perfectly, synchronized.

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3 Transmission media and communication channels available with 4 The challenge teleprotection over Ethernet/IP networks
NSD570

PLC Power PLC Station B


line Station C
MUX Radio MUX
g

an
l

dig
alo
link

ita

alo
NSD570
dig
an

ita

g
l
MUX - - MUX NSD570
Optical
g

an
Station A
alo

op igita g

an igita al
fibre

alo
d alo
tic l

d tic
an

alo l
al

op

g
an

g
Protection - - Protection Ethernet/IP
commands Optical commands network
fibre NSD570
analo g
g analo
- - Station E
Et
he Copper et Station D
rn rn
et wires he
Et

IP based
network NSD570
NSD570

and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) NSD570 Management LAN Interface


ABB, as leading networks comply with this requirement type G3LM
and have been deployed for decades by
provider of tele utilities in their wide-area communication NSD570 Ethernet WAN Interface

protection solu networks. type G3LE


New line interface for transferring of
tions, has devel With the emerging deployment of statis up to eight simultaneous/independent
tical multiplexing transmission technolo commands over Ethernet/IP net
oped a new set gies that use bandwidth-on-demand works 3.

of interfaces for or best effort techniques, utilities


around the world are concerned that the
Channel monitoring and alarming
functions similar to the existing
the NSD570 plat stringent performance requirements of NSD570 line interfaces (channel
teleprotection systems might be com quality and availability, end-to-end
form to allow pro promised when using these new com delay, terminal addressing).

tection signaling munication technologies. This is a par


ticular concern where utilities rely on NSD570 Management LAN Interface

and remote man third-party telecommunication services, type G3LM


for which the communications channels Successor of existing management
agement over are not under the full control of the utili interface for remote access, with

Ethernet/IP net ties themselves. additional features such as SNMP


(Simple Network Management
works. As a consequence, in situations where
Ethernet/IP-based networks are used
Protocol) and VLAN (Virtual Local
Area Network) support, improved
for protection signaling, a solution is cyber-security measures such as
required that allows to monitor the avail authentication and logging.
ability and quality of the WAN (wide- For the remote supervision/manage
area network) communication channel, ment of the teleprotection units in a
and to alarm the protection equipment rack and further units accessible via
if the reliable transmission of com- the RS-485 station bus. The latter
mands to the remote end cannot be permits several racks to be intercon
e nsured 4. nected 5.

Innovative solutions for next-genera- Both modules offer an electrical port


tion teleprotection (10/100 Mbps) and an optical port
ABB, as leading provider of teleprotec (100Mbps) with exchangeable small form-
tion solutions, has developed a new set factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers for
of interfaces for the NSD570 platform to connection to the Ethernet/IP network 6.
allow protection signaling and remote
management over Ethernet/IP net NSD570 Ethernet WAN interface
works 2. The innovative solutions con (G3LE) reliable protection signaling
sist of the following two modules: solution over Ethernet/IP networks
NSD570 Ethernet WAN Interface type Instead of simply converting the existing
G3LE synchronous 64 kbps channel of the

ABB review 3/2011 - Reprint | Advanced power grid protection 5


5 Secure remote access of NSD570 6 New G3LE/G3LM plug-in module for ABBs teleprotection platform
NSD570

RS-485 station bus Substation Substation

Workstation

One NSD570
Ethernet
equipped with
LAN-interface S/S-LAN Gateway

Corporate intranet
or
global Internet

Laptop

NSD570 digital system to Ethernet pack ping packets, but at the lower rate set for Comprehensive tests were conducted
ets, a protocol was developed in order to guard-packets. If the command is re on the new G3LE type NSD570 Ethernet
reduce latency and bandwidth require- moved by the protection relay, guard interface in a network built up of ABBs
ments. packets are sent from then on. Ethernet type AFS switch family. Even
with simulated burst traffic of varying
Beside the actual teleprotection com The reception of only one correct trip packet size and traffic overload on sec
mands, the payload content of such a ping packet at the remote NSD570 trig tions of the network, the transmission
packet comprises several data fields that ger the configured relay interface outputs time did not exceed 4 ms, and averaged
enable the measurement of various key in accordance with the commands re approximately 2.5 ms.
performance parameters including trans ceived in the packet.
mission time and packet loss rate. To verify reliable operation even under
Priority settings for time-critical severely disturbed Ethernet/IP network
The entire payload is protected by an au teleprotection commands conditions, ie, with packet loss rates
thentication algorithm (patent pending), As teleprotection commands are time- (PLR) of up to 10 percent and above, the
which addresses various cyber-security critical, they should be transmitted as dependability (referred to as Pmc or prob
issues. fast as possible through the network. ablility of missing a command) was mea
Both IP and Ether
Channel supervision continuously net offer means to
monitors quality and availability set priorities and All user activity is logged in
A packet-switched network is vulnerable handle high-priori
to various factors that can negatively ty traffic accord order to detect security
a ffect transmission time. ingly. The NSD570
Ethernet supports
relevant system manipulations
The NSD570 Ethernet continuously Ethernet/IP priority at an early stage.
monitors the channels availability and settings with the
quality using guard packets that are following parameters: ToS setting the sured. At various PLR levels, a significant
sent at user-configurable intervals. type of service field on IP layer 3, and number of tripping commands were
Alarms are generated if the measured VLAN tagging ID and priority setting of sent, the number of commands not re
transmission time or packet-loss rate ex the Ethernet frame on layer 2. ceived within a specified transmission
ceeds user-configurable thresholds, or if time (Tac) was recorded and thus the re
the channel is lost completely. Proven performance under severe sulting P mc was calculated. For compari
network conditions son, the measurement of the depend
Ensure dependable command The worst-case requirement for security ability is based on the bit error rate (BER),
transmission (referred to as Puc or probability of an un which can be derived from the corre
As soon as a command is received from wanted command) of tripping commands sponding packet loss rate PLR 7.
the protection relay, the NSD570 Ether transferred in digital communication
net WAN interface starts sending multi systems according to IEC 60834-1 is
These test results, in conjunction with
ple tripping packets at short intervals. Puc < 1E-08. For the new protocol imple additional field trials in utility Ethernet/IP
This ensures fast reception of packets at mented in the NSD570, a P uc of < 1E-18 networks, confirmed that ABBs innova
the remote NSD570, even under very can be proven mathematically. tive Ethernet WAN interface type G3LE
bad channel conditions (ie, high packet meets and exceeds the requirements as
loss). Following this initial sequence, the set for Digital teleprotection equipment
NSD570 Ethernet continues to send trip according to IEC 60834-1.

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An appropriate 7 Excerpt of test results (NSD570 Ethernet WAN interface, type G3LE)

Ethernet/IP Dependability Pmc < 1E-02 1E-02 1E-03 1E-03 1E-04


Channel condition

n etwork design Packet Loss Rate


Channel condition
PLR < 1% 2% 3% 10% 10%

is a prerequisite Bit Error Rate


Max. actual
BER < 1.1E-05 2.3E-05 3.5E-05 1.2E-04 1.2E-04

as is engineering Transmission time Tac 4ms 5ms 6 ms 8ms 10 ms

that guarantees
the requested Assuring reliable command transmission tion of Ethernet-based local area
requires both an appropriate Ethernet/IP networks in substations.
maximum packet network design and a setup guaran

loss rate and teeing the specified packet loss rate


and latency between the two NSD570
Currently, IEC 61850 intra-substation
Ethernet bus communication is used for
minimum latency. terminals are not exceeded. If this control and automation signals only. Pro
requirement is not satisfied, NSD570
tection signals are still hard-wired from
will immediately report the network im relay to relay or from relay to teleprotec
pairment. tion device. However, the new NSD570
module type G3LS has been designed to
NSD570 management LAN interface accept GOOSE messages3 according
(G3LM) secure remote connection to IEC 61850-8-1 from protection relays
and monitoring with GOOSE interface in future.
Together with the G3LE Ethernet WAN
interface, a new NSD570 Management Moreover, new IEC working groups have
LAN interface type G3LM was also intro been formed to discuss and define the ex
duced, enabling remote access on tension of IEC 61850 for inter-substation
NSD570 teleprotection equipment over communication. In March 2010, a techni
Ethernet/IP networks. The integrated cal report for this WAN communication
SNMP agent serves network manage was released under IEC 61850-90-1 [3].
ment stations with
alarm and equip
ment information Solution is fully integrated, ie
using the open
standard SNMP in no external devices that need
terface.
their own power supply and
At the same time, user/management interface
several features
were integrated to are required.
achieve the highest
possible level of cyber security and en As per the gateway approach described
able customers to operate the NSD570 in this report, the GOOSE protection sig
teleprotection system supporting new nals in WAN communication can be trans
standards such as NERC CIP. A tech ferred to the remote NSD570 via any ana
nique called Secure Socket Layer (SSL) log, digital/optical or Ethernet channel 3.
is used for encryption and authentication
of the user access. Furthermore, a new Mixed operation of legacy and IEC61850
user administration system now allows protection relays is possible with G3LS
individual user accounts to be set up and GOOSE LAN interface:
access rights to be assigned to users in
dividually. All user activity is logged, in GOOSE and contact type commands
order to detect security-relevant system can be signaled in parallel over the same
manipulations at an early stage. NSD570 link. Additionally, GOOSE mes
sages from one substation can be re
NSD570 ready for future applications leased via contact type command out
of IEC 61850 puts in the remote substation.
The introduction of IEC 618502, the in
ternational standard for substation com
munication, has driven the implementa

ABB review 3/2011 - Reprint | Advanced power grid protection 7


Customers planning to migrate their
Acronyms
WAN communication network infrastruc With the latest
ture to Ethernet/IP based networks are
BER
CIP
Bit Error Rate
Critical Infrastructure Protection well supported by the NSD570 architec i nnovations of
EMC Electromagnetic Compatibility
(EMC)
ture. They can use digital and Ethernet
line interfaces in parallel for example, to
ABB, NSD570
GOOSE Generic Object Oriented Substation
Events
build up confidence in the new medium. o ffers a future-
For this purpose, a cost-efficient 1+1
IEC International Electrotechnical
Commission path protection operating mode is pro proof platform that
IP Internet Protocol vided, with no need to duplicate the relay
can be integrated

ABB Switzerland Ltd, December 2011. The right to modifications or deviations due to technical progress is reserved.
LAN Local Area Network interfaces to the protection devices. The
MUX Multiplexer setup requires only a second line inter into Ethernet/IP
face for the redundant path, plugged into
WAN networks or
NERC North American Electric Reliability
Corporation the same rack.

into a substation
PDH Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy
PLC Power Line Carrier
PLR
SDH
Packet Loss Rate
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
Romeo Comino LAN network by
Michael Strittmatter
SFP
SNMP
Small Form-factor Pluggable
Simple Network Management
ABB Power Systems simply replacing/
Protocol
S/S Substation
System Group Utility Communications
Baden, Switzerland
adding one
ToS Type of Service romeo.comino@ch.abb.com
michael.strittmatter@ch.abb.com
m odule.
VLAN Virtual Local Area Network
WAN Wide Area Network

References

1KHA - 001196 - SEN 400 - 12.11 - Printed in Switzerland


[1] IEC publication 60834-1 Teleprotection
Equipment of Power Systems Performance
Thus, ABBs NSD570, with its open ar and Testing Part 1: Command Systems.
chitecture, is ready to evolve in line with [2] Protection using Telecommunications, Cigr
both the IEC 61850 standards for intra- Joint Working Group 34/35.11, August 2001
[3] IEC publication 61850-90-1 Use of IEC 61850
and for inter-substation communication.
for the communication between substations.

Summary
With ABBs latest innovations, NSD570 Footnotes
offers a future-proof platform that can be 2 See also the ABB Review Special Report on
integrated into Ethernet/IP WAN or into a IEC61850, downloadable from www.abb.com/
abbreview
substation LAN network by simply re
3 GOOSE: Generic Object Oriented Substation
placing/adding one module. NSD570 is a Events is a control model defined by IEC 61850
true all-in-one system for communication for transferring event data.
line and protection interface require
ments.

The solution is fully integrated, ie no ex


ternal devices that need their own power
supply and user/management interface
are required. For more information please contact:

The large installed base of legacy pro ABB Switzerland Ltd


tection relays with contact-type com Power Systems
mand inputs/outputs can be used over Brown Boveri Strasse 6
all existing communication media, even 5400 Baden, Switzerland
in parallel with new IEC 61850 GOOSE Phone: +41 58 589 37 35
protection relays via the same NSD570 or +41 544 845 845 (Call Center)
link. In this respect, NSD570 also sup Fax: +41 58 585 16 82
ports the step-by-step retrofit of sub E-Mail: utilitycommunications@ch.abb.com
stations with IEC 61850, ie the inter
connection of legacy substations with www.abb.com/utilitycommunications
IEC61850 substations via existing
NSD570 teleprotection channels.

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