1
A Data Substation Communication System
Based on IEC61850 for Integrated Protection
X D Guo[1], J H He[1],L Yu[1], Z Q Bo[2], H Zhang[1]
[1] Beijing Jiaotong University, China
Abstract—This paper designs a novel seamless
communication system in digital substation based on IEC61850.
The system will be used in the integrated protection. A structure
based on the concept of object-oriented hierarchical distributed
design is firstly presented, and then the details of the
communication system realization are given. Based on the
proposal, there are three levels within a digital substation: the
station level, the bay level and the process level. The
communication system can provide a platform for data stream to
be upward from the process level to the station level. Meanwhile,
the communication system will reach the requirement for
security, real-time and reliability. Finally, the application of
IEC61850 in the seamless communication system is introduced.
Index Terms—Digital Substation, Data Traffic System,
IEC61850, Integrated Protection
I. INTRODUCTION
I n recent years, with the dramatic growth in signal
processing power in relay platforms and the availability of
widespread communications schemes, more and more
protection devices and communication schemes are used in a
digital substation[1-2]. Especially new opportunities are
provided to study the novel data traffic system of digital
substation based on IEC61850[3-4].
The integrated protection which is a new concept for a
digital substation integrates many protections into it, such as
line protection, transformer protection, busbar protection,
etc[5]. It is different from conventional substation protection.
The communication process for a digital substation has
achieved absolute digitization on which new means of
integrated protection based. The new means are provided for
processing digital quantity. According to integrated protection,
different protection programs may require the same data or the
processing consequence from other protection programs, so a
large quantity of digital quantity will be exchanged[6]. Not
only the raw data which is collected by the photoelectric
mutual inductors, but also the communication between the
process level and interval level, requires absolute digitization.
Since the analog quantity is transformed into digital quantity
by primary devices, the quantity of the digital data has been
This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China
(506770033)
Xianda Guo is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Beijing
Jiaotong University, China. (e-mail:08121983@bjtu.edu.cn)
J H He, Le Yu, Hao Zhang are with the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, China
Z Q Bo is with the AREVA T&D Automation, UK
[2] AREVA T&D Automation, UK
very large. Meanwhile, the digital data will be output by
merging units and exchanged by switches which are the
devices in process layer, then the data will be sent to the
integrated protection in bay level for being processed. In order
to reach the requirement for real-time and security, the data
stream needs an efficient communication system as a platform
for streaming in the digital substation[7].
To abide by IEC 61850 about substation communication
network and system, the paper presents a structure based on
the concept of object-oriented hierarchical distributed design[8-
10]
. Meanwhile, this paper will also introduce the very
important primary device: photoelectric mutual inductor, and
introduce the communication part of IEC61850, and put
emphasis on the differences between IEC61850-9-1 and
IEC61850-9-2 used in this data traffic system. Then a whole
plan of an experimental platform is given. In this platform, a
protection tester is used to generate fault signal to simulate the
power system fault. The very important thing is that the
protection tester must be able to packet the fault signal into
messages based on IEC61850-9-1 or IEC61850-9-2[11]. To
abide by IEC61850, a message can contain several ASDU
(Application Service Data Unit).
II. THE DIGITAL SUBSTATION
Along with the development of digital technology, the
application of photoelectric mutual inductors, smart switches,
monitoring primary devices online and network in the real-
time system becomes more and more common. The research
and application of digital substation will entre the period of
practical project[12]. To the technology extent, the design
philosophy of digital substation is irrespective with voltage
grade. It is just a little more complex to consider the questions
about how to construct a high voltage grade digital substation.
According to the communication technology develops to an
extent, it is necessary that the digitization and networking to
replace the analog quantity transmission. The digital
substation will become the inevitable trend of substation
construction after the synthesis automation technology[13].
A. The Communication Structure of a Digital Substation
The digital substation makes the primary devices
digitization based on the synthesis automation technology.
Then these primary devices switch-in the whole system of a
digital substation through IEC61850. A digital substation
consists of the station level, the bay level and the process level.
Fig. 1 shows the structure. The station level consists of
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conventional back stage monitoring system and remote servers. C. Photoelectric Mutual Inductor
Station Photoelectric Mutual Inductors are the most important as
Level Monitor Computer A Monitor Computer B

Devices primary devices. The digitization of mutual inductors is the

foundation of digital substation. The conventional mutual
Bay Bay Level Switches A
Level
inductors expose a series of short comings, such as strict
Network Bay Level Switches B requirement for insulation, magnetic saturation, ferromagnetic
resonance, narrow dynamic range, narrow frequency range etc.
Bay
Level Protective and Monitoring Devices A
Bay Protective and Monitoring Devices B The implement theory of conventional mutual inductors is
Devices Level hardly to make a further development[19]. But the photoelectric
Process
Switches A Switches B
mutual inductors overcome the technology bottleneck from
Level
Network the root of implement theory. Furthermore, the digitization
Bay The The development of protection and automatic controlling devices
Merging Units other Merging Units other
Level A
Smart Cells A
bay level B bay Smart Cells B
level
reduces the secondary load, and provides prerequisite for the
Devices devices
devices
application of photoelectric mutual inductors[20].
Photoelectric Mutual Inductor A Photoelectric Mutual Inductor B
In accordance with the IEC60044-7 standard, photoelectric
Photoelectric Mutual Inductor

Primary
voltage mutual inductors adopt resistance voltage dividers,
Devices
Breakers
condenser dividers or optical apparatuses as the primary
converting components, and use the optical fibre transports
The bay level consists of measurement and control protection primary converting signal. According to IEC60044-8 standard,
Fig. 1 The communication structure of a digital substation photoelectric current mutual inductors adopt the Rogowski
devices, protection devices for low voltage grade busbar Roil, hall sensors, optical apparatus or conventional current
apparatuses, gauging devices and other protocol converting mutual inductors as the primary converting components, and
devices which switch-in the smart devices[14]. The devices of a use optical fibre transports the primary converting signal. The
single bay level contain high voltage distribution line photoelectric mutual inductors can output digital secondary
protection devices and gauging devices. The devices among signal and provide basic guarantee to digital substations[21].
several bay levels contain auto-switch-on protection devices
D. IEC61850 and Ethernet Used In a Digital Substation
and transformer protection devices. The process level devices
mainly contain photoelectric mutual inductors and smart cells In a substation automation system, devices from different
etc. Nowadays, the photoelectric mutual inductors use the generations are often incompatible because of technological
Rogowski coil and the current or voltage mutual inductors changes and replacement costs are high. IEC61850 may be the
which are supplied energy by laser to realize the digitization answer. IEC61850 is based on a common application model of
of mutual inductors, and are equipped with merging units[15]. substation automation function. It defines a set of standard
The process level devices have the function of self-detection interfaces are called logical nodes. In a power network,
and self-description, and support the IEC61850 process level busbars are called nodes because power flows between them.
protocol. The transmission medium adopts optical fibre According to IEC61850, data flow between the interfaces and
transmission. hence the term “node” is used. “Logical” signifies that the
interface is not a physical but rather a conceptual one[22].
B. Implement Scheme Fig. 2 shows the interface for input data, output data and
At the present stage, the development of digital substations configuration data of a general function. A function
has entered the period of practical program from theoretical communicates with another function through its logical node.
research. To satisfy the development of digital substations, the There are approximately 90 different logical nodes
implement scheme must realize the requirement for the standardised by the IEC.
forward looking technologies and the realizabilities[16]. With the logical nodes and data defined, the standard then
In accordance with the features of a digital substation, the details the communication services that can operate on the
implement scheme of a digital substation may contain three data. These services include get values, set values, transfer a
aspects: Firstly, the communication between the station level file and so on. These are abstract services and they must be
and the bay level; Secondly, the transmission of the sampled mapped to concrete and standard protocols with standardised
data; Lastly, the connection between the intelligent terminal of semantics. The first fully standardised protocol in IEC61850
switches and the bay level devices[17]. The communication is based on Ethernet[23], Transmission Control
between the station level and bay level is mainly reflected in Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and Manufacturing
the protocol level, and there are IEC61850 and IEC61870-5- Message Specification (MMS).
103. All the sampled data is transported to abide by
IEC61850-9-1 which is the protocol on network mode. The
communication between the intelligent terminal of switches
and the bay level devices abides by the message protocol of
GOOSE, and abides by the network mode transmission[18].

Fig. 2 Interface through which data of a function flows
The utilities expect ‘gateway-free’ access to all intelligent
components of the digital substation system by means of the
commercially available tools and standard communication
protocols. These requirements demand a flexible bus at all
levels. The use of Ethernet technology fulfils these
requirements and provides uniform access to the data
throughout the whole substation. Ethernet is the only system
whose present version is compatible with its original version
invented in the 1970s[24].
The use of Ethernet communications for all the digital
substation functions allows for standard and simpler cabling in
comparison with the use of parallel communications. This is
an advantage in project execution, equipment installation and
equipment testing. Ethernet is highly backward and forward
compatible. For example, a 10Mbit per second network can
easily be integrated into a 100Mbit per second network, and a
100Mbit per second network can be integrated into a 1Gbit
per second network in the same manner[25]. Thus, the
investment of the utility is safeguarded.
III. THE SCHEME OF COMMUNICATION PLATFORM IN A SINGLE
BAY LEVEL
IEC 61850 does not make the use of the station bus or the
process bus mandatory. The number of buses is flexible. It is
not necessary to adopt the rigid three-layer structure (station
layer, interval layer and process layer). So Fig.3 shows a
scheme of combining the station layer and process layer.
This communication system adopts the scheme of
combining station level and process level. The protection
testers are used to simulate mutual inductors, and output the
sampled information in analog quantity. In the bay level,
merging units are directly connected to the protection testers.
A merging unit can receive the analog signal from a protection
tester and converts it into digital signal[26]. Meanwhile, the
merging units also can package the digital signal in
accordance with IEC61850-9-1 or IEC61850-9-2. Then the
merging units send these messages to the GOOSE network
switches through redundant Ethernet. This experimental
platform adopts the network switch made by RuggedCOM. It
has the function of QOS, priority, multicast, opening SNMP
service and so on. The most important is that it supports the
technology of GOOSE. The switches can use the messages to
make a networking deployment in accordance with
IEC61850-9-1 or IEC61850-9-2. Then send these packages to
the integrated protection through the redundant Ethernet.
3
Because this redundant Ethernet is in a local area network
(LAN) and the switches will divide VLAN, so the Ethernet
protocol adopts
Fig. 3. An experimental platform for communication system in a digital
Integrated
Protection Server
Ethernet over
Optical
Ethernet
Ethernet Switch
GOOSE Switch
Switch
Merging Merging Intelligent
Unit 1 Unit 2 Devices
Input Analog
Breaker
Protection Tester
substation
the IEEE802.1Q standard. It means that the messages should
contain the information label of IEEE802.1Q. The label
consists of TPID, user priority, canonical format indicator and
VLAN ID. In the header of the messages, there are destination
address and source address[27]. Fig. 4 shows the analysis result
of capturing the messages from the redundant Ethernet. It
indicates the message information such as the destination
address and source address. Inside the red frame, it indicates
the condition of sending messages. Inside the green frame, it
indicates the destination address and the source address.
Different devices should use the different MAC address and
the same device can use different MAC address.
Fig. 4. The analysis result of capturing the messages from redundant Ethernet.
The integrated protection receives the messages contain
the sampled data information and distinguishes the redundant
data through the protection program. Then the central server
deals with the messages and analyzes the APDU. The results
will be packaged in GOOSE protocol and sent back to the
redundant Ethernet. The GOOSE network switches transport
the GOOSE message to different smart cells.
In this communication system, the selection between
IEC61850-9-1 and IEC61850-9-2 is another important thing
to be considered. At the beginning of the application of

photoelectric mutual inductors, the IEC60044-8 was
formulated for the communication protocol. Using the high
speed serial ports in FT3 format, the bandwidth is a little
narrow just only 2.5M. But along with the establishment of
IEC61850 protocol, the IEC60044-8 protocol had not
corresponded with the requirement of IEC61850. So the
IEC61850-9-1 was designed to reach 100M[28]. Meanwhile,
IEC61850-9-1 adds serial description to the original data to
constitute the sampled values over serial unidirectional
multidrop point-to-point link using ISO 8802-3. Of cause that
IEC61850-9-1 can be used in network deployment, and not
limited by point-to-point link.
Because of the complete description to the data, the
IEC61850-9-2 protocol is used in the network deployment of
the process layer.
According to the features of the IEC61850-9-1 and
IEC61850-9-2, IEC61850-9-2 can be used in the network
deployment when the number of bay level is less than four.
When the number of interval layer is more than four,
IEC61850-9-1 will be used. So, in this experimental platform
for a digital substation, IEC61850-9-2 will be more suitable.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This paper investigates an advanced communication system
to meet the requirements of a digital substation. The paper not
only focuses on the hardware of the communication system,
but also the communication protocol defined by IEC61850.
Firstly, the paper gives the communication structure of a
digital substation in practical program. Then the whole
communication system in an experimental platform is given.
Meanwhile, the paper also presents the communication
protocol of IEC61850 used in a digital substation, and the
differences between IEC61850-9-1 and IEC61850-9-2.
The digital substations have a great development in recent
years, so an efficient communication system becomes more
and more important. Presently, research works are being
conducted to reach the requirement for an efficient real-time,
reliable communication system.
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VI. BIOGRAPHIES
Xianda Guo received his BSc in 2008 in the Department of
Electrical engineering and Automation, Beijing Jiaotong
University. Presently, he is a master student in Beijing
Jiaotong University. His main research interests are Integrated
Protection and Digital Substation.

Jinghan He received her BSc in 1987 in TaiYuan University

of Technology, MSc in 1994 in the Department of Automation,
Tianjing University, China, respectively. Presently, she is
employed as the Associated Professor in Beijing JiaoTong
University, China. Her main research interests are Protective
Relaying, Fault distance measurement and Location in Power
System.

Hao Zhang obtained his B.Sc. degree from

BeijingJiaotongUniversity in 2006. And he worked in the
design and application of protection relays as a research
fellow, in AREVA Company U.K. in 2008. He is currently
working toward the Ph.D. degree in the School of Electrical
Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China. His
research interests are integrated power system protection and
substation communication.

Le Yu received his BSc in 2006 in the Department of

Electrical engineering and Automation, Beijing Jiaotong
University. Presently, he is working on his Ph.D. degree in the
same field in Beijing Jiaotong University. His main research
interests are Protective Relaying, Fault Distance Measurement
and Location in Power System and Traction System.

Zhiqian Bo received his BSc degree from the Northeastern

University, China in 1982 and PhD degree from The Queen's
University of Belfast, UK in 1988 respectively. Presently, he
is with AREVA T&D Automation & Information Business.