A Test bed dedicated to the Study of Vulnerabilities in IEC 61850 Power Utility Automation Networks

As micro grids are gradually being deployed in many areas, communication technology is becoming important for collecting data and controlling devices in micro grids. In a micro grid, various devices are distributed and perform their respective functions. These devices exchange information with each other and transmit information to the micro grid management system. This micro grid environment is similar to the IoT environment in which information is exchanged in the presence of a large number of devices. Recent studies have tried to apply various IoT protocols as a communication protocol in the micro grid. However, the data model used in current research is limited in proprietary data mapping. Recently, IEC TC 57 published another IEC 61850 series which maps the IEC 61850 services to XMPP (eXtensible Messaging Presence Protocol), which was the first IoT protocol mapping of IEC 61850. Few research has shown that the mapping of the IEC 61850 data model to the IoT protocol and communication boundary is limited in a lab environment. We developed a micro grid test-bed with an IEC 61850 data and service model, and mapped to two IoT protocols, that is, XMPP and the MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport). By combining IoT protocol with the IEC 61850 data and service model, the proposed micro grid architecture can provide interoperability with any DMS or other power utility system. Performance analysis was conducted on the test-bed by measuring various metrics, such as the response time, packet size, and packet loss, over a public network.

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Laboratory Test Bed for Analyzing Fault-Detection Reaction Times of Protection Relays in Different Substation Topologies

Energies ◽

10.3390/en11092482 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 2482 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Goran Jurišić ◽

Juraj Havelka ◽

Tomislav Capuder ◽

Stjepan Sučić

Keyword(s):

Distribution System ◽

Information Exchange ◽

Transition Period ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Test System ◽

Protection System ◽

International Electrotechnical Commission ◽

Test Bed ◽

Iec 61850

Visions of energy transition focus on activating end users, meaning that numerous flexible-distribution network-level devices become active participants in power-system operations. This implies a fast, reliable, and secure exchange of data, enabling the distribution-system operators to maintain, or even improve, the quality and delivery of service. With the introduction of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61850 standard, the path is set for a single communication topology covering all substation levels. The standard has the potential to change the way substations are designed, built, tested, and maintained. This means that the key segment of the substation, its protection system, will go through a transition period with the end goal of having a digitized substation where all information exchange is performed over an Ethernet communication bus. This paper analyzes the performance impact of the IEC 61850-9-2LE on the protection system. To do this, a laboratory hardware-in-the-loop test setup was developed representing traditional-, hybrid-, and digital-substation topology. The setup serves to simulate faults and create transient waveforms in an extended IEEE 123-node test system, which is then used to detect the reaction times of protection relay devices. To verify the results, a significant number of tests was performed clearly showing the benefits of digitalizing the distribution system.

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