DNP3 to become an IEEE Standard

IEEE has announced yesterday (2010-01-11) that a new project (P1815 - Standard for Electric Power Systems Communications - Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3)) has been set up to publish the DNP3 specification as an IEEE Standard in mid 2010.

The "purpose of this standard is to document and make available the specifications for the DNP3 protocol. ... The intent of this DNP3 standard is to meet the goal established by NIST for a Smart Grid protocol:

• Provides a protocol standard from a recognized standard institution
• Provides interoperability with 100s of operational systems and 1000s of devices
• Provides cyber security based on IEC 62351-5 (Preview)
• Provides Devise data profiles in a format that can be mapped to IEC 61850 Object Models"

Click HERE to access the official IEEE press release.

This is what I have expected for some time. The mapping of IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25-2 Object Models and (some) Services to DNP3 and IEC 60870-5-101/104 has already been standardized in IEC 61400-25-4 (some 2 years ago). DNP3 and IEC 60870-5-101/104 are used as SCADA protocols between substations and control centers all over.

Click HERE for some additional information on the mapping of IEC 61850/61400-25-2 objects and services to DNP3 and other protocols.

The following comparison shows that the objective of IEC 61850 goes far beyond the use as a SCADA protocol:

The Configuration Language (IEC 61850-6 - Preview of Edition2) is the most crucial part of the standard series IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25!!