Wednesday, April 26, 2017

NEW IEC 61850 Demo Package for Windows available

The main purpose of the new demonstration and evaluation package is to provide a free of charge simple and easy to use IEC 61850 Client/Subscriber Tool (running on Windows PCs) that can be used to communicate with a Server/Publisher implemented on the platforms:

Beck IPC DK151 Development Kit for SC145 (DK61)
Beck IPC com.tom / IXXAT SG-gateways (WEB-PLC)
SystemCorp Smart Grid Controllers
Windows PC

Several other uses cases are possible:

The demonstration uses a single generic SCL model (and a derived JSON file [JavaScript Object Notation] that can (beyond the main purpose) be used on the above platforms to automatically configure (tree structured graphical applications) for Clients, Server/Publisher, and Client/Subscriber roles as shown on the next slides.

The specification of additional models (.icd and .json) could be provided for a fee. 
Contact NettedAutomation if you are looking for other models, please.
Click HERE for further details and instructions to download the new package including the documentation.
Click HERE for documentation only.
The package is used in our training courses.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Final Call for IEC 61850 Training Courses in May 2017 in Karlsruhe (Germany)

The following two training courses are just one (two) weeks away:

02.-05. May 2017, Karlsruhe/Germany:


Click HERE for details - and register as soon as possible.

09.-12. Mai 2017, Karlsruhe/Deutschland
HIER klicken - für Details zum Training in Deutsch

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Dubai (UAE): NEW IEC 61850 Seminar for Protection, Control, and Generation

You are invited to register for one of the world leading IEC 61850 Seminars for Protection, Control, and Generation to be conducted by

FMTP, Al-Ojaimi, and NettedAutomation 
in Dubai (UAE) at the Sheraton Dubai Mall of the Emirates
11-13 July 2017

With the focus on protection and control in HV/MV substations, power generation (PV, Wind, DER, Hydro), distribution systems using Client/Server, GOOSE, SV, SCADA and SCL Language covering:
  • IEC 61850 / IEC 61400-25 Introduction (Edition 1, 2, and 2.1) and experience after more than 10 years in operation. Where are we today?
  • Return of experience, applications and practical demonstrations:
  • Protection and Control in Substation Automation
  • Engineering and Configuration
  • Maintenance
  • Monitoring and SCADA system
  • Specification of the IEC 61850 protection and control system.
  • Through the practical demonstrations, you will learn:
  • To handle IEC 61850 relay protections from different vendors and their software tools; to be able to efficiently manage flexibility in engineering and interoperability.
  • To use the state of the art IEC 61850 testing tools and equipment to efficiently detect the technical problems and work-out their solutions.
  • To understand SCL files, setup clients and servers for MMS communication to SCADA and RTU Systems
  • All the presentations are supported by practical examples or demonstrations.
Who should attend?
  • Protection and Electrical Engineers (protection, control, engineering, SCADA, asset managers)
  • System integrators
  • Product managers of vendors
  • R&D engineers
  • Maintenance personnel
  • Experts responsible for network infrastructure
Click HERE for program and registration information.
Click HERE for other training opportunities.

Monday, April 17, 2017

What is a Function in IEC 61850?

The term "Function" is used in a variety of flavors throughout the standard series IEC 61850. If you ask five experts, you may get six answers.
IEC TC 57 has proposed (57/1863/DC) to develop a new Technical report IEC 61850-6-100: "SCL Function Modelling for Substation Automation"
A "function" is more or less a synonym for operation or action ... as described in Wikipedia:
"A function model or functional model in systems engineering and software engineering is a structured representation of the functions (activities, actions, processes, operations) within the modeled system or subject area."
In my seminars I compare IEC 61850 with Logistics:



IEC 61850 defines simple and more and more complex functions. A schedule according to IEC 61850-90-10 defines a set of quite complex (or comprehensive) functions. In most cases the functions defined by IEC 61850 are just functional components that are used as bricks to build a comprehensive application function.
The brick-concept of IEEE 1550 (UCA 2.0) indicated the use of the standard models: the Bricks (which are now the Logical Nodes in IEC 61850).
IEC 61850-7-2 Services define functions (called services) that provide information logistics, e.g., for accessing the device information model, allow exchange of any value made available by a device based on events for real-time and non-real-time applications, or services for controlling a controllable item like a circuit breaker or a fan.
Functions may be composed using the standard IEC 61499 (Function blocks) as described in the following papers:
V. Vyatkin, G. Zhabelova, N. Higgins, K. Schwarz, and N.-K. C. Nair, Towards intelligent smart grid devices with IEC 61850 interoperability and IEC 61499 open control architecture, IEEE Conference on Transmission and Distribution, New Orleans, April, 2010
 N. Higgins, V. Vyatkin, N. Nair and K. Schwarz, “Intelligent Decentralised Power Distribution Automation with IEC 61850, IEC 61499 and Holonic Control“,IEEE Transactions on Systems, Machine and Cybernetics, Part C, 40(3), 2010,
J. Xu, C.-W.Yang, V. Vyatkin, S. Berber, Towards Implementation of IEC61850 GOOSE Messaging in IEC61499 Environment, IEEE Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN’13), Bochum, July 29-31, 2013
Click HERE for more papers.
More to come ... stay tuned to this blog!

Thursday, April 13, 2017

HMS Smart Grid Gateways Are Now IXXAT SG Gateways

The HMS Smart Grid Gateways (supporting a wide range of standards like IEC 60870-5-104, IEC 61850, Modbus TCp/IP, ...) are now marketed by HMS under the HMS brand IXXAT Energy SG Gateways.
IXXAT SG-gateways... 

  • enable easy remote control and management of electrical systems
  • allow to log and display application data and energy consumption
  • provide IEC61850 client/server (publisher/subscriber) and IEC60870-5-104 client/server support
  • have in-built Modbus TCP client and Modbus RTU Master interfaces
  • provide connectivity for I/O, M-Bus, PROFIBUS, PROFINET and EtherNet/IP based devices

Click HERE for more details [EN]
Click HERE for more details [DE]

Friday, April 7, 2017

FDIS for IEC 62351-7 published - Network and System Management (NSM) data object models

IEC TC 57 has just published the 232 page FDIS (57/1857/FDIS) of the part IEC 62351-7 for final vote:

Power systems management and associated information exchange –
Data and communications security –
Part 7: Network and System Management (NSM) data object models

The vote closes 2017-05-12.

"This part of IEC 62351 defines network and system management (NSM) data object models
that are specific to power system operations. These NSM data objects will be used to monitor
the health of networks and systems, to detect possible security intrusions, and to manage the
performance and reliability of the information infrastructure. The goal is to define a set of
abstract objects that will allow the remote monitoring of the health and condition of IEDs
(Intelligent Electronic Devices), RTUs (Remote Terminal Units), DERs (Distributed Energy
Resources) systems and other systems that are important to power system operations. ...
The NSM objects provide monitoring data for IEC protocols used for power systems
(IEC 61850, IEC 60870-5-104) and device specific environmental and security status. As a
derivative of IEC 60870-5-104, IEEE 1815 DNP3 is also included in the list of monitored
protocols. The NSM data objects use the naming conventions developed for IEC 61850,
expanded to address NSM issues. For the sake of generality these data objects, and the data
types of which they are comprised, are defined as abstract models of data objects."

The document comprises many useful information objects related to devices and communication security issues like:

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) 
Passive observation techniques
Active security monitoring architecture with NSM data objects

End-to-end security
End-to-end security concepts
Role of NSM in end-to-end security

NSM requirements
Detecting unauthorized access
Detecting resource exhaustion as a denial of service (DoS) attack
Detecting invalid buffer access DoS attacks
Detecting tampered/malformed PDUs
Detecting physical access disruption
Detecting invalid network access
Detecting coordinated attacks

Saturday, April 1, 2017

IEC SC 65C Published 5,000+ Pages of New Fieldbus Editions (IEC 61158)

IEC SC 65C (subcommittee 65C: Industrial networks, of IEC technical committee 65: Industrial-process measurement, control and automation) has published 5,000+ pages with the following documents available for PUBLIC comments (http://www.iec.ch/comment):
  1. 65C/864A/CDV (77 pages)
    IEC 61158-1 ED2: Industrial communication networks - Fieldbus specifications - Part 1: Overview and guidance for the IEC 61158 and IEC 61784 series
  2. 65C/865A/CDV (219 pages)
    IEC 61158-3-X ED4: Industrial communication networks - Fieldbus specifications - Part 3 - X: Data-link layer service definition - Type X elements
  3. 65C/866A/CDV (1,445 pages)
    IEC 61158-4-X ED4: Industrial communication networks - Fieldbus specifications - Part 4 - X: Data-link layer protocol specification - Type x elements
  4. 65C/867A/CDV (1,721 pages)
    IEC 61158-5-X ED4: Industrial communication networks - Fieldbus specifications - Part 5-X: Application layer service definition - Type X elements
  5. 65C/868A/CDV (2,205 pages)
    IEC 61158-6-X ED4: Industrial communication networks - Fieldbus specifications - Part 6-X: Application layer protocol specification - Type X elements
  6. 65C/869/CDV
    IEC 61918 ED4: Industrial communication networks - Installation of communication networks in industrial premises 
There are many other documents that are part of this standard series.
Take your time to comment on these documents.

What's about interoperability? Read what part 1 says in clause 4.2:

"Most of the fieldbus types specified in the IEC 61158 series include a range of selectable and configurable options within their detailed specifications. In general, only certain restricted combinations of options will interwork or interoperate correctly."

It seems like an April fool' s joke - BUT, NO, IT IS REALLY TRUE.