IEC published the Committee Draft (57/2980/CD) on IEC 61850-8-3

The next step of the publication of IEC 61850-8-3 has been reached

Yesterday (2026-09-04) IEC published the Committee Draft (57/2980/CD) on

"Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Part 8-3: Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) –
Mapping to Direct Message Specification (DMS), JSON Encoding Rules, and WebSockets"

The commenting period closes on 2026-10-30 ... very soon.

All experts that are members of the IEC TC 57 National Committees can access the document and provide comments online.

My experience with the editing processing tool (OSD - Online Standards Development) is very positive: After I finished the editing on Monday (2026-08-31) IEC could easily publish the CD ... the document follows automatically the format of IEC ... because it is an IEC (ISO) tool ... perfect.

The crucial definition is the ASN.1 message schema that is used to code and decode messages (see see below for a link to the ASN.1 schema used in the RTI2 open-source software):

The committee draft (57/2980/CD) is based on the Netherlands Netbeheers Proof of Concept for RTI2 (real-time interface). Netbeheer is supporting the implementation as open-source software under GitHub. The message syntax of the committee draft is the latest ASN.1 module. The ASN.1 version at GitHub is a pre-version of the official version:
General: https://github.com/Netbeheer-Nederland/iec61850-websocket

Direct Access to the ASN.1 Schema: https://github.com/Netbeheer-Nederland/iec61850-websocket/blob/main/src/ws61850/asn1/schema/ws_iec61850_tpaa_full.asn

Please check my blog for additional information on IEC 61850-8-3.
Any question? Please let me know.

Free ASN.1 Browser for IEC 61850-8-3 ASN.1 Module from RTI2 PoC

If you want to browse easily the ASN.1 message schema for the new project IEC 61850-8-3 (DSM) underway, check out this free browser: 

https://www.nettedautomation.com/editor

A preliminary asn.1 module for IEC 61850-8-3 (from PoC of RTI2) is available for download:

This is how it looks like:

and ...

The schema is very simple compared to MMS for IEC 61850-8-1.

Let us know if you have any question.

Extended Video on IEC 61850-8-3 Available - Example Messages

 An extended version of the video on  

IEC 61850-8-3
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) –
Mapping to Direct Message Specification (DMS), JSON Encoding Rules, and WebSockets 

is available. I have added some five minutes ... total time is 23 minutes.

I have added mainly two examples of services for IEC 61850-8-1 (MMS) and IEC 61850-8-3 (DMS):

The figure above shows how a client can get the list of logical nodes from the server with MMS ... and with DMS:

Details can be watched in the video ... enjoy.

IEC 61850 Series for Any Automation Domain using Electric Power (two Examples)

The standard series IEC 61850 is applicable for simple applications and huge systems. The standard is not restricted to a specific domain. Like electric power is everywhere. So could IEC 61850 be everywhere.

I have discussed this briefly in the context of a LinkedIn post.

Now it's time to discuss briefly two simple applications ... just looking at the two models ... without further explanations.

The German FNN Steuerbox

The Steuerbox is mainly providing schedules for the interface between the grid and the power user:

This model is defined for a special use-case: Steuern (remote control). No need for an engineering tool ... it is just a fixed model ...

The Netherlands RTI (Real-Time Interface) for power generation (> 1 MW)

... this is a fixed model with some details:

The RTI models and services are currently using IEC 61850-8-1 (MMS) communication (RTI 1). The RTI 2 will finally use the IEC 61850-8-3 (DMS) once it is specified. A Task Force has started to specify the new standard in May 2026.

The fixed models allow for a high level of interoperability. The central systems (representing the IEC 61850 clients) can communicate with and IED following these specifications. In the case of the FNN Steuerbox it has been proven that the client application could talk to all steuerboxes in the field without paying attention to which vendors device it is talking to.

REAL INTEROPPERABILITY !!

Why is there an Need for an Additional Service Mapping in IEC 61850 (IEC 61850-8-3)?

The two service mappings for IEC 61850 are IEC 61850-8-1 (MMS) and IEC 61850-8-2 (MMS/XML). The mapping IEC 61850-8-1 is in operation from the first days when IEC 61850 was implemented and used ... all over ... in millions of devices and thousands of systems. Ok ... perfect.

Why is there an need for an additional service mapping in IEC 61850 (IEC 61850-8-3)? 

Simply because of the complex and tricky mapping to MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification, ISO 9506). 

IEC 61850-8-3
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) –
Mapping to Direct Message Specification (DMS), JSON Encoding Rules, and WebSockets 

In order to explain details of the new approach to be used for the new work item proposal IEC 61850-8-3 I have produced a 17 minute video (updated version 2026-06-04, 23 minutes).

It is likely that this will become a major shift in the use of IEC 61850.

Enjoy!

The PAC World Magazine Reports From the 30 Year Anniversary of IEC 61850 in September 2025

The 30 year anniversary of IEC 61850 in September 2025 was a big success.

The report mentions me: "The presentations were bracketed by the first one from Karlheinz Schwarz about how all of this started in the past Millenium ..."

I am very thankful for the invitation by Dr. Fred Steinhauser (Omicron) to speak about the history ... 

Click HERE for the Report in the PACW.

Click HERE for more photos and a link to my "Millenium" presentation.

When browsing the Web, I see many more papers, reports, posts, ... on IEC 61850 for substations and for applications beyond substations.

More to come: With IEC 61850-8-3

New Work Item Proposal on IEC 61850-8-3 has been accepted by 95 % of the TC 57 National Committees

In December 2025 the NWIP (57/2866/NP - proposed project number: IEC 61850-8-3) was published for voting and comments:
https://blog.nettedautomation.com/2025/12/long-awaited-christmas-gift-for-smarter.html

Today we are happy that the NWIP has been approved by IEC - only one country disagreed in the voting process.

IEC 61850-8-3
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) –
Mapping to Direct Message Specification (DMS), JSON Encoding Rules, and WebSockets 

The result of this work will very likely change the usability of IEC 61850 outside substations.

Stay tuned to follow the progress.

In order to explain details of the new approach to be used for the new work item proposal IEC 61850-8-3 I have produced a 17 minute video (2026-05-13).

Long Awaited Christmas Gift For Smart(er) Grids - IEC 61850-8-3 is on its Way

In order to explain details of the new approach to be used for the new work item proposal IEC 61850-8-3 I have produced a 17 minute video. (2026-05-13)

IEC TC 57 just published a long awaited and crucial new work item proposal: 

57/2866/NP - proposed project number: 61850-8-3

Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) –
Mapping to Direct Message Specification (DMS),
JSON Encoding Rules, and WebSockets 

Closing date for voting on the NP: 2026-03-06

"IEC 61850-8-3 Ed.1 defines the direct mapping of the client/server services of the ACSI (Abstract Communication Service Interface) defined in IEC 61850-7-2. Direct mapping means that for every abstract client/server service of the ACSI a concrete message schema (for the request and the response) is defined in ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation One). ...

The encoding of the messages according to IEC 61850-8-3 is using the ASN.1 JER (JSON Encoding Rule, ISO/IEC 8825-8:2021). The messages are exchanged through WebSocket (RFC 6455, The WebSocket Protocol). WebSocket is a communication protocol that enables a persistent, full-duplex communication channel over a single TCP connection, allowing both the client and server to send data to each other at any time. This differs from the standard HTTP request-response model, making it ideal for real-time applications."

Please contact your national IEC TC 57 committee for a copy of the NP.

The main differences between IEC 61850-8-1/8-2 and 8-3 are shown in the following table:

and here:

Enjoy!

Click HERE for additional information that discusses the need for a modern messaging solution ...

I look forward to continuing the editing work of this new part of IEC 61850. This closes the circle of my contribution to communication protocols: starting in the mid 1980s with MMS (base for IEC 61850-8-1/8-2) and now (40+ years later) involved in a modern approach using web technologies ... Wow ...

This NP is the result of a Proof of Concept (PoC) initiated and managed by the Netherlands Distribution System Operators (Netbeheer). I played a little role in the implementation of this PoC. The PoC demonstrated the great benefit that can be harvested from the solution!

It is very likely that this part IEC 61850-8-3 (once it is finished) will accelerate the application of IEC 61850 outside the substation domain. I have discussed IEC 61850 outside of substations for many years ... Let me know what you think.

I wish you a merry Christmas and the best for the year 2026.

IEC 61850 All Over At CIRED Conference 2019-06 in Madrid Spain

I was really surprised to browse through some of the 51 papers presented at the CIRED Conference 2019-06 in Madrid Spain that refer to IEC 61850 !!

Click HERE for the CIRED search engine. Enter "61850" and you will find the links to the 51 papers presented this year that mention IEC 61850 by some means or other.



Unfortunately I don't have time to study them all in detail ... hope to find some time soon.

While searching the web, I found another very interesting paper:

International Electronical Committee (IEC) 61850
Mapping with Constrained Application Protocol
(CoAP) in Smart Grids Based European
Telecommunications Standard Institute
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Environment

Click HERE for accessing that paper. More to come ...

IEC 61850-8-2 Versus IEC 61850-8-1

Many people have complained that IEC 61850 is far too complex ... especially because of the mapping defined in IEC 61850-8-1 as the SCSM (Specific Communication Service Mapping) using ISO 9506 MMS as the carrier to exchange IEC 61850 client/server messages. MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification) offers generic objects (NamedVariables, NamedVariableLists, ...) and services (Read, Write, InformationReport, ...). The application of MMS for IEC 61850 requires to define very tricky mappings ...

Click HERE for downloading the FDIS of ISO 9506-1.
Click HERE for downloading the FDIS of ISO 9506-2.

As the convenor of ISO TC 184/SC WG2 (responsible for MMS for many years) I have supported MMS allover ... and I still do it. It is a solution that works well for years ... especially in the domain of substation automation. Other application domains, e.g., DER devices connected directly to a control center (without the need of horizontal communication with up to hundreds of devices), could make use of a lighter message service and mapping concept. The idea of using webservices was discussed many years ago. The IEC TC 57 set up a team to look into it.

The following document written in 2012 discusses the:

IEC 61850-8-2 Web Services Justification

Excerpt:
"IEC 61850/MMS is an open scalable suite of protocols that can support real-time operation. However, these protocols are not well understood by typical IT professionals that work in these stakeholder environments, even though the rich information models of IEC 61850 meets the semantic needs of the distributed applications. ...
Therefore it makes economic sense to map the rich abstract IEC 61850 information models to the more ubiquitously deployed and understood communication and security profiles.   This requirement can be satisfied by mapping IEC 61850 to web services, which are the most commonly implemented technologies.
IEC 61850/Web Services is not a replacement for MMS used in the substation.  Rather, IEC 61850/Web Services would be targeted to customer environments where information is used to interact with customer-owned equipment, including Distributed Energy Resources (DER) systems and facility energy management systems. In these situations, information flows between utility systems, customer systems, and third party systems, straddling utility and customer ownership, sometimes within a single application deployment.
The stakeholders deploying DER systems understand that IEC 61850 over web services provide least cost protocols to interact with their DER devices because:
• Web Services provide greater compatibility with widely deployed IT infrastructures, tools and skills, including cyber security.
..."

Finally the work ended in the following standard:

Communication networks and systems for power utility automation – Part 8-2: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM) – Mapping to Extensible Messaging Presence Protocol (XMPP)

The published document 8-2 uses principles of IEC 61850-8-1 as well as MMS services and protocols! Really? Yes. The main difference regarding message exchange is in the encoding of the MMS messages: 8-1 uses ASN.1 BER and 8-2 uses XML messages (with the structure of MMS services defined as XML Schema). Strange? Yes!

You can find the XML schema for the MMS messages using XML encoding here:

Code component of the IEC 61850-8-2, reflecting the XML namespace described in this document. It includes as well the virtual API with IEC 62351-4.

https://www.iec.ch/public/tc57/IEC_61850-8-2.2018_ed1.0.XSD.2018A1.full.zip

Summary on the protocol issues: IEC 61850-8-2 does NOT provide a direct mapping of IEC 61850-7-2 ACSI models and services to webservices!

I am involved in defining a third mapping (of a subset of services) ... to use JSON schema (and objects) for the models and the messages ... in order to offer really light weight messaging carrying a subset the original semantic of IEC 61850 models!!

We have successfully implemented client and server using http Get and Set services that carry JSON objects representing IEC 61850 Objects.

Example of DataSet and Report (showing the basic idea of mapping to JSON):



The decision to propose the JSON mapping officially to IEC TC 57 is expected later in 2019.

By the way, our granddaughter (20, Student in EE and IT) has implemented this example in Python running on Windows and on two Raspberry Pi3 (one playing the role of server and the other one as client).

We expect that this mapping will push the application of IEC 61850 models and services in domains that need simple solutions that can be programmed by many engineers and programmers.

The JSON mapping could easily be used as an interface from an original IEC 61850 Server (e.g., a bay controller or protection device) to underlying systems:



Sample JSON response from our Fronius PV Inverter with some values:

Request:
http://192..../solar_api/v1/GetInverterRealtimeData.cgi?Scope=Device&DeviceId=1&DataCollection=CommonInverterData

Response (JavaScript):



Stay tuned to learn more ...

IEC TC 57 just published FDIS IEC 61850-8-2 (Mapping to XMPP)

IEC TC 57 just published FDIS IEC 61850-8-2 (Mapping to XMPP) - 253 pages !

(57/2020/FDIS)

Voting ends: 2018-08-24

Part 8-2: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM)
– Mapping to Extensible Messaging Presence Protocol (XMPP)

The long wait for a second SCSM is over!

The new mapping of IEC 61850 describes a specific communication service mapping
(SCSM) over the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), providing detailed
information on how to create and exchange concrete communication messages that
implement abstract services and models specified in IEC 61850-7-4, IEC 61850-7-3, and
IEC 61850-7-2.

Note that the MMS messages (defined using ASN.1) are used in IEC 61850-8-1 AND -8-2 ! The only crucial difference between the two message and model mappings (in 8-1 and 8-2) is this:

8-1 uses BER (Basic Encoding Rule) for the messages on the wire, while 8-2 uses (XER (XML Encoding Rule). The complexity of the MMS messages is the same in both mappings - because the structure and how to build messages and how to carry the 7-2 services and 7-x models are the same!

The challenges to implement 8-2 message mapping are more or less the same as with 8-1. Note that the messages in XER are far longer than with BER.

There is - of course - a difference between the two: The transport of messages in 8-2 uses XMPP.

Some may argue, that there are more tools available for XER than for BER. Ok.

IEC 61850-8-2 is far away from something simple and easy to implement and use - especially when you need only a few simple services and models.

Mapping of IEC 61850-7-x to XMPP: Nice Paper in PACWorld Magazine

The XMPP technology (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) has been selected as the communication solution to address the Smart Grid specific challenges and use cases, which deviate from a typical substation automation use case.

The additional mapping will be published as IEC 61850-8-2.

A nice overview can be found in a paper published recently in the PACWorld magazine:

Click HERE for the full paper.

Note that from a message encoding point of view the MMS-ASN.1-BER messages are mapped directly to ASN.1-XER coded messages. The ASN.1 Tag numbers are mapped to XML Element names. The whole message schema is the same in both mappings.

XMPP - IEC 61850-8-2 Defines Additional Communication Mapping

IEC TC 57 has published a first draft for an additional mapping of IEC 61850 information models and communication messages.

IEC 61850-8-2 (57/1583/CD):
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation - Part 8-2: Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) – Mapping to Extensible Messaging Presence Protocol (XMPP)

Closing date for comments is 2015-09-11

The new mapping defines (relies on) the following definitions:

Service mapping (unchanged)
The abstract (client-server) services of IEC 61850-7-2 are mapped to MMS as defined in the existing IEC 61850-8-1 Ed2.

Message Encoding (new concrete encoding)
The encoding of the messages uses ASN.1 XER (XML encoding rule) – in addition to ASN.1 BER according to IEC 61850-8-1 Ed2. The encoding defines an XML schema – contained in the draft.

Model mapping (unchanged)
As in IEC 61850-8-1 Ed2. This applies to the flattening of the object identification and adding Functional Constraint (FC=ST or MX) in the path name and using “$” for “.”:

Bay5_MMXU1$MX$Hz$mag$i

Underlying Transport (new T-Profile)
The transport (exchange) of the XER encoded messages uses a new approach: using XMPP.

This new transport mechanism and encoding will be used between all kinds of utility Distributed Energy Resource devices and related power management systems, over any communication infrastructure including public networks.

The coming IEC 61850-8-2 can be understood as an (encoding and transport) extension of the existing IEC 61850-8-1.

It is very crucial that most parts of implementations and tools can be re-used! Re-Use is one of the basic approaches used in IEC 61850! Don’t start always from scratch – use what is available and add something.

So, to read the frequency of Bay5 is almost the same .. using the reference
“Bay5_MMXU1$MX$Hz$mag$i”
encoded in ASN.1 BER (IEC 61850-8-1) and in ASN.1 XER (IEC 61850-8-2).

See also example of encoding.

A second document explains the needs and background for an additional mapping:

IEC 61850-80-3 TR (57/1584/DTR):
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation -
Part 80-3: Mapping to Web protocols – Requirements and technical choices

It describes the requirements and the technical principles for a new specific communication service mapping (SCSM) based on Web Protocols.
For more information about the candidate technologies which have been analyzed but not selected as well as about the selection process used for choosing the technology, national committees are invited to consult document 57/1585/INF which is circulated in parallel:

Accompanying document to 57/1584/DTR, Proposed IEC TR 61850-80-3

It mainly describes the technical solutions which have been investigated but finally not selected for the SCSM of the IEC 61850 based on Web Protocols.

1. IEC 61400-25-4 Annex A (Web services)
2. DPWS (Devices Profile for Web Services)
3. REST (Representational State Transfer)
4. XML messaging over Websocket
5. ACSI XML Messaging
6. OPC UA

The finally chosen solution  “MMS XER payload over XMPP as transport” was recognized after several years of work as the preferred solution – especially from a fast time-to-market point of view.

What does XMPP provide?

XMPP (RFC 6120) is a middleware messaging and presence protocol supporting decentralized architectures and provides:

• Registering resources in publicly reachable servers
• Resolving resources based on names
• Security (authentication, integrity, confidentiality) for the communication with the XMPP server

This fits well to the information models defined in IEC 61850.

MMS & ASN.1 & XER & XMPP selected as the second SCSM of IEC 61850

The second SCSM for the ACSI Client-Server information exchange service models will be the mapping of the ACSI service models to MMS ASN.1 XER and XMPP. IEC TC 57 just released the 122 page document 57/1497/DC:

Draft IEC 61850-80-3 TR, Communication networks and systems for power utility automation – Part 80-
3: Mapping to web protocols – Requirement analysis and technology assessment

The document mainly lists the crucial needs and why the mapping to “MMS ASN.1 XER and XMPP” has been chosen to be published as IEC 61850-8-2 soon.

Chapter 7 presents the future SCSM 8-2, including an overview of the main selected technology: XMPP.

The following goals have been particularly considered for the definition of this SCSM:

• Identify a single profile supporting all the services required by the domains and defined today in ACSI.
• Cover the full life cycle of a IEC 61850 system, in collaboration with the System Management work in WG10 (from configuration, through conformance testing, down to maintenance). For this purpose, the present document may recommend some changes in other parts of IEC 61850 like part 6, part 10, etc.
• Deploy cyber-security to ensure a secure environment (in conjunction with IEC TC 57 WG 15 work).
• Propose rules for cohabitation with other mappings such as IEC 61850-8-1 and IEC 61850-9-2, and possibly recommend communication profiles depending on specific application context (pole-top equipment, inside DER, connection of DER, …).

Check with your national IEC TC 57 mirror committee for a copy of the above mentioned document.

Congratulation for the tremendous success of the web service mapping team!!! Great work!

That means: IEC 61850 will be the preferred solution in substations and many applications outside!!

Web Services for IEC 61850: MMS/XER over XMPP?

Some 18 months ago I have reported on a standardization project within IEC TC 57 defining web services as a second SCSM (Specific Communication Service Mapping) for IEC 61850. In the meantime it seems very likely that a mapping to XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) will be used as the only mapping in the future IEC 61850-8-2.

The secretary of IEC TC 57 has presented a slide (slide 5) with the following requirements during a public event at the Hannover Messe 2014:

• “Part 8-2 Specific communication service mapping (SCSM) – Mappings to web protocols
• Comply with the new edition of IEC 61850-7-1, IEC 61850-7-2, IEC 61850-7-3, and IEC 61850-7-4
• Support the existing application data model defined in IEC 61850-7-410, 7-420 and 61400-25-2
• Identify which web services specification should be considered to deploy cyber-security, in conjunction with IEC TC 57 WG 15 work
• complementary to the existing SCSM (8-1), not competing”

He reported on the status of work: “Konsens bei XMPP als Lösung” (consensus to apply XMPP as solution).

Click HERE for the complete presentation of the secretary of IEC TC 57 during the Hannover Messe 2014 [German, pdf]

MMS messages encoded in XML (XER – XML Encoding Rules for ASN.1, ISO 8825-4) may be used as payload of the XMPP messages.

What would that mean for IEC 61850-8-1 (MMS ASN.1 BER encoded messaging) implementations? First: the 8-1 solutions would continue to be used. Second: an additional ASN.1 encoding rule would add some software at the encoding layer … and finally the addition of the “transport or middle layer” XMMP would offer a new “transport mechanism”. That’s it.

This way most of the IEC 61850 related software (API, datasets, reporting, logging, control, system configuration language, modeling and models, …) would be used unchanged!

By the way, using ASN.1 XER in addition to BER has been proposed and discussed some 20 years ago within ISO TC 184 SC5 WG2. It was too early.

Since MMS is independent of encoding, there seems to be no (technical) question to using XER.