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1 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Wireless communications for protection & control applications
How does it work and where it can be applied

2021-10-13 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Content

• Communication Channel Requirements for Protection and Control Applications

• Definitions of wireless communications

• Wireless communication technologies with focus on IEEE 802.11 Mesh and Cellular

• Protection and control applications with use of IEEE 802.11 Mesh and Cellular communications

• Discussion on benefits that the use of wireless communications brings

3 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Communication channel requirements for Protection Applications

Performance recommendations, are issued e.g. by WECC (one of 8 regions of BES), operators and utilities per
application and voltage level for protection systems, communication and relaying components.
Availability
• Type A channel that operates during faults is difficult to obtain
• Channels commonly used by utilities (TDM-based) are being discontinued by Telecom operators
Bit Error Rate (BER)
• 10-12 - 10-9 during normal operation
• 10-6 during disturbance
• 10-4 when channel is blocked
Different types of data can withstand different BER, in the same channel !
Deterministic one-way latency / delay
• Relates to max operating time
For digital samples, time synchronization
• Synchronization error (~sensitivity)
• Delay / channel asymmetry => Path switching can affect delay asymmetry dramatically
Redundancy: two paths over different equipment with full geographic diversity, path switching time
Environmental requirements.

4 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Com System Performance: Availability, Delay, Redundancy

Excerpt from Western Electricity Coordinating Council Telecommunication Work Group

WECC-TELWG “Communication System Performance Guide for Electric Protection Systems”

Source: D. P. Erwin,T. Kruckewitt, G.S. Antonova “Interrelationship

of Protection and Communication to Improve Power System Reliability”
Western Protective Relaying Conference 2014, Spokane, WA USA
5 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved
Application Considerations: How many 9’s of availability do you need?

• How much downtime will applications

tolerate and still perform properly?

• Each additional “9” typically costs a

*lot* more than the one before it, in
CAPEX, OPEX, or both.

6 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

 Definitions of Wireless Communication

• Wireless communication use air as communication media

• Wireless technologies vary depending on frequency, range, distance of communication, bandwidth,

and type of devices used.

• Wireless communication technologies include

1. Radio and Television Broadcasting
2. Satellite communication and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as GPS
3. Bluetooth
4. Licensed Microwave
5. IEEE 802.11 2.4GHz and 5Ghz (includes Wi-Fi and Broadband Mesh)
6. Cellular communication

7 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Characteristics of Wireless Communication

Wireless Com Technology Characteristic Use case

Point-to-point high-peed communication Usable for protection and control applications at

Digital Microwave
with low latency deterministic performance transmission and sub-transmission voltage levels

Most interoperable protocol available; some

IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, ac, ax “WiFi” Wi-Fi clients can connect to access points provided
security and range limitations
by other backbone network types

IEEE 802.11 Broadband Mesh and/or Higher deployment costs, lower operating Smart grid, oil and gas, mining and industrial control
900MHz Narrowband Mesh costs; fewer external dependencies systems where sufficient device density exists

Lower deployment operating costs, higher

Areas where device density is insufficient for mesh
Cellular (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE, 5G) operating costs; dependency on network
and cellular coverage exists.
operators

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

8
Licensed Microwave Technology

• Terrestrial digital microwave signals are electromagnetic waves in the radio frequency spectrum above 890 MHz
and below 20 GHz
• Microwave systems are point-to-point with maximum distance of 30-60 miles
• Good design coordinate frequencies, provide for signal degradation due to multipath fading and atmospheric
weather conditions and use proper power and antenna
• Digital microwave operate in 2,4,6 or 11 GHz bands offer improved performance

9 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Spread Spectrum Radio Technology

• Utilizes air (radio frequency, RF) for communication

• Multiple users occupy the same frequency band with a minimum interference
• Used in numerous applications, cordless phones, wireless Ethernet, point-to-point communications
• Uses unlicensed frequencies: 902-928MHz, 2400-2483.5MHz, 5725-2850MHz reserved by Federal
Communication Commission (FCC)

10 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

• Provides multiple channels by allocating different frequency, like Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) or
Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM)
• Utilizes multi-carrier modulation technique to transmits data in parallel using the entire allocated channel
bandwidth Employed for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), broadband power line carrier and Wi Fi
standard

11 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Basic Multiplexing Principle

• Provides shared (multiplexed) media for multiple connections

• Channels use different
• Frequency, in analog carrier (Frequency Division Multiplexing, FDM)
• Time in digital carrier (Time Division Multiplexing, TDM)
• Wavelength in optical carrier (Wave Division Multiplexing, WDM)

12 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Orthogonal FDM (OFDM) Principle

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing allows more data transmissions than FDM

13 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

OFDM Channels

• Orthogonal translates to independent: maximum in one channel happens at 0 signal in another channel.
• Receiver demultiplexes channels, and decodes data in each of them
• Data is also transmitted in parallel vs serially that increases data rate
14 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved
OFDM Channels Allocation

• OFDM forms a basis of the IEEE 802.11a (WLAN) standard

• IEEE 802.11a uses in 5GHz frequency band, 20MHz channels and 52 subcarriers
• Other WLAN flavors include IEEE 802.11b/g/n that utilize 2.4GHz band with 20MHz or 40MHz channels

15 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

 IEEE 802.11 Broadband Mesh

7 6 3 2
7 2
5 2
7 3
6 4 1
6 2
1
6 2
5 3 1 1
4 0
6 2 1 2

Fiber or Microwave
Backhaul

MDMS DMS GIS IVR Dispatch OMS

VPN

Firewall
DNS

• Mesh network provides high reliability due to self-healing

AAA
DHCP
IDS

• Latency depends on network size

• In addition to protocol error detection/correction, Operations Center

Radio Transmitter/Receiver support error detection and correction with data re-transmission requests
16 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved
IEEE 802.11 Broadband Mesh Special Considerations

▪ Higher bit error rates (BER) are common for wireless communication systems other than point to point
Microwave (10-5 raw BER before correction is very useable)
▪ Depending on channel conditions, 802.11 convolution coding may use up to 50% of bits for redundancy to
reduce raw error rate to an acceptable corrected error rate.
▪ This forward error correction (FEC) corrects randomly distributed errors (typically caused by noise in the
channel)
▪ Burst errors which exceed FEC capacity are resolved by re-transmissions (affecting latency variation/jitter)
▪ Each possible data rate has a required minimum Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) in order to maintain a
reasonably correctable raw BER.
▪ If SNR improves (goes up) the radios may increase data rate. If SNR deteriorates, data rate can be
decreased. This process takes place automatically in order to maintain the highest data rate possible while
maintaining BER within acceptable bounds.
▪ OFDM “symbols” are very long (3.2 microseconds each). This means they occupy around 960 meters of
space along transmission path, so that multipath reflections whose path lengths vary by considerably less will
reinforce each other instead of interfering with each other.

17 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Cellular Communication Technologies

Uplink

Downlink

Cellular User Equipment (UE)

4G LTE Base Station

• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiple Access) technologies are also used in 4G LTE and 5G NR
• Terms to be familiar with are multiplexing, multiple access, and modulation
• Multiplexing is the act of combining multiple signals into one, for sending various signals carrying
unique information through a shared medium such as a single frequency carrier
• Multiple access uses multiplexing to allow multiple users to send and receive data through a single
frequency carrier
• Modulation involves mixing two separate signals, one of which is the actual data, and the other is the
carrier signal that carries the data between the network and the UE. This makes the combined signal
stronger, secure
18 © Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved
Cyber security: IEEE 802.11 Broadband Mesh

7 6 3 2
7 2
5 2
7 3
6 4 1
6 2
1
6 2
5 3 1 1
4 0
6 2 1 2

Fiber or Microwave
Backhaul

• Mesh network consists of a “cluster” of radios MDMS DMS GIS IVR Dispatch OMS
VPN

connected to a backhaul network Firewall

DNS
AAA
DHCP

• Each “hop” between radios in the mesh network is IDS

protected by at least AES-128 encryption

Operations Center

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Cyber security: IEEE 802.11 Broadband Mesh

7 6 3 2
7 2
5 2
7 3
6 4 1
6 2
1
6 2
5 3 1 1
4 0
6 2 1 2

Fiber or Microwave
Backhaul

• IEEE 802.11 end-devices can connect using mesh

MDMS DMS GIS IVR Dispatch OMS
VPN

Firewall

network radios as access points DNS

AAA
DHCP
IDS

• IEEE 802.11 end-device links can be protected by IEEE

802.1x authentication to connect and by end-to-end Operations Center
IPSEC tunnels to provide both confidentiality and integrity
© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved
Mesh can be augmented with additional backhaul capacity via LTE

3 4 3 2
2 2
5 2
1 3
2 4 1
4 2
1
1 2
0 2 3 1 1
2 0
1 2 1 2

MDMS DMS GIS IVR Dispatch OMS

VPN

Firewall
DNS
AAA
DHCP
IDS
LTE Private APN
LTE Base
Station
Operations Center

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

LTE Backhaul can be protected by end-to-end encryption

3 4 3 2
2 2
5 2
1 3
2 4 1
4 2
1
1 2
0 2 3 1 1
2 0
1 2 1 2

MDMS DMS GIS IVR Dispatch OMS

VPN

Firewall
DNS
AAA
DHCP
IDS
Public LTE
Base Station Base Station

IPsec tunnel over non-private infrastructure Operations Center

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Cybersecurity Definitions

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks.
These might include:

• Theft of Data (attack against confidentiality)

• Man in the Middle (attack against integrity)

• Denial of Service (attack against availability)

• Insertion of Malware (platform for future attacks)

The convergence of IT(corporate) and operational networks demands a holistic approach

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

23
Cybersecurity Mechanisms

The CIA Triad

Confidentiality -> Encryption to prevent eavesdropping

Integrity -> Hashing, Digital Signatures

Availability -> No single point of failure (network redundancy)

Authentication (who are you?) (individual, role)

Authorization (what do you want?) (what can you do)

PKI Certificates (second factor, in addition to passwords)

Logging, Audit trails, Event monitoring (data to learn from and avoid repeating problems)

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

24
A Defense-in-Depth approach for wired and wireless communication

• Understand the technology to understand the security risks and limitations

• Add a perimeter defense layer, network layer, host and application layer

• Implementing proper policy and procedures

• Deploying the right authentication and access control

• Using audit trails (logging, monitoring)

• Methods like role-based access control and data encryption with standard, secure crypto suites

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

25
Industry Security Organizations and Standards

1. NERC CIP – North-American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection

2. NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology

3. ISA/IEC 62443 - Standard series for Industrial Network and System Security

4. IEEE 1686 - Standard for Intelligent Electronic Devices Cyber Security Capabilities

5. IEC 62351 - Standards for Securing Power System Communications

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

26
Use cases: DER Interconnection Protection

Use of wireless inter-substation GOOSE messages for DER interconnection

protection

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Use cases: Synchrophasor-based applications

Use of wireless communication for Synchrophasor data for fallen conductor check

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Use cases: Status of Disconnector Switches

Use of wireless networks to monitor the status of the disconnector switches

• Status of pallet switches often is brought to

control house for indications only, to guide
the manual switching

• New trenching for these conductors is a large

expense

• Status is just a logical 1 or 0 easily

communicable via various protocols,
including IEC 61850 GOOSE messages

• Use of wireless communications eliminate

the need for expensive trenching

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Use cases: Asset Health Monitoring

• Broadband mesh performs very well inside substations and may be a strong alternative to
trenching for new cable in brownfield locations
• 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies are very resistant to interference from typical electrical noise in
substations
• OFDM performs very well in heavy multipath environment of substation yard (many metal
elements acting as reflectors)
• Communication of asset health data from monitoring equipment attached to transformers,
breakers, and other devices can be communicated back to control house
• Mesh capabilities allow more distant devices to relay communications through nearer devices
• Monitoring applications which do not involve any control capabilities may not invoke any CIP
requirements

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Use cases: Remote Relay Access

Remote access connection to a relay over wireless networks.

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved

Conclusions

• Wireless communication can be and IS used for various protection and control applications !

• Benefits of using wireless include eliminating com cables and the need for trenches that lead to
significant cost savings

• Reliability of wireless communication is significantly improved by added error detection and

correction mechanisms

• Cybersecurity of wireless communication is implemented using Defense-in-Depth approach, used

for wired communications also

Thank you !

© Hitachi Energy 2021. All rights reserved