DISTRIBUTED PROTECTION, CONTROL AND RECORDING IN IEC 61850 BASED SUBSTATION
AUTOMATION SYSTEMS
A. P. Apostolov
AREVA T&D EAI, USA
INTRODUCTION
High-speed peer-to-peer communications between
multifunctional Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) in
IEC 61850 based substation automation systems allow
significant improvements in the functionality ofthe system
without the need for installation of additional equipment in
the substation. GOOSE or GSSE messages are used to
design distributed applications related to all main
functions in an integrated protection, control, monitoring
and recording system.
The paper describes GOOSE and GSSE messages as
defined in IEC 61850 and how they can be used for
different distributed applications.
Merging units based on IEC 61850 9-2 send sampled
values that can be used by communications based IEDs to
further reduce the hard wiring in a substation.
Distributed protection applications example includes
Directional Comparison Bus Protection.
Distributed waveform recording of short circuit faults or
other abnormal system conditions based on different types
of IEDs is also discussed in the paper.
Distributed fault and event recording based on the
reporting features ofIEC 61850 is presented as well.
The primary and backup protection, control, monitoring
and recording functions are distributed between different
multifunctional lEDs and the substation client.
The described distributed applications result in an
integrated substation automation system that meets all
functional requirements, while at the same time the overall
cost is reduced due to the reduced wiring between the
substation primary equipment and the IEDs.
IEC 61850 HIGH SPEED PEER-TO-PEER
COMMUNICATIONS IN SUBSTATIONS
High-speed peer-to-peer communications in the IEC
61850 based substation protection and control system are
used to replace the hard wired control signals exchange
between IEDs for protection and control purposes. This is
an extremely important and very time critical function that
must he highly reliable. It is defined as GSE (Generic
Substation Event) in IEC 61850[1, 21 and is based on a
multicast asynchronous reporting of an IEDs digital
outputs status to other peer devices enrolled to receive it
during the configuration stages of the substation
0 2004 AREVA T B D Ltd, UK. Reproduced with kind permission
integration process (Fig. 1).
IEC 61850 has two forms of GSE:
GOOSE - Generic Object Oriented Substation
Event
GSSE - Generic Substation Status Event
The GSSE is included in order to provide backward
compatibility with the UCA GOOSE. The GSSE model is
similar to the "1EC" GOOSE model. The main difference
is that GSSE just supports a fixed structure of the data to
be published. Another difference is that GSSE is based on
multicast - similar to the UCA GOOSE.
The IEC GOOSE can also be used for the exchange of
sampled measured values (based on multicast or unicast).
The IEDs receiving the message use the contained status
information to determine what the appropriate protection
response is for the given state.
The decision of the appropriate action to GOOSE
messages and the action to take should a message time out
due to a communication failure is determined by local
w
intelligence in the IED receiving the GOOSE message.
Ethernet
I
1
Fig. 1 Sending and receiving IEDs on an Ethernet LAN
Some examples of the use of GOOSE messages include
sending a high-speed message for Breaker Failure
Protection to trip the adjacent breakers or to provide
distribution or suh-transmission bus protection based on
GOOSE messages from the feeder protection IEDs.
GOOSE messages can also he used for distributed
recording applications.
FUNCTIONAL HIERARCHY IN SUBSTATION
 648
AUTOMATION SYSTEMS (SAS)
An IEC 61850 based substation automation system
consists of a series of devices interconnected through an
Ethernet network. Such a system has a hierarchical
structure shown in a simplified block diagram in Fig. 2.
The hierarchy however is only functional, while at the
same time it can he flat from the communications point of
view, i.e. all IEDs are connected to the same Ethernet
network. For large substations with several voltage levels
and multiple buses the number of switches will increase in
order to limit the traffic on the different segments of the
substation network.
At the bottom of the integrated system are the
multifunctional protective Intelligent Electronic Devices
(IED). Their primary function is to protect different
substation and power system elements such as
transformers, buses, capacitor banks, transmission and
distribution lines.
The protective IEDs however perform this hasic function
only when there is a fault, which is an event with very low
probability. At the same time they are devices with
significant processing power and intelligence.This allows
their use as the lower level of the hierarchical data
acquisition, control, monitoring and fault recording
system.
At the next level are typically the so called Bay Controller
or Computer IEDs that provide additional digital and
analog interface with the substation environment and at
the same time provide protection and control functionality
at the hay level in the substation.
At the top of the multilevel integrated protection and
control system in the substation is the Substation
Controller IED or a substation computer. It provides
substation level protection and control functions based on
the exchanged high-speed peer-to-peer communications
messages over the substation LAN. It also provides the
Human Machine Interface functionality with the different
IEDs in the substation. It supports alarm and event
reporting, data archiving, analysis, monitoring, etc.
functions.
I abdation HMI I
Fig. 2 Simplified functional hierarchy block diagram
The communications architecture does not have the same
hierarchy and in many cases devices from different
functional levels are connected to the same network
switch.
DISTRIBUTED APPLICATIONS IN SAS
Distributed Protection and Control
The protection and control in substations is distributed in
nature due to the fact that each protective relay is designed
in general to provide protection ofan individual substation
element such as transmission and distribution lines,
transformers, capacitor hanks, etc.
The primary protection is provided by multifunctional
protection devices. The used protection elements or
application specific logic is determined by the relay'
functionality and the utility protection philosophy.
The backup protection of substation and power system
equipment is dependent on the importance of the
equipment. It can be based on local or remote hackup
principles. At the transmission level it is usually provided
by a second protection device with similar or limited
functionality, compared to the primary protection.
The only substation equipment that typically requires a
centralized form ofprotection is the bushar. Transmission
buses are typically protected by low- or high-impedance
bus differential protection relays. Considering the
relatively high cost ofthe main bus protection, the backup
protection for the transmission bus usually is provided by
remote backup. As a result, any fault on the bus will he
cleared by the remote end distance or overcurrent
protection with a time delay that might not he acceptable
because of stability or power quality requirements.
A LAN based distributed protection system allows the
development and application of communications based
bus protection scheme, using the high-speed directional
detection of the multifunctional IEDs.
This distributed bus protection application is based on the
high-speed peer-to-peer Generic Object Oriented
Substation Event (GOOSE) communicationsin IEC 61850
integrated systems and a fast (less than a cycle)
superimposed components-based directional detection in
the IEDs.
In case of a fault on any of the protected elements, one or
more IEDs will see a fault in the forward direction.
However, if the fault is on the bus, all devices will see a
reverse fault or no fault (if connected to a weak source),
i.e. no IED will see a forward fault (Fig. 3).
In case of a fault, a distributed bus protection function in a
multifunctional hay computer IED monitors the GOOSE
messages coming from the individual devices included in
the distributed bus protection function ofthe system. The
number ofdevices included is dynamicallychanging based
on the protected bus or buses configuration.
If all messages indicate reverse or no-fault condition and
none of them gives a forward fault direction, the bus
protection function identifies a bus fault and sends a
communication message to trip all breakers connected to
the bus. A small time delay is required in order to ensure
that all IEDs have had sufficient time to detect the fault
and determine the direction of the fault.
 649

All monitoring IEDs connected to the bus act-in this monitoring of status and system parameters is possible
application as the sending IEDs, while the hay computer through the front panel interface of the IEDs.
or programmable logic controller is the receiving IED. Revenue Metering
The integration of multifunctional monitoring and
.................... recording devices with substation automation systems
GOOSE designed to provide energy management tools are also a

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Separate energy measurement values are required for both
positive and negative Watthours, positive and negative
VARhours, and VAhours. These energy quantities are
calculated every cycle from the Total Watts, Total VARs,
and Total VAS, and the values are stored into non-volatile
memory every time interval. The Energy values may he
reset and all values are reset simultaneously. The energy
measurements from the monitoring and recording device
should be made available to the Measurement History
application or to a real-time billing application. History
files can be automaticallycreated every hour and stored on
Fig. 3 GOOSE based bus protection during bus fault the substation computer. These files can he further
processed in order to calculate the energy measurements
The benefit of the peer-to-peer communications based over user-defined time intervals which calculate the
distributed bus protection is that it provides fast fault revenue based on calendar and tariff data specific to the
clearance for suh-transmissionand transmissionbus faults , site or updated based on change of market information.
without the need for any additional protection equipment Distributed Sequence-of-Events Recording
(ifthe function is implemented in a hay controller IED). It Conventional substations are equipped with a centralized
replaces a bus differential protection device and in some event recording system. It has multiple inputs that are
cases may eliminate the need for an addition or connected to outputs of different primary or secondary
replacement of current transformers. At the same time it is substation equipment. The substation event recorder time-
used as a backup bus protection to the main high- or low- stamps with a certain resolution (typically 1 ms) the
impedance bus differential protection. change of state of the input and stores it in the memory or
Distributed Measurements and Monitoring prints it for analysis.
The distributed measurements and monitoring system This case of conventional sequence-of-events recording
provides primary and backup data on: directly measured has similar issues to the ones described in the previous
currents and voltages, calculated sequence components of sections. It requires additional equipment, wiring,
the currents and voltages; active, reactive and apparent installation, maintenance, etc. Because of the additional
power, energy; power factor; frequency; harmonics and costs the number of monitored status points is limited,
T H D demand metering information; thermal overload which reduces the amount of data for the analysis of
information; breaker and 1ED status information. complex events in the substation.
The primary measurements and power quality monitoring Distributed event recording is based on the features of
functions are provided by specialized measurement individual multifunctionalIEDs in the substation.They do
devices. They are used as the main data source for data not only record a change of state in relay outputs and
acquisition for multiple clients, such as the substation primary substation equipment, but also changes of
automation system or a SCADA master. Built-in power settings, startup and operation of individual protection
quality analysis features also make them the main devices functions, relay logic elements, inputs and outputs.
for power quality monitoring. Hundreds ofevents are time-stamped with 1 ms resolution.
Multifunctional microprocessor based protective relays Event reports in IEC 61850 are based on Report Control
provide a wide range of metering and status information. Blocks. They control the procedures required for repotting
They are used as the backup source for metering values of event data from one or more logical nodes to one
information since measurements are a requirement for the client. Instances of report control are configured in the
performance of its primary protection task. The advanced IED at configuration time.
programmable scheme logic in the protective relays also The advantage ofthis distributed event recording is that it
can be used to implement some hasic forms of backup provides very detailed information for any event in the
power quality monitoring, for example detection of substation or the power system. It can he used by the LED
voltage sags, swells and power supply interruptions. itself or within a distributed analysis system.
Measurements and status information from primary and Distributed event recording can he achieved if the
backup sources are displayed on the substation one-line substation client can extract the event reports from
diagram and can he viewed on the substation computer multiple IEDs and then sort them based on user selected
HMI or by remote clients using an off-the-shelf Web filters:
browser such as Internet Explorer. At the same time if the Since a common event reporting and fault record format is
substation has a single computer that is out-of-service,
 650
not available today, the IEEE PES Relaying Committee
has established a task force to look at this issue.
Distributed Recording
High-speed or low-speed disturbancerecording is intended
for capturing events such as voltage sags or voltage swells
during short circuit faults on the transmission or
distribution system. The disturbance recording !ED stores
the values of a user-defined set of parameters (frequency,
voltage) for every log interval. This protile can he used to
analyze the disturbance or to verify the system model
based on a simulation of the same event and comparison
of the calculations and the record. Backup recording for
some low-speed disturbances can be provided by the
historical data logging features of the substation
automation system that can store data with a sampling rate
of 1 sampleisec.
Waveform recording is available in multifunctional IEDs
and is known as disturbance recording. It captures the
individual samples of the currents and voltages measured
by the IED with a sampling rate that may he higher than a
hundred samples per cycle for high-end monitoring and
recording IEDs. Because of that significant difference in
the sampling.rate, specialized recording devices provide
the primary waveform recording function while the
protection relays are used for backup recording.
Disturbance or waveform records are typically saved as a
file or set of files (according to the COMTRADE
specifications).Retrieval of such files requires tile transfer
support in IEC 61850.
Since the recording is distributed between multiple IEDs
connected to the substation communications network,
cross-triggeringmight he required to ensure that all system
parameters are recorded for the analysis of the event. This
is achieved by exchange of GOOSE or GSSE messages
between devices that detected abnormal condition (PIED)
and the ones that have to record it (PQMR IED in Fig. 4).
f=
Feeder
Fig. 4 Cross-triggering of recording between IEDs
Distributed Sampled Values
With the upcoming completion ofthe IEC 61 850 standard
for communications in the substation and the availability
of conventional or non-conventional instrument
transformers with digital interface based on IEC 6 I850 9-
2, it is possible to develop and implement a
communications based multifunctional IED. They will he
based on analog (current and voltage) sampled values
provided by specialized IEDs called Merging Units (see
Fig. 5 ) .
The standard defines the transmission of sampled values
available from the merging unit to the multifunctional
IEDs of different types that need the analog data. The
sensors are connected to the merging units. The samples of
all three phases and neutral are collected and send out as
multicast messages. Several IEDs receive the sampled
values and process them as required by their functionality.
M
Fig. 5 Distributed sampled values
.
The sampled values interface that replaces the hardwired
analog inputs of conventional IEDs, combined with the
GOOSE or GSSE messages that replace the hardwired
binary inputs and outputs will allow the development of
communications only based devices.
CONCLUSIONS
The concept of a complete solution for protection, control,
monitoring and recording in substations is achievable
based on the integration of multifunctional IEDs with
advanced functionality and communications capabilities
and a substation HMI system using IEC 61x50.
The system provides the primary and backup functions in
a complete cost effective intepated solution: protection,
control, metering, monitoring, event reporting, recording
and analysis.
The different primary and backup functions are distributed
between multiple multifunctional IEDs and the HMI
client.
Distributed sampled values and GOOSE status
information make it possible to develop a communications
only based solution for protection, control, monitoring and
recording in substations.
References
1. IEC 61850-7-1 Communication networks and
systems in substations, Part 7-1: Basic
communication structure for substation and feeder
equipment - Principles and models
2 . IEC 61850-7-2 Communication networks and
systems in substations, Part 7-2: Basic
 ~

651

communication structure for substation and feeder

equipment Abstract communication service
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interface (ACSI)