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Abstract—Distribution Automation (DA) is viewed as an action or report an action to the central control center [1].
integral component of the Smart Grid paradigm. It facilitates the Such a communication system should make large quantities of
employment of computer technology and communication data available to different applications while preserving its
infrastructure to advance management and operation of the quality. This in turn raises the issue of how and with what
distribution network from a semi-automated approach towards a
format the data should be modeled and transported.
fully automated one. SCADA systems, advanced sensors, and
electronic controllers are integrated into the DA system in order Additionally, in more advanced automation applications, data
to achieve the desired performance and reliability at the needs to be accompanied by additional attributes such as the
distribution network. Interoperability of all the components address of the device the message is being sent to, the address
participating in the DA system requires communication of the device initiating the message, type and length of the
standards covering not only the devices in the substation, but all data, time stamp of the event/message, its priority compared to
the components from the substation to the point of interface with
the other messages received, as well as its quality.
the end consumers. While the IEC 61850 standard was originally
addressing applications and communications within the Traditionally, proprietary protocols have been used to
substation, recent work is undergone for extending it beyond the model and transport the data and the applications. The
substation fence. With its object oriented structure, IEC 61850 technologies developed were exclusive to each vendor and
can provide comprehensive and accurate information models for were not compatible with the systems and technologies of
various components of distribution automation systems, while others. The inherent multi-vendor nature of advanced
providing an efficient solution for this naturally multi-vendor
distribution automation applications leads to the need for an
environment. This paper provides some concrete examples on
how IEC 61850 can be employed in the context of distribution interoperable environment in which all devices and vendors
automation applications, and what measures need to be taken to share a common modeling and communication protocol.
enable it to efficiently respond to some of the emerging While the IEC 61850 standard was originally intended for
technologies in DA systems. intra-substation applications, this paper promotes the idea of
Index Terms—IEC 61850, communication protocols, extending its applicability to distribution automation
information models, interoperability, distribution automation, applications integrating field devices located outside the
feeder automation, Smart Grid substation fence. Some typical DA applications have therefore
been presented here based on integration with IEC 61850.
I. INTRODUCTION These include volt/Var control, fault detection, fault isolation,
extended to cover other utility automation functions as well. and services used for access to the elements of the domain
Traditionally for the SA systems, the standard divides inter- specific object model. ACSI is a network independent
substation communications into three levels: process level interface that defines the semantic of the service models with
including the I/O devices, intelligent sensors and actuators, their attributes, and describes what these services provide. The
bay/unit level including the protection and control IEDs, and abstract nature of ACSI is necessary to make the SA system
the substation level, including the substation computer, compatible with the fast advances in the communication
operator’s desk and the interfaces with outside the substation. technology, keeping the SA specific data models separate
All the communications within and between these levels are from the underlying communication technology.
covered in the standard (Fig. 1). Moreover, in its recent
edition, the standard also covers protection data exchange
between the bay and remote protection, as well as control data
exchange between the substation and the remote control
center.
and 61850-9-2 define two mappings for SV over serial DA promises to benefit the utility and customers alike by
unidirectional multi-drop point-to-point link and SV over reducing operation and maintenance costs, improving
ISO/IEC 8802-3. reliability and power quality, enabling new customer services,
deferring capacity expansion projects (CAPX), and providing
better information for utility engineers and planners [7]. DA
covers the complete range of functions from existing SCADA
systems to ever-increasing deployment of AMI technologies at
the customer level in which local automation, remote control,
and central decision making are brought together to deliver a
cost-effective, flexible, and cohesive operating architecture
[8]. A DA implementation could be as simple as upgrading a
manual switching scheme with remote control to deployment
of sophisticated DMS systems with integrated IEDs. Some
examples of DA/FA applications are listed below, each
requiring automated operation and control of a specific set of
components within the distribution system:
• Fault Detection, Isolation and Restoration (FDIR) –
algorithms used for detecting and isolating faults in the
distribution system, and restoring power to the customers
Fig. 4. Client/server and peer-to-peer communication modes in IEC 61850. located in the outage area. This improves system
reliability and availability of service.
Multicast GOOSE messages on the other hand are used to • Feeder Reconfiguration – preventive or restorative
model the transmission of high priority information such as actions for dynamic reconfiguration of the network in
trip commands or interlocking information. The model is order to achieve improved efficiency, reduced losses, load
based on cyclic and high-priority transmission of status balancing, lower congestion, and smaller probability of
information. Information like a trip command is transmitted outages.
spontaneously and then cyclically at increasing intervals. • Outage Management System (OMS) – utilizes the data
Although other standard protocols exist that cover available from fault location systems, IEDs and Advanced
communications beyond substations, it is generally believed Metering Infrastructure (AMI) to achieve accurate outage
that the capabilities of IEC 61850 can be potentially used to scoping, thereby replacing the traditional trouble call
improve these applications. In this context, IEC 61850 can be approach and reducing the response time to system
used as the communication protocol for feeder automation outages.
applications or communication with the control centers [5]. • Distribution State Estimation (DSE) – perform near-real-
time state estimation and topology processing to achieve
III. DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATION an accurate state/topology of the distribution network to
Distribution Automation (DA) as a concept emerged in the be used either by other applications or for situational
1970s to promote the application of computer and awareness purposes.
communications technologies for the improvement of • Voltage/Var Optimization (VVO) – regulates shunt
distribution system operating performance. Since then, DA capacitors and transformer tap positions in order to
has evolved and turned into an established concept which is achieve minimized power losses, reduced demand and/or
adopted by the utilities worldwide. Today, DA has gained improved voltage profile.
renewed attention and accelerated momentum in view of the • Distributed Generation (DG) Management – optimal
recent industry-wide push towards Smart Grids and the need dispatch of DG units to minimize the losses, improve the
for more reliable and efficient distribution systems. In fact, it system voltage profile, manage reactive power
is estimated that by 2030, 55% of all distribution feeders in production, improve the system congestion profile, or
the US will be integrated with advanced DA systems [6]. assist system restoration, while adhering to the market
DA specifics vary from one utility system to another, but in conditions.
general it refers to deployment of automation technologies for • Microgrid Management – supervisory control of low
protection, control, monitoring, and operation of distribution voltage and medium voltage microgrids during grid
systems. These technologies enable electric utilities to connected mode and/or performing microgrid islanding.
monitor, control, and operate distribution components in a • Demand Response (DR) – demand side management to
real-time or non-real-time mode from remote locations. A key make use of the demand reduction offered by proactive
requirement for any DA system is an advanced two-way consumers, primarily for peak shaving purposes. Some
communication system for providing capability of remote similar mechanisms can also be used to manage ancillary
measurements/operations of field devices from a substation or services that contribute to quality of service and system
the control center. security in the distribution system.
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2) Voltage Regulator Tap Position Control 2. Single phase and three phase measurements from across
Voltage regulators with automatic tap changing capabilities the system are available through MMXU and MMXN.
allow for controlling the voltage according to a predefined Examples include the total active demand, total reactive
automatic logic or by remote access through the operator power, total power factor, etc.
command. The most relevant LNs defined in IEC 61850 for 3. Capacitor status and number of switching operations are
this application are ATCC that represents the automatic tap retrieved for all capacitors.
changer controller, YLTC that represents the tap changer 4. Tap position and number of operations are retrieved for
which is the device allocated to the power transformer all voltage regulators.
allowing changing taps of the winding, and MMXU/MMXN 5. Algorithm is executed (at the utility side or at the
that indicates the presence of three phase/non-phase metering substation), control actions are determined (subject to
operational constraints of individual capacitors and tap
and measurement for operative purposes [10]. Some of the
changers).
main data attributes associated with the logical node ATCC
6. Finally, control signals are sent to local controllers
are as follows [11]:
(CSWI and ATCC).
• Loc: to indicate local operation The communication scheme for the VVC application
• TapPos: tap position depends on the way the algorithm is being implemented.
• OpCntRs: resettable operation counter (i.e., number of tap While for centralized solutions implemented at the control
operations) center level, the communication services would be in the form
• TapChg: change tap position (stop, higher, lower) of client/server applications, for more decentralized solutions
• LTCBlk: block automatic control of LTC –for instance at the substation level or lower– the services
• Auto: automatic/manual operation could be either in the form of client/server or peer-to-peer
• ParOp: parallel/independent operation (which is used for applications. Both these schemes are supported by the
ganged or unganged operation of the tap changer) standard.
• HiTapPos/LoTapPos: to indicate that the high or low tap
B. Fault Detection and Isolation
positions have been reached.
Fig. 6 illustrates a tap changer with a three-phase control, The objective of fault detection and isolation is to sense
which similar to the previous section can be easily expanded and locate a fault in the network, and consequently, isolate it
to incorporate individual phase control capability as well. In from the rest of the network in minimum amount of time.
that case, the attribute ParOp of ATCC needs to be set to the Fault detection and isolation therefore contribute to the overall
correct setting to indicate independent (un-ganged) as opposed system security by minimizing the impact of an electrical fault
to parallel (ganged) operation. on the network. The fault isolation needs to ensure that the
fault is isolated with minimum amount of unserved load as a
result of the disturbance. This mechanism is largely dependent
on the protection scheme employed at the feeders. In general,
two main protection schemes can be considered that are
currently being used worldwide:
• A distributed protection scheme, mostly used in rural
distribution networks or when large distances have to be
covered – In such a scheme, multiple breakers and/or
reclosers are located on the same feeder and contribute
directly to clear the fault as close to where it occurs as
possible. Since this mode is very frequent in North
America, it has been referred to here as the NA influenced
feeder topology.
• A centralized protection scheme, where protection
devices able to clear the fault are exclusively located in
the primary substation. This means that in the event of a
fault only one breaker can trip (or perform reclosing
Fig. 6. Decomposition of tap changer control into LNs.
action). Any other switching equipment on the line does
not have fault interruption capabilities. In the current state
3) VVC Use Case of the art, no more than 2.5 switches per feeder are
A typical voltage/Var control use case can be described as remotely controllable. Since this mode is very frequently
follows: used in Europe, it has been referred to here as the
1. Load forecast, network model, loss calculations are European influenced feeder topology.
imported from external modules and used for algorithm Fault detection and isolation issues for these two schemes
calculations. are described in the following sections.
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b) Fault isolation
Fault isolation is performed by remotely managing the
remotely controllable switches located on the corresponding
feeder(s). Here also peer-to-peer communications between the
fault detectors and the controllable switch can speed up the
overall reaction time of the DA system.
3) Discussion
The standard seems to cover almost all the devices that
participate in the detection, isolation and location of the fault.
Minor information missing can be added as described in the Fig. 9. Service restoration example – normal operating condition.
preceding sections. Moreover, geographical attributes can be
added to the reclosers and switches that indicate their When a fault occurs along feeder 2, switches R1 and R2
association with the connectivity model of the system. open up in order to isolate the fault. The consequence of the
However, the important point is that no new common data fault isolation is that feeder 3 is now without power. It is
class is needed to provide the required data. assumed in this case that the load of feeder 3 can not be
handled solely by Generator 2; however, it can be handled if
C. Service Restoration Use Case
the DER unit is connected to the network. The set of actions
Following the occurrence of a fault in the distribution and operations to perform in order to restore the power on
system and its consequent isolation from the rest of the feeder 3 are (see Fig. 10):
network, the customers initially affected by this interruption • Evaluate the load on feeder 3.
are not limited to those connected to the faulty circuit; rather, • Determine the maximum capacity of Generator 2.
a larger number of customers –for instance those connected to
• Determine the maximum capacity of the DER unit. This
the downstream of the fault location– will be left without
will provide an estimate of the total generation capacity
electricity as well. Service restoration algorithms are therefore
available.
applied in the distribution management system (DMS) in
• If the total power exceeds the loads on feeders 3 and 4
order to supply electricity to the customers located in the
then proceed.
outage area, while the fault is isolated and the faulty circuit is
• Perform synchronism check between the DER and the
being repaired; thereby improving the availability of the
grid.
system. Traditionally, the selection of the restoration sources
and the restoration paths is determined only by the capacity • Connect the DER to the network (set to the load
margin of the restoration source as well as the rating limits of following mode).
the equipment along the restoration path. The consequence of • Close the switch R3 to re-energize feeder 3.
service restoration is an additional load imposed on the
generators located on the restoration path. When the
additional load exceeds the capacity of these generators,
several actions can be performed:
• A demand response signal can be sent to the customers on
the restoration path to lower their load. In this case, the
demand response signal should be a direct load control
(DLC) signal so that the load reduction happens as fast as
Fig. 10. Service restoration example – after service is restored to outage area.
possible.
From an IEC 61850 modeling point of view, the above
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example can be modeled as in Fig. 11. The new application network can be spread over a very large area.
logical node ARES is proposed to indicate the service Finally, it is worth noting that compared to substation
restoration engine. To perform its actions, ARES uses: automation applications, most DA applications are not very
• MMXU20 that provides the current load supported by sensitive to network delays of a few seconds, as long as the
Generator 2, data is received before the next computation period (usually
• ZGEN2 which gives the capacity of Generator 2, considered in the order of minutes). This makes most
• MMXU2 which provides the load of feeder 3 before the transmission technologies viable options.
fault occurred, B. Network and Transport Layers
• DGEN30 which gives the capacity of the DER,
While a point-to-point communication is technically
• DRCC30 which allows to control the set point of the
feasible to implement most DA applications, the ongoing
DER,
effort for developing the Smart Grid infrastructure
• RSYN30 which checks the synchronism of the DER, necessitates considering routable protocols. An obvious
• XCBR30 which connects the DER to the network, choice is therefore IP and especially IPv6 when considering
• RREC3 which closes switch R3 to re-energize feeder 3. the future developments. The downside of IP and IPv6 is the
overhead it would cause for the data transmission channels
with limited bandwidth such as PLC when used over long
distances, where a simple point-to-point protocol would be
sufficient.
From a transport point of view, TCP is a protocol meeting
the reliability requirement needed by DA applications. Indeed,
while latencies are acceptable for such applications, the
assurance of having packets correctly sent and received is
crucial. It is worth noting that compared to substation
automation, DA cannot rely on redundant physical networks
Fig. 11. IEC 61850 based model of the service restoration example.
(e.g. PRP or HSR) and therefore requires software redundancy
mechanisms.
V. COMMUNICATION ASPECTS C. Session Layer
Distribution automation applications are characterized by a Communication services can be based on client-server,
large number of openly accessible devices, spread out over publish/subscribe or peer-to-peer patterns. For majority of
large geographical areas, which are connected to each other applications that are executed at the control center level, a
through heterogeneous means. Such characteristics make the client-server approach would be sufficiently effective.
requirements on the underlying communication infrastructure However, peer-to-peer can be useful in applications where
different from the ones applicable for substation automation all or part of communication with the control center fails and
applications. While communication infrastructure as defined the system (for instance the capacitor switches, tap positions,
by the OSI model [12] is too broad to be discussed in this etc) need to go to a failsafe mode.
paper, the discussion in this section is restricted to the most
critical parts, namely the physical layer, the network and D. Cyber Security
transport layers, the session layer and cyber security. Security is an important issue for automated DA
applications. In the modern smart grid paradigm, the nature of
A. Physical Layer
attacks to the power system have shifted from easily
At the physical layer, different media such as fiber optics, observable physical damages to physical assets towards more
Power Line Carrier (PLC) or wireless technologies can be subtle cyber-intrusions and cyber-attacks that can continue for
used. The selection of the proper medium depends on many a long time without showing an immediately observable
aspects, e.g., installation cost, geographical span of the impact on the performance of the system.
application, security, etc. Some options such as fiber optics When it comes to DA applications, some of the most
provide high throughput and high dependability, but are important cyber security concerns for the utilities are:
considerably more expensive for long distance applications • Availability – denial of service, whether issued from the
and may be only available in the urban areas. Similarly, server side or resulting from inaccessibility of field
wireless is a viable option for urban areas where the devices devices, can disrupt the performance of the DA
are not far from one another. Moreover, compared to optical applications.
fiber, wireless is a more economical option for many DA • Integrity – integrity violation by an unauthorized entity
applications, although with lower dependability and higher can adversely affect the performance of the network and
security risks. From an economical point of view, PLC is even even its configuration, which can potentially impact
cheaper as it does not require heavy investments and is thousands of customers.
therefore more suitable for rural areas where the distribution • Intrusion – intercepting the data packets through a man-
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