Experimenting with IEC 61850 and GOOSE messaging

Amulya, Mayur Patil, S. R. Bhide, S. S. Bhat

Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology
Nagpur, India
[email protected]
[email protected]

Abstract—This paper presents a detailed look into the IEC However with the advancement in the various
61850 protocol, its structure and substation communication technologies, these drawbacks have also now reduced to a
model. The GOOSE messaging service which is an important great extent. The latest development in the field of power
part and also one of the major benefits of the IEC 61850 systems is the Intelligent Electronic Devices and Phasor
protocol has also been discussed. The various steps for Measurement Units which have replaced the conventional
implementation of IEC 61850 protocol and transmission of relays. The Synchrophasor technology has also helped in the
GOOSE messages in SEL relays have been studied. A laboratory development of PMUs. In order to integrate all these different
experimental setup to study the performance of GOOSE devices in the power system, the need for a standardized
messaging has been developed with the help of SEL relays,
protocol became very evident.
associated softwares and a PC, which serves as the HMI. It has
been observed that the time for transmission and the number of
wires are considerably reduced.
II. IEC 61850
A. Why IEC 61850?
Index Terms—IEC 61850, GOOSE, SAS, IED
A wide number of devices are being developed today in
the field of Electric Utility Automation. Most of the earlier
I. INTRODUCTION IEDs had protocols which did not match each other and thus
Communication systems form the backbone of today’s interoperability could not be established in this environment or
power system due to the shift to the concept of a Smarter Grid. it took complex methods to implement inter-operation of IEDs
The initial controls and operations in a substation were based from different vendors under one single environment. This
on telephonic data exchange and operators had to manually go issue was taken up and the UCA 2.0 from the ANSI
into the field and determine the fault type and location and environment was combined with IEC 60870-5-103 of
then correct it. With the development in the field of International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC) and thus the
communication, the power system communication also IEC61850 protocol was born from the previous existing
evolved and is at a stage that it is in today and still developing protocols in order to have a standardized communication
at a faster rate. The earlier measurement, control and protocol for power system utility applications. First parts of
communication data were hard- wired. Thus each device was IEC 61850 standards were published in 2004[4].
to be connected to every other device within the system to
which it had to transfer data. For example, the data from CTs The IEC61850 protocol provides interoperability between
and PTs were sent through copper wires to the relays and IEDs from different vendors by defining a common set of
further the trip signals were also sent similarly. With the rules and by defining logical nodes into Substation
increase in popularity of digital communication came in the Automation System (SAS) functions. It uses Ethernet and
Data Acquisition Systems. However the time required for data TCP/IP for communication. Use of Ethernet communication
configuration, mapping and documentation was a setback. allows the replacement of conventional copper wiring thus
reducing the cost and improving the speed of communication.
The evolution of Ethernet communication was another Apart from standardizing the electrical utility, the 61850
major leap in communication field. The amount of wiring that protocol also supports ‘self description’ i.e., ability of a device
was required in the earlier systems was drastically reduced. to display its data to a client browsing the device contents. The
However the price to be paid was the time of data transfer, standard describes standards for client-server and peer-to-peer
data security and cyber threats and the increased amount of communications, substation design and configuration, testing,
data which had to be stored but the memory available was and project implementation.
less.
The IEC 61850 is made up of 10 parts which are listed in
Table 1[1]:
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 device consists of Logical nodes such as Circuit Breakers or
Definitions
transformers. Each logical node contains a predefined set of
IEC 61850 Sections data classes similar to the files on a computer. These data
classes contain data about the different configurations required
Introduction and overview for the power system purpose. The importance of
IEC 61850-1
standardization comes here. If these files are standardized, the
Glossary
IEC 61850-2 integration time and the cost of Human Machine Interface
IEC 61850-3 (HMI) and SCADA reduce significantly.
General requirements
Based o the above modeling hierarchy, an object in the
IEC 61850-4
System and project management 61850 based communication model is named as shown below.
IEC 61850-5
Communication requirements
Configuration description language for
IEC 61850-6 substation IEDs

Basic communication structure for

IEC 61850-7-1
substations and feeder equipment—
Principles and models
Basic communication structure for
substations and feeder equipment—
Abstract communication service
IEC 61850-7-2
interface The basics of an IEC 61850 based substation automation
(ACSI) system are

Basic communication structure for • Fast Ethernet

IEC 61850-7-3
substations and feeder equipment—
Common data classes • Station Bus 61850 8-1
Basic communication structure for • Process Bus 61850 9-2
substations and feeder equipment—
IEC 61850-7-4
Compatible logical node (LN) classes • Data Model
and data classes
• Substation Configuration Language
SCSM—Mapping to Manufacturing
IEC 61850-8-1 Messaging Specification (MMS) C. Process Bus
(ISO/IEC 9506-1 and ISO/IEC 9506-2
over ISO/IEC 8802-3) In conventional system there is hardwiring between
IEC 61850-9-1 SCSM—Sampled values over serial breakers, between CTs, PTs and the bay or the panels. In
multidrop point-to-point link 61850, instead of hardwiring between CTs and PTs and relays,
inside the breaker cabinet there is electronic phasor equipment
IEC 61850-9-2 SCSM—Sampled values over ISO/IEC known as Merging Unit (MU). Output of MU is connected to
8802-3 Optical Fiber cables to send digital Ethernet packets. The
IEC 61850-10 Conformance testing process bus is thus a communication network which works at
the process level and also connects the processes to the bay
level. IEC 61850 allows the transfer of both sampled analog
TABLE I. IEC 61850 SECTIONS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS
values and binary data (GOOSE, MMS) over the Ethernet
B. IEC 61850 Modelling based process bus. The sampled analog values are transferred
as multicast messages and can be received at all the IEDs on
The earlier protocols have also defined how data bytes are the same network.
transmitted on the wire. However, IEC 61850 provides a
complete model for how power system devices should D. Substation Configuration Language
organize the data such that it is the same across all brands of
The IEC 61850-6-1 specifies Substation Configuration
devices. The modeling approach of IEC 61850 consists of:
Language (SCL) to describe configuration of IEC 61850 based
• Physical Devices systems. It offers 4 file formats:
• Logical Devices • SSD- Substation Specification Description
• Logical Nodes • ICD- IED Capabilities Description
• Data Classes • CID- Configured IED Description
The physical devices such as relays contain one or more • SCD- Substation Configuration Description
Logical devices. This model allows a single physical device to
The IEDs exchange data through XML files. The ICD
act as a proxy or gateway for multiple devices thus providing
files, i.e., configuration information data, are extracted from
a standard representation of a data concentrator. Each logical

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 the XML of each device using SCL. The CID file containing IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
information about configuration of IED are then sent back into The experimental setup at our Power System Protection
the IEDs; again as a part of XML file. Laboratory at VNIT, Nagpur consists of
This protocol also standardizes the data structures,
• Two Relays: SEL-421 and SEL-311C equipped
formats, and time-stamping and data qualities.
with Ethernet facility
E. IEC 61850 Based Substation Model • A Multilink switch
The IEC 61850 based substation model is as shown in
Figure 1. The data from the power system are obtained • A computer preloaded with AcSELerator
through the CTs and PTs combined with the merging unit Quickset and AcSELerator Architect software
(MU). The synchronization is obtained through GPS clock • Appropriate Ethernet cables.
using IRIG-B protocol. The process bus interfaces the process
level to the bay level and the station bus is responsible for First we setup the connections between the devices and
interface between Bay level and the Substation level [2]. test the Ethernet LAN as shown in Figure 2[3].

Figure 2. Flow of messages between Relay 1 ad Relay 2

The complete flowchart of the experiment is as shown in

Figure 1. IEC 61850 based substation model Figure 3. The IEC61850 protocol is enabled in both the relays
using the Quickset software as show in Figure 4. Next the SEL
relays are programmed to transmit and receive the GOOSE
III. GOOSE MESSAGING
messages with the help of AcSELerator Architect soft ware as
Earlier Ethernet based communication was based on the 7 shown in Figure 5. The required Datasets to be transmitted are
layer OSI model. Thus speed of data transmission was an chosen on one relay and these can be accessed on the other
issue since the data had to pass through all the 7 layers for relay which receives the messages and vice-versa.
transmission. This problem was solved by using the GOOSE
messaging service which is a fast messaging service offered
by IEC 61850.
GOOSE is the abbreviation for Generic Object Oriented
Substation Event. It has evolved from GSSE. It is a fast and
reliable mode of distribution of information and can include
two kinds of messages
• Status- Breaker position, trip, alarm etc.
• Analog- Counter value etc.
GOOSE messages are based on changes in states of data
sets. These messages are managed by GOOSE control Blocks
(GCB). In GOOSE messaging, actions can be taken in cases
where the peer IED stops communicating. Another advantage
offered by GOOSE messaging is that the quality information
of the data sets is also sent for validation at the targets.

Figure 3. Flowchart for the experiment

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 B. Pushbutton status transmission
The physical relays may be accessible to unauthorized
persons or can be prone to some external accidental operation
of the pushbuttons. This can lead to changes in control and
other settings of the relay like relay reach and breaker control.
Under such cases, fast transmission of the change in status is
to be sent to the control centre so as to avoid any mal
operation of the system and also to ensure system security.
Fast data transmission has been achieved and the change in
push button status has been received by the relay 311C in 6ms.

C. Event recording during a fault

The various fault scenarios were tested on SEL-421 and in
case a trip signal is issued, the status is sent to 311C through
GOOSE messaging to trigger an event report to 311C. Thus
almost instantaneous data recording is achieved.

Figure 4. AcSELerator QuickSet window

V. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The event reports are generated in SEL relays whenever an
event occurs. These reports can be saved and then later
accessed for analysis using the AcSELerator Analytic
Assistant software. A typical graphical and Phasor event
report is as show in Figure 6 and Figure 7 respectively.

Figure 5. AcSELerator Architect window

A. Instantaneous line overcurrent protection

The voltage and current inputs are given to the SEL-421
relay (A) which can be considered to be connected at one end
of a transmission line. In case of a fault seen by the relay 421,
the relay issues a trip command and the experimental setup Figure 6. Analytic Assistant Oscillography Report
has been programmed such that this trip information is sent to
the relay 311C through IEC61850 GOOSE messaging service.
Upon receiving the data, 311C has been programmed to issue
a trip command. The message transfer is as shown in Figure 4
and Figure 5.
It has been observed that the time between the issue of trip
by relay421 and that by relay 311C is very small i.e,
approximately 10ms which is way smaller than that with hard-
wiring.

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 Figure 7. Analytic Assistant Phasor Report

Figure 9. SEL 311C Sequential Event Report

To study the time taken by GOOSE messaging the

Sequential Events Report generated by both the relays can be
studied. The data which is to be included in Sequential Event From the event report, the recorded times are
Reports are user defined. The sequential event reports of the 1) Instantaneous Line Overcurrent Protection
overcurrent relay and Pushbutton status are as shown in Figure
5 and Figure 6. • Overcurrent relay operation on SEL 421-
10:41:8.179
The events are labeled as follows
• Trip operation on SEL 311C- 10:41:8.180
Instantaneous Line Overcurrent Protection: 50P1-(1)
• Difference in time- 1ms
Pushbutton status: PB1, PB2-(2)
2) Pushbutton Status Transmission
• Pushbutton operated on SEL 421- 10:30:27.260
• Target LED operation in SEL 311C-
10:30:27.265
• Difference in time- 5ms
Thus it can be concluded from the above time stamps that
the time required for transmission of GOOSE messsages is
very small in the order of only a few milliseconds. This quick
message transfer can have huge impact on the various power
system applications.

VI. ACKNOWLWDGEMENT
We gratefully acknowledge the generous help received
from SEL engineering team at New Delhi and Bangalore
during our experiment

REFERENCES
Figure 8. SEL 421 Sequential Event Report [1] Yulia Rangelov, Nikolay Nikolaev, and Milena Ivanova, "The IEC
61850 Standard Communication Network and Automation Systems
from an Electrical Engineering Point of View," 2016 19th International
Symposium on Electrical Apparatus and Technologies (SIELA), pp. 1-
4, June. 2016.
[2] L van der Zel, Guidelines for Implementing Substation Automation
Using IEC61850, the International Power System Information
Modeling Standard, Technical Report, 2004

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 [3] https://selinc.com/solutions/technologies/
Standards:
[4] IEC-61850- Communication Networks ad Systems in Substations, IEC
Standard, 14 parts, 2002…2012

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