Wireless Communications Improved Communications Enhance Customer Satisfaction

Wireless Communications Improved communications enhance customer satisfaction

Vol 4, No 5, June 1999 Communication Protocol Gains Worldwide Acceptance North American utilities and IED manufacturers join forces to develop a “next generation” common protocol. By Mark Adamiak

he worldwide acceptance of a “next generation” universal communications standard is an initiative that is coming none too soon for many utilities, as economic, political and technological forces converge to place increasing pressure on the industry to provide more open, cost-effective solutions. In order to achieve those productivity gains, Tit has been imperative to find a means to agree upon open communication standards.

Utilities have long realized that the benefits of having a universal communications protocol for the industry are considerable. With an open systems solution, the industry could potentially save millions of dollars in development costs, protocol conversions, inter-device control wiring and other areas. Utilities can improve operating and business decisions based on real-time availability of data, combine different local and wide area media, as well as reduce implementation time and cost through using standardized devices.

From a communications The road to establishing a universal standard has been a long and difficult one. standpoint, deregulation has Although it has been slow, the industry is beginning to see some progress and has taken significant strides in moving forward in this area. With such tangible broken utilities into commu- gains, some significant technology developments that promise to revolutionize nication islands of users, the substation environment as it is now known are being witnessed. each with their own functions Although there has been speculation for some time as to which protocol will to perform. achieve the widest acceptance, more and more utilities are looking to the latest UCA (Utility Communications Architecture) Version from EPRI (formerly Electrical Power Research Institute). UCA Version 2 was born of the joint efforts of a group of selected North American utilities and intelligent electronic device (IED) manufacturers coordinated by EPRI. Their goal was to achieve a “next generation” common protocol for high-speed peer-to-peer communications between devices in the substation as well as back to the utility enterprise. Their efforts, in conjunction with the applicable standards-related groups in the IEEE and IEC communities, have gone a long way towards establishing acceptable open systems communication protocols for hardware and software.

EPRI’s UCA Version 1 was introduced in 1990. Its purpose was to establish a suite of existing protocols that would provide a flexible foundation for open communications in today’s utility environment, while anticipating the communications demands for the foreseeable future. UCA Version 2, introduced in 1997, expands on the original version to include Internet compatibility and a common interface standard for electric, gas and water utility systems. As technology evolves, and cooper- ation between utilities, associations, users and vendors becomes more widespread, UCA Version 2 is

clearly being considered by many to be one has placed added pressure on utilities to increase competitiveness and reduce of the first universally recognized protocol reduce costs and inject efficiencies into costs. This of course can only be suites that can provide an integrated, open the system. achieved through effective use of tech- system for real-time information exchange nology—and technology can only be among all major utility data communica- From a communications standpoint, effective in the industry through stan- tions systems. deregulation has broken utilities into com- dardization. Hence the relentless drive munication islands of users, each with their for vendors and suppliers to adopt a To date more than 34 utilities worldwide, own functions to perform. Independent universal standard for data models and including those in countries such as metering groups could find themselves at communication protocols. Holland, Italy, Germany, Mexico, the odds with independent system operators, United States, Canada, the Philippines and billing agents and other users. With this Financial analyses of UCA Version 2- South Africa, have either specified or complex network of data users, the utility based substation automation installations expressed a preference for UCA as the pri- industry—and its suppliers—were faced indicate the ability to deliver substantial mary standard in their substation design. with the need to create a network that cost and productivity savings to utilities Utility groups in the UK are currently would allow for the integration, consolida- in a number of major automation func- reviewing UCA. tion and dissemination of information tions. These include substation voltage both inter and intra utility. regulator control, metering and trans- With the worldwide adoption of UCA, former monitoring, feeder and voltage and the development of protection and From a financial standpoint, deregulation monitoring, sectionalizer switching, control technology that offers the inher- has brought with it a need for the shar- capacitor bank switching, outage detec- ent ability to communicate peer-to-peer as ing of accounting data among utilities, tion and metering and voltage monitor- well as to a station’s host computer, the independent system operators, metering ing. communications tools are now established firms, billing firms and independent to enable utilities to effectively compete in power producers. Inter-utility billing The Vendors’ Role a deregulated environment. must be correct and standardized. As EPRI’s work in establishing an Standard accounting and record keeping acceptable worldwide standard is At the same time, as more countries topics to track include revenues, costs, paving the way for utilities around the move towards the designation of a uni- liabilities and assets. world to move forward, it has also versally recognized standard, vendors are provided a clear direction for suppliers concentrating more of their efforts on Deregulation has also led to a number of in developing products for the substa- developing UCA-compliant products. In mergers and consolidations within the tion environment. order to see the significance of this industry. This in turn requires utilities to progress however, it is important to establish intra-company communication As the protocol issues become resolved, understand the forces that have led us to and the integration of data from compa- and more countries come on board in this point—or to be more precise, how nies’ control centers, power plants and designating and accepting a recognized deregulation has driven a need for substations. All of this becomes a difficult standard, vendors are now being equally change on many fronts. and extremely costly feat if the industry proactive in bringing more “universal” continues to work with different data products to market. The Changing Landscape models and communication protocols. of Deregulation Although vendors have been more reti- In the wake of deregulation, unbundling Adapting to a New Mindset cent to open the doors to competition, of services and increasing costs, the key Utilities are now recognizing that their at the same time they have learned that for the industry now lies in realizing real mindset must move beyond the con- they must take a cooperative role with cost reduction. Although cost control has fines of protecting individual interests utilities, standards organizations, end always been an issue for the industry, to finding out how to network these users and other vendors to introduce opening up the market to competition islands to facilitate communication, products to market that take advantage Financial analyses of UCA Version 2-based substation automation installations of the new protocols.

indicate the ability to deliver substantial cost and productivity savings to utili- This cooperative approach was certainly ties in a number of major automation functions. not the case as recently as a decade or so COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL

and communicate with Substation Automation Using EPRI MMS/Ethernet and GEPM IEDs any other device on a network regardless of Hardware NT Pentium Hardware NT Pentium platforms or operating systems—at a significantly Software Application Software Application PMCS 7.0/Cimplicity/Other PMCS 7.0/Cimplicity/Other lower cost than propri-

OLE for Process OPC/DOE OLE for Process etary systems. Control (OPC) Control (OPC) OPC/DOE MMS MMS Mod- DNP Other Mod- DNP Other ISO bus ISO bus To transfer this type of Stack TCP/IP Stack TCP/IP Ethernet RS485 Ethernet RS485 integration into the substation can obviously EPRI UCA2.0 Modbus MMS Over Modbus deliver substantial pro- IEDs IEDs DNP Ethernet Fiber Direct ductivity gains. In theo- Fiber Optic Hub #1 ry, users could replace Hub the above mentioned Bridge Fiber Optic discrete devices with Hub #2 intelligent electronic Primary Fiber devices (IEDs) that Backup could communicate, per- Fiber MSP Other Router form programmable Venders Ethernet To C60 Serial Ports L90 T60 MMS logic and have multiple Line D30 Transformer C30 Controller IEDs 232 GE 232 Differential Distance F30 Breaker I/O. All at a fraction of Modem Modbus Feeder the usual long-term WAN costs. 485 485 485 Enterprise ALPS Line Network Protection DDS-C Relay Switchgear Developers and manufac- Controller SCADA turers have long under- Other Fiber MUX PQM Power Venders stood that the benefits IEDs Discrete Discrete Quality Meter Control I/O inherent in PC technolo- I/O To Remote Substation Fiber MMS/Ethernet gy, such as common L90 Terminals Copper Legacy Protocols hardware and software The next generation substation architecture allows a migration from present RTU/SCADA technology to the “next generation” platform, a modular and SCADA, while providing the ability to integrate with legacy devices. upgradable architecture and a common human machine interface, could as easily ago when substations were full of discrete Any expansion meant that utilities would and effectively be applied to substation devices, all wired and mounted separately. have to implement individual communica- systems. With the progress made in pro- Some of these were passive—and most tions interfaces or gateways to connect any viding that crucial missing link—the stan- were using analog technology. Needless new equipment to an existing data net- dard communications protocol—we can to say, vendors had a vested interest in work—a costly and inefficient and time now move forward with “next genera- protecting “their own” and ensuring that consuming undertaking. The sensible tion” communications. Early universal their proprietary solutions would spawn approach was to try to minimize the num- adoption of this protocol can hopefully additional revenues as utilities expanded. ber of suppliers in order to simplify expan- avoid the “Tower of Babel” that was creat- sion efforts, although this would not always ed with the plethora of first generation The result of all this was a host of expen- mean getting the most advantageous prod- IED communication protocols. ■ sive devices, each requiring real estate: cur- ucts for their technology dollars. rent and voltage sensing, transducers, Mark Adamiak is GE Power Management’s System Integration manager. The system integration group is responsible for panel meters, RTUs, fault locators, fault One only has to look at the world of PC developing and implementing utility integration solutions recorders, control relays, timers, switches, technology to see the advantages of open around the world. logic devices, protection relays and com- communications. In that world, systems munication interfaces. can function in virtually any environment