Enhance Visibility for Your Power Distribution Center Using IEC 61850 MMS Solutions

Real-time monitoring plays a vital role in power distribution centers. However, for facilities equipped with numerous outdated devices, ensuring real-time monitoring poses a significant challenge for operators. While many power distribution centers consider the option of upgrading, limited budgets often hinder their plans. In such circumstances, the most suitable solution is to establish a connection between legacy infrastructure and an IEC 61850 network without exceeding the budget.

Challenges Faced

Understanding the dilemma of these power distribution centers requires a thorough examination of a key aspect. The presence of various devices like remote terminal units (RTUs), human-machine interfaces, switches, and intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) from different vendors, using proprietary or industrial protocols, creates complexities for power SCADA systems to monitor the entire distribution center. Modern power SCADA systems typically support the IEC 61850 MMS protocol, enabling operators to establish seamless communication between field devices and an IEC 61850-based power SCADA system for real-time power quality monitoring. Moreover, the rise in cyber threats targeting distribution centers underscores the importance of network communication security. Consequently, operators seek secure communication solutions that address security concerns during the retrofitting of power distribution centers.

Efficient Communication Integration for Various Industrial Protocols

Critical IEDs must directly communicate with power SCADA systems to facilitate real-time power quality monitoring and quick response to incidents. Communication gateways, equipped with a range of industry-related protocols such as IEC 61850 MMS, Modbus RTU/TCP, DNP3 serial/TCP, IEC 60870-5-101, and IEC 60870-5-104, offer a cost-effective solution. These gateways effectively bridge communication between IEC 61850-based SCADA systems and the diverse legacy IEDs utilized in power distribution automation systems.

However, integration of a variety of industrial protocols with the IEC 61850 MMS protocol, using gateways, can be time-consuming due to the complexity of editing the Substation Configuration Language (SCL) of IEC 61850. Thankfully, market-available tools streamline this process, making it more efficient. It is advisable to consider adopting one of these engineering tools to simplify the complexity of editing SCL files, especially for extensive substation retrofit projects, although an additional budget allocation is necessary for this investment.

Monitoring Legacy Field Devices without Replacement

Many aging power distribution centers still operate with legacy devices running proprietary communication protocols, making wholesale replacement economically unviable. When upgrading substation automation systems to modern Ethernet-based SCADA, cost-effective and effortless monitoring of these field devices becomes crucial. Implementing connectivity solutions like serial device servers facilitates transparent connectivity between IEC 61850-based power SCADA systems and proprietary-based field devices. This approach enables power SCADA to monitor legacy proprietary-based field devices by decapsulating Ethernet proprietary protocols.

Effective Solutions by Moxa

Moxa, a leading edge connectivity provider, offers a diverse range of connectivity solutions tailored to meet various application requirements. For communication streamlining, our MGate 5119 Series serves as a user-friendly substation gateway. This gateway not only facilitates seamless communication from Modbus, DNP3, IEC 60870-5-101, and IEC 60870-5-104 devices to IEC 61850 communication networks but also supports NTP time synchronization functions, ensuring consistent timestamped data. The MGate 5119 Series also features a built-in SCL file generator that significantly simplifies the completion of SCL files for substation gateways, eliminating the need to invest time and money in additional tools.

For monitoring proprietary-based field devices, our NPort S9000 Series offers a serial device server that seamlessly transitions serial IEDs to an Ethernet-based infrastructure for legacy substation retrofits. Supporting up to 16-port serial interfaces, 4-port Ethernet switching, and Ethernet-encapsulated proprietary protocols, the NPort S9000 Series effortlessly connects your field devices to SCADA systems. Additionally, the NPort S9000 Series provides NTP, SNTP, IEEE 1588v2 PTP, and IRIG-B time synchronization functions, ensuring synchronization not only within the NPort S9000 but also across legacy field devices.

When visualizing your power distribution networks, enhancing device security is paramount. Our serial device servers and protocol gateways address security concerns during the connectivity of your field devices. Both devices adhere to IEC 62443 and NERC CIP guidelines, incorporating security-enhancing functions like user authentication, IP access control lists, secure device configuration, and management via HTTPS and TLS v1.2 to safeguard communication devices against unauthorized access. Furthermore, our solutions conduct periodic vulnerability scans, taking appropriate actions such as applying security patches to bolster device security within distribution networks.

Furthermore, both our serial device servers and protocol gateways comply with IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 standards to ensure dependable operation within your power distribution environments. Refer to the comparison table below for detailed features of our IEC 61850 MMS solutions to identify the product that best suits your requirements: