Intro to Data Communication

for the Emerging Smart Grid

Lecture 6
Carl Hauser
Washington State University
February 2014

Power Grid Applications and

Protocols
Goal: understand the

uses and
implementations of
data communications in
the Grid
Wide variety of
requirements and
approaches to meeting
them

Outline

SCADA and DNP3

Communication between
control centers: ICCP
PMU communications:
C37.118
Substation
communications: IEC
61850
Smart metering
Time synchronization

Power Grid Communications

SCADA
Outline

SCADA and DNP3

Communication between
control centers: ICCP
PMU communications:
C37.118
Substation
communications: IEC
61850
Smart metering
Time synchronization

SCADA is Supervisory

Control and Data

Acquisition

Control:

control center establishes set

points in field devices
Often manually done by grid
operators
Open-loop

Data acquisition

Usually: slow polling cycle: 2 to 4

seconds
Sometimes: report by exception
Data are recorded in Historian
Database at control center
Extracted for use by Energy
Management System and display
to operators on Human Machine
Interface

Power Grid Communications

DNP3: Distributed Network Protocol

(www.dnp.org)

www.trianglemicroworks.com/documents/DNP3_Overview.pdf

IEEE 1815 Standard

Originated in 1990
Layered Architecture

Physical/low level link:

serial over copper,
radio, etc.; ethernet;
TCP or UDP
Data Link: 256 byte
(max) frames;
checksums; addressing;
acknowledgements
Pseudo-transport:
segmentation

Application
Master-slave
App level
acknowledgements
User code

Power Grid Communications

DNP3 Networking
Operate over

variety of link
types
Speeds of 24009600 bits/sec were
fast
slow serial links
multi-drop links
Concentrated links

Not routable!
Power Grid Communications

DNP3 App Layer

Database design

Numbered data
object groups
Numbered positions
in groups

Poll request: send

me the value in
group NN at
position MM

Power Grid Communications

DNP3 and SCADA Deficiencies

for Smart Grid
No security (but Secure

DNP3 has been developed)

Bump-in-the-wire
security device patch
Designed for slow links,
polling
Awkward data naming and
addressing
Only the control center
cares about data viewpoint
Measurements
timestamped when
received, not when made
Power Grid Communications

ICCP
Outline

SCADA and DNP3

Communication between
control centers: ICCP
PMU communications:
C37.118
Substation
communications: IEC
61850
Smart metering
Time synchronization

Need:

> 3000 business entities

run parts of power grid
Generators,
transmission
operators,
distribution
operators
Grid must operate in
synchronyrequires
coordinated decisions
How do control centers
share information?
Power Grid Communications

ICCP/TASE.2: an Internet
Application Protocol
Uses TCP for

transport
Challenge: achieve
high availability
communication
Poll-response
architecture
(several second
cycle time)
Power Grid Communications

Database Problem
Bilateral agreements

between businesses
what do you call the
voltage measurement at
a particular bus in a
particular substation in
your database and what
do I call it in mine?
Mapping tables and
ICCP Associations

Power Grid Communications

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ICCP Limitations in Smart Grid

Latency

Primary use case is

polling data from
correspondent
database
(Historian) which
itself was polled at
multi-second
intervals
TCP

Security

Largely
implemented by the
mapping tables
Use secure
transport layer
(SSL/TLS)
Key management

Power Grid Communications

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PMU Communications
Outline

SCADA and DNP3

Communication between
control centers: ICCP
PMU communications:
C37.118
Substation
communications: IEC
61850
Smart metering
Time synchronization

PMU: Phasor

Measurement Unit

Measure voltage and

current 30-240 times
per second
Synchrophasor: take
each measurement at a
precise time
(microsecond accuracy)
This is way more and
way better data than
SCADA devices provide

Power Grid Communications

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PMU Protocol: C37.118

IEEE Standard
Application protocol over

UDP or TCP transport

Intended use: convey
synchrophasor data from
PMU to Phasor Data
Concentrator and between
PDCs

Power Grid Communications

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Whither PMU Communications?

Share PMU data among

utilities Naming issue

once again!
Send applications only what
they need (only some
require even 30
measurements /sec)
NASPInet
Improve latency to
applications
PMU -> PDC ->
application path imposes
latency
GridStat
Power Grid Communications

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Beyond PMUs
PMUs exemplify

modern sensing
High rate
Accurately
timestamped

With adequate

communication
these can support
the vision of

Much more

automatic, realtime control of the

grid for
Better reliability
Greater efficiency
Enable integration
of highly-variable
generation: solar
and wind

Power Grid Communications

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Substation Communications:
IEC 61850

www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_pes/pes/.../T.../05TD0235.pdf

Outline

SCADA and DNP3

Communication between
control centers: ICCP
PMU communications:
C37.118
Substation
communications: IEC
61850
Smart metering
Time synchronization

Suite of protocols

for substation
automation

More popular in Europe

and Asia than North
America
Tries to cover all the
needs for substation
automation
Also tackles the
database and naming
problem
Power Grid Communications

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Many use cases in substations

Performance needed varies

widely

Protective relaying: low data

rate and very low latency
(<4ms)
SCADA reporting: low data
rate and high latency
PMU reporting: high data rate
and moderate latency

Use high-performance

networking technology: 100

Mbit/s ethernet and
better

Power Grid Communications

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A new approach to naming

Isolate the power

services and object

models from the
communication
protocols

2: Application Layer

18

Real-time Communication

Power Grid Communications

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Smart Metering - AMS

Outline

SCADA and DNP3

Communication between
control centers: ICCP
PMU communications:
C37.118
Substation
communications: IEC
61850
Smart metering
Time synchronization

Main goals

Automated meter
reading
Demand response
Remote turn-on/off
More-aware consumers
Technical challenges
Hostile environment
Scale
Privacy (from consumer
perspective)
Security of data (from
utility perspective)

Power Grid Communications

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AMS Architecture

Power Grid Communications

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HAN the home area network

Zigbee 2.4GHz wireless band (like 802.11b/g/n

wireless networking, many wireless phones, )

Internet of things (but not IP!)
Smart Energy Profile customization for
metering
Cost matters!
Open vs. proprietary?
Energy monitor display
Smart appliances
http://www.engineeringtv.com/video/TexasInstruments-ZigBee-Smart

Power Grid Communications

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NAN the Neighborhood

Network
Proprietary no need for open?

Proprietary dont think that that means

secure!
Mesh routing radio-based pole-top
stations (not much use of the power lines
themselves to carry data though it has
been done)

Power Grid Communications

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Time Synchronization
GPS devices are

pretty cheap but

installation and
interfacing isnt
Idea: use
ubiquitous
Ethernet to
distribute time

Wide-area time synch

Network Time Protocol:

RFC 5905
25 years experience
10s of milliseconds
accuracy
Local-area time sync
Precision Time Protocol:
IEEE 1588

2002
Microsecond agreement on
LANs

Power Grid Communications

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Basic idea
Send a message and get a reply from another host

gives round-trip time

Send a message giving your current time and the
round trip time
Other host can estimate the offset between
clocks
Problems:
Variability in communication and asymmetric
communication times (smaller problem in LANs)
Getting to microsecond level requires
timestamping and time capture at a low level in
the communication stack (close to the link
Power Grid Communications
layer)

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Conclusion
A whirlwind tour:

Networking models
IP details at all layers
Power grid communications

Security:

Concerns more than solutions

Up next:

Computational aspects and distributed systems

(Prof. Bakken)
Security solutions (Prof. Hauser)

Power Grid Communications

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