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Network Topology

The performance of a substation automation system depends on the implementation of an effective communication system to connect all the protection, monitoring and control devices within the substation.

New Technologies in Substation Automation Systems
New Technologies in Substation Automation Systems (on photo: Micom P643 Final settings test with Freja 543; full credit: Abdelrahman Fayyad via Linkedin)

There are three basic communication network topologies, i.e. bus, ring, and star that are commonly implemented with Ethernet switches in electric substations.

In addition, there are some hybrid topologies built from the combination of the basic topologies to mitigate their disadvantages and offer better cost performance trade-off.


Substation Automation Topology

The IEC 61850 standard divides substation networks into three levels within or between which all communications take place: the process level, the bay/unit level, and the substation level.

The process level includes the input/output devices, intelligent sensors and actuators. The bay/unit level includes all the protection and control devices; and the substation level includes the engineering workstation, the Human Machine Interface (HMI) and the communications equipment.

Figure 1 presents a network topology based on the IEC 61850 standard.

Substation Automation Topology
Figure 1 – Substation Automation Topology

Data Structure based on Logical Nodes

The IEC 61850 environment is built over an object oriented model where protection and control functions are broken down into smaller units called Logical Nodes (LN) that correspond to various protection, control, metering, and monitoring functions as well as physical components such as instrument transformers and circuit breakers.

Each logical node has data objects within it, each of which contains data attributes.

These logical nodes are grouped into logical devices (LD) which are defined in the context of a physical device, with each physical device containing at least one logical device.

Title:Substation automation systems for protection, monitoring and control (future trends) – Bruno Tiago Pires Morais at Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto
Format:PDF
Size:3.90 MB
Pages:118
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Substation automation systems for protection, monitoring and control (future trends)
Substation automation systems for protection, monitoring and control (future trends)

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7 Comments


  1. Madhusudhan Gajanan Pathak
    Jul 27, 2019

    Subject is Excellent mast I like it


  2. Madhusudhan Gajanan Pathak
    Jul 27, 2019

    Mast Excellent l like this subject


  3. Johnson Akinbule
    Jul 26, 2019

    You a imparting great knowledge to the electrical engineering trade. Thanks a lot.


  4. Arthi
    May 25, 2019

    You explained very clearly about an the content.I love this content on the substation automation system.


  5. mechewash
    Dec 26, 2018

    I love the content and I’m learning a lot as I am very studious thank you


  6. Musa yahya bamalli
    Dec 25, 2018

    You did Well electrical engineering portal. That’s not only to study the the article, but to study

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