UCA Presentation

IEEE UCA AND IEC 61850 APPLIED IN DIGITAL SUBSTATIONS
by Karlheinz Schwarz

1 Summary
World-wide, electric utility deregulation is expanding and creating demands to integrate, consolidate and dis-seminate real-time information quickly and accurately within and with substations. Utilities spend an ever-increasing amount for real-time information exchange; costs for system integration and data maintenance are exploding. Development and sharing information among all industry participants on critical resources (e.g., critical T&D equipment) is one of the most crucial issues for reliable power systems. In response to this need, IEEE has published a suite of international standards in the "Utility Communications Architecture (UCA)" - IEEE Technical Report 1550 (1999).

UCA's objective is to dramatically improve device data integration into the information and automation tech-nology, reducing the costs for engineering, commissioning, operation, monitoring, diagnostics, asset management, and maintenance and increasing the agility of the whole life cycle of a substation. UCA differs from most previous utility protocols in its use of object models of devices and device components. These models define common data formats, identifiers, and controls, e.g., for substation and feeder devices such as switches, voltage regulators, and relays. The models specify standardised behaviour (interoperability) for the most common device functions.

The standards applied in UCA (e.g., Ethernet, TCP/IP, and MMS) define and exchange real-time data and metadata. Some 3,000 standardised objects with their names and types are specified. The metadata can be used for configuration and on-line verification of the integration and configuration of databases throughout the utility. This self-description of the data significantly reduces the cost of data management, and reduces down time due to configuration errors.

The UCA models, services, and protocols for substation devices are currently being integrated into the drafts IEC 61850 (Communication networks and systems in substations).

This paper gives an overview on utility's crucial integration requirements, the IEEE UCA (IEC 61850) solution, and the global market acceptance of this new technology. Finally the feasibility of the coexistence of a UCA real-time communication server and Web, Telnet, and ftp servers running under an embedded LINUX are shown.
...

EPRI and NettedAutomation offer a CD ROM containing a UCA/IEC 61850 and MMS Evaluation Kit as well as the UCA Specification: the EPRI Version 1 and the IEEE Version 2 (Nov 99) for the fastest possible start to learn about UCA technology.

	-> home > news > 2000 > uca presentation
	UCA Presentation at DistribuTECH EUROPE 2000 by Karlheinz Schwarz - Vienna, Austria, 10-12-10.2000 the fastest possible start to learn about UCA technology SESSION 2 Wednesday, October 11, 2000 09:30 - 11:00 Standard Protocols for Substation Automation IEEE UCA AND IEC 61850 APPLIED IN DIGITAL SUBSTATIONS by Karlheinz Schwarz 1 Summary World-wide, electric utility deregulation is expanding and creating demands to integrate, consolidate and dis-seminate real-time information quickly and accurately within and with substations. Utilities spend an ever-increasing amount for real-time information exchange; costs for system integration and data maintenance are exploding. Development and sharing information among all industry participants on critical resources (e.g., critical T&D equipment) is one of the most crucial issues for reliable power systems. In response to this need, IEEE has published a suite of international standards in the "Utility Communications Architecture (UCA)" - IEEE Technical Report 1550 (1999). UCA's objective is to dramatically improve device data integration into the information and automation tech-nology, reducing the costs for engineering, commissioning, operation, monitoring, diagnostics, asset management, and maintenance and increasing the agility of the whole life cycle of a substation. UCA differs from most previous utility protocols in its use of object models of devices and device components. These models define common data formats, identifiers, and controls, e.g., for substation and feeder devices such as switches, voltage regulators, and relays. The models specify standardised behaviour (interoperability) for the most common device functions. The standards applied in UCA (e.g., Ethernet, TCP/IP, and MMS) define and exchange real-time data and metadata. Some 3,000 standardised objects with their names and types are specified. The metadata can be used for configuration and on-line verification of the integration and configuration of databases throughout the utility. This self-description of the data significantly reduces the cost of data management, and reduces down time due to configuration errors. The UCA models, services, and protocols for substation devices are currently being integrated into the drafts IEC 61850 (Communication networks and systems in substations). This paper gives an overview on utility's crucial integration requirements, the IEEE UCA (IEC 61850) solution, and the global market acceptance of this new technology. Finally the feasibility of the coexistence of a UCA real-time communication server and Web, Telnet, and ftp servers running under an embedded LINUX are shown. ... EPRI and NettedAutomation offer a CD ROM containing a UCA/IEC 61850 and MMS Evaluation Kit as well as the UCA Specification: the EPRI Version 1 and the IEEE Version 2 (Nov 99) for the fastest possible start to learn about UCA technology.