The introduction of the IEC 61850 standard makes testing the communication between protection IEDs and the station control integral to the commissioning procedure. The OMICRON IEDScout, gives protection engineers a universal client for IEC 61850 servers, as well as a publisher and receiver of messages in the GOOSE (Generic Object Oriented Substation Event) format.
In the IEC 61850 standard, time-critical data, such as trip commands and measured values from instrument transformers, utilise real-time transmission with GOOSE or sampled values. The standard also describes a range of services, which access the data model of the field device facilitating its communication with a control system.
Reports for communicating between a field device (server) and the station control (client) are transmitted via TCP/IP. A report provides an event list, allowing status changes to be sent unsolicited from the field device to the control system, with no need for polling.
IEC 61850 communications access data from the data model. Data transmission uses datasets, which can be generated statically or dynamically. In the latter case, the control centre can create a dataset and assign it to an available device report.
The field device’s IP address is required to connect it to the IEDScout. If this is the only information available, the IEDScout can retrieve the field device’s data model via its self-description. If a configuration file is available in SCL format, the IEDScout can import it to access the data model. This can even be investigated off-line, allowing the field device’s data to be accessed immediately once the connection has been established.
The IEDScout allows data linked to a protection function to be observed by; reading the attributes from its data model; enabling a corresponding report; or subscribing to a GOOSE message. To check how messages arrive at the control system, status changes must be generated. A test set can simulate an operating condition by injecting signals into the field device, or the IEDScout can create a message on behalf of the field device purely for testing the communication system. As sequences of GOOSE messages run too quickly to be traced in real-time, IEDScout can save them in COMTRADE format to allow detailed analysis and archiving.
Used as a universal client, IEDScout tests the transmission of messages and measured values. It also offers powerful functionality for analysing GOOSE communication, allowing users to gain an insight into the workings of IEC 61850.
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