What is PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 about?
PD IEC TR 61850 is a series on communication networks and systems for power utility automation. A communication network is a collection of methods that users employ to pass on valuable information.  PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 is a technical report, is intended for an audience familiar with network communication and/or IEC 61850-based systems and particularly for substation protection and control equipment vendors, network equipment vendors and system integrators.
PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 focuses on engineering a local area network limited to the requirements of IEC 61850-based substation automation. PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 outlines the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to network topology, redundancy, clock synchronization, etc. so that the network designer can make educated decisions. In addition, PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 outlines possible improvements to both substation automation and networking equipment.
Note 1: is not intended as a tutorial on networking or on IEC 61850. Rather, it references and summarizes standards and publications to assist the engineers.
Note 2: PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 does not address network-based security, which is the subject of IEC 62351 and IEC 62443.
Note 3: PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 does not address technologies for wide area networks.
Note 4: PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 does not dispense the responsible system integrator from an analysis of the actual application configuration, which is the base for a dependable system.
Who is PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 for?
PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 on communication networks and systems is useful for:
- Network equipment manufacturers
- Network equipment vendors
- Telecommunication sectors
- IT sectors
- Software engineers
- Design engineers
Why should you use PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4?
The communication network is the sum of all the means and methods that an organization employs to communicate. The growing success of the IEC 61850 series calls for guidelines for engineering ethernet networks. PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 series specifies the basic requirements for the networks but not how to achieve them. Indeed, the IEC 61850 series of standards focuses on data modelling and the interchange of that data, leaving out physical interconnection details that are nevertheless needed for interoperability.
PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 addresses data transfer over the network in IEC 61850, such as transmitting tripping commands for protection via GOOSE messages, and in particular the multicast data transfer of large volumes of sampled values (SV) from merging units (MUs).
PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 addresses issues such as ethernet technology, network topology, redundancy, traffic latency and quality of service, traffic management by multicast and VLAN filtering, network-based clock synchronization and testing of the network.
PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 considers seamless redundancy to increase the network availability under failure conditions and the high precision clock synchronization that is central to the process bus and synchro-phasor operation. PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 is applicable to local area networks outside of the substation, for example, substation-to-substation links or differential protection links, to which IEDs are directly connected. Using PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4 you can outline the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to network topology, redundancy, clock synchronization, etc. so that the network designer can make educated decisions.
What’s changed since the last update?
PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4:2020 supersedes PD IEC/TR 61850‑90‑4:2013. PD IEC TR 61850‑90‑4:2020 includes some technical changes with respect to PD IEC/TR 61850‑90‑4:2013. These include:
- The new object model for bridges and clocks based on UML auto-generation
- An example of SCL configuration with a topology
- Extensions to the time distribution and clock
- Extension of the testing
This standard contains additional content file(s). Click here to download the content (zip format).
