Context: The Human Machine Interface (HMI) for Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) is limited in its capability and is often the most common cause of failure when interacting with devices. A new approach to interact with these devices is needed with focus on improving interaction and effective visualization of information. Objectives: In this thesis, we investigate and propose a solution to visualize data of existing IED in interactive way. A mobile based prototype is proposed to list alarms, events and disturbances. Further single line diagram shown with capability to switch controls. Objective of proposed solution is to investigate specific use of mobile device from the perspective of usability and compare the new prototype with existing use of IED monochrome screen interface. Methods: Mixed approach based on qualitative and quantitative methods is conducted for analysis of the problem, method and approach to solve the problems in the domain of Substation automation. Analysis of the problem was carried out with the literature review of the technical documentation of IEDs. Experiments are performed in real environment to test and verify the usability of prototype. Results: Experiments results of proposed solution indicate that new approach is acceptable. The interfaces developed in mobile provide better results than traditional interfaces of IED. The difference between them is significant. Conclusions: We conclude that mobile usability gives better interaction, freedom, visualization of information and enhance the users’ experience by providing context specific information as compared to the existing Local Human Machine Interface of Intelligent Electronic Devices. The study provides strong results that recent developments of mobile technologies have revolutionized users’ possibilities to access information in an easy and better way.

O desenvolvimento e utilização do padrão IEC 61850 alterou a concepção e operação das subestações de energia elétrica. O desempenho e confiabilidade do sistema de proteção depende da rede de comunicação de dados. Esta pesquisa propõe um parâmetro de dimensionamento e comparação de desempenho para o tempo de transferência das mensagens Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) entre Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). Esse parâmetro foi obtido através do levantamento experimental da curva do tempo de transferência das mensagens GOOSE versus a ocupação percentual da largura de banda dos IEDs. Para a realização dos experimentos foram utilizados três IEDs, um switch Ethernet gerenciável, três microcomputadores do tipo PC, um relógio sincronizador Global Positioning System (GPS), cordões de fibra óptica, cabos do tipo par trançado sem blindagem e aplicativos de software. Os resultados mostraram que a partir de um limiar característico, o qual é distinto para cada IED ensaiado, o tempo de transferência excede o limite máximo permitido pelo padrão IEC 61850. A partir da análise destes dados, foi desenvolvido um sistema preditivo de monitoramento de banda para supervisionar a interface de rede dos IEDs. O sistema preditivo apresentou para a medição de banda um erro relativo médio igual a 0,55% em relação ao aplicativo comercial utilizado na comparação, já a predição feita pela rede neural artificial apresentou um erro de estimativa menor do que 3% para 91,30% das amostras utilizadas, além de modelar adequadamente o comportamento da série temporal que representa a ocupação de banda do IED monitorado. / The development and utilization of IEC 61850 standard changed the design and operation of electric power substations. The performance and reliability of the protection system depends on the data communication network. This research proposes a parameter for dimensioning and comparising the transfer time of Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) messages between different Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). This parameter was obtained from experimental data related to the transfer time of GOOSE messages curve versus IEDs bandwidth percentage occupation. In this context, a laboratory structure was set up in order to carry out these experiments. This structure mainly consists of three IEDs, an Ethernet switch, three personal computers, a GPS Clock, fiber optic cables, unshielded twisted pair cables, as well as support software. The results show the existence of a characteristic threshold, different for each IED tested, after which the transfer time exceeded the total transmission time allowed for the IEC 61850 standard. Based on these results, a predictive bandwidth monitoring system was developed to supervise the IEDs bandwidth interface. The bandwidth measurement has a mean relative error of 0.55% regarding to the commercial software used for comparison. Finally, the forecasting made by the artificial neural network has a relative error of 3% for 91,30% of the samples used in test phase. In addition, that it was able to model the behaviour of the time series that represent the bandwidth occupation.

O desenvolvimento e utilização do padrão IEC 61850 alterou a concepção e operação das subestações de energia elétrica. O desempenho e confiabilidade do sistema de proteção depende da rede de comunicação de dados. Esta pesquisa propõe um parâmetro de dimensionamento e comparação de desempenho para o tempo de transferência das mensagens Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) entre Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). Esse parâmetro foi obtido através do levantamento experimental da curva do tempo de transferência das mensagens GOOSE versus a ocupação percentual da largura de banda dos IEDs. Para a realização dos experimentos foram utilizados três IEDs, um switch Ethernet gerenciável, três microcomputadores do tipo PC, um relógio sincronizador Global Positioning System (GPS), cordões de fibra óptica, cabos do tipo par trançado sem blindagem e aplicativos de software. Os resultados mostraram que a partir de um limiar característico, o qual é distinto para cada IED ensaiado, o tempo de transferência excede o limite máximo permitido pelo padrão IEC 61850. A partir da análise destes dados, foi desenvolvido um sistema preditivo de monitoramento de banda para supervisionar a interface de rede dos IEDs. O sistema preditivo apresentou para a medição de banda um erro relativo médio igual a 0,55% em relação ao aplicativo comercial utilizado na comparação, já a predição feita pela rede neural artificial apresentou um erro de estimativa menor do que 3% para 91,30% das amostras utilizadas, além de modelar adequadamente o comportamento da série temporal que representa a ocupação de banda do IED monitorado. / The development and utilization of IEC 61850 standard changed the design and operation of electric power substations. The performance and reliability of the protection system depends on the data communication network. This research proposes a parameter for dimensioning and comparising the transfer time of Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) messages between different Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). This parameter was obtained from experimental data related to the transfer time of GOOSE messages curve versus IEDs bandwidth percentage occupation. In this context, a laboratory structure was set up in order to carry out these experiments. This structure mainly consists of three IEDs, an Ethernet switch, three personal computers, a GPS Clock, fiber optic cables, unshielded twisted pair cables, as well as support software. The results show the existence of a characteristic threshold, different for each IED tested, after which the transfer time exceeded the total transmission time allowed for the IEC 61850 standard. Based on these results, a predictive bandwidth monitoring system was developed to supervise the IEDs bandwidth interface. The bandwidth measurement has a mean relative error of 0.55% regarding to the commercial software used for comparison. Finally, the forecasting made by the artificial neural network has a relative error of 3% for 91,30% of the samples used in test phase. In addition, that it was able to model the behaviour of the time series that represent the bandwidth occupation.

IEC 61850 is rapidly becoming the internationally recognized standard for substation automation systems making it an indispensable element in power system protection and automation education. In order to facilitate teaching this very practical subject, a laboratory setup was developed to demonstrate IEC 61850 station bus inter Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) communication. In this setup, an electrical substation was implemented in a real time digital simulator (RTDS) and protection schemes were implemented in IEC 61850 station bus compliant IEDs from different vendors. Trip signals and breaker statuses were exchanged between RTDS and IEDs using GOOSE (Generic Object Oriented Substation Event) messages. Several protection applications including a novel backup bus protection scheme were developed based on the setup to demonstrate the use of GOOSE messages in time critical applications. The developed test setup along with the designed laboratory exercises will undoubtedly enhance teaching, training and research in this important field. / February 2016

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / The IEC 61850 standard, “Communication networks and systems in substations” was promulgated to accommodate the need for a common communication platform within substations for devices from different vendors. The IEC 61850 standard proposes a substation automation architecture that is Ethernet-based, with a “station-bus” for protection devices within the substation and a “process bus” where raw data from the voltage and current transformers are published onto the data network using a device known as a Merging Unit. To date, most of the standardization efforts were focused at the station bus level where event-triggered messages are exchanged between the substation automation devices, commonly referred to as Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). These messages are known as Generic Object Oriented Substation Event messages. Equipment from vendors to accommodate the “process bus” paradigm, however is still limited at present. The Centre for Substation Automation and Energy Management Systems was established within the Electrical Engineering Department at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology with one of its objectives being the development of equipment either for simulation or real-time purposes in compliance with the IEC 61850 standard. In order to fulfil this long-term objective of the Centre, an in-depth understanding of the IEC 61850 standard is required. This document details the efforts at acquiring the requisite knowledge base in support of the educational objectives of the Centre and the research project implements a simulation of a merging unit which is compliant with the functional behavior as stipulated by the standard. This limited functional implementation (i.e. non-real-time) of the merging unit, is achieved through the development of a virtualized data acquisition node capable of synthetic generation of waveforms, encoding of the data and publishing the data in a format compliant with the IEC 61850-9-2 sampled value message structure. This functional behavior of the virtual sensor node which was implemented has been validated against the behavior of a commercial device and the sampled value message structure is validated against the standard. The temporal behavior of the proposed device is commented upon. This research project forms the basis for future real-time implementation of a merging unit.

A thesis which models the DNP3 and IEC 61850 protocol in OPNET / Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) is a critical part of monitoring and controlling of the electrical substation. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the performance of the Distributed Network Protocol Version 3.3 (DNP3) protocol and to compare its performance to that of International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) 61850 protocol in an electrical substation communication network environment. Building an electrical substation control room and installing the network equipment was going to be expensive and take a lot of time. The better option was to build a model of the electrical substation communication network and run simulations. Riverbend modeller academic edition known as Optimized Network Engineering Tool (OPNET) was chosen as a software package to model substation communication network, DNP3 protocol and IEC 61850 Protocol stack. Modelling the IEC 61850 protocol stack on OPNET involved building the used Open System Interconnection (OSI) layers of the IEC 61850 protocol stack onto the application definitions of OPNET. The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) configuration settings of DNP3 protocol were also modelled on the OPNET application definitions. The aim is to compare the two protocols and determine which protocol is the best performing one in terms of throughput, data delay and latency. The substation communication model consists of 10 ethernet nodes which simulate protection Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), 13 ethernet switches, a server which simulates the substation Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) and the DNP3 Protocol over TCP/IP simulated on the model. DNP3 is a protocol that can be used in a power utility computer network to provide communication service for the grid components. DNP3 protocol is currently used at Eskom as the communication protocol because it is widely used by equipment vendors in the energy sector. DNP3 protocol will be modelled before being compared to the new recent robust protocol IEC 61850 in the same model and determine which protocol is the best for Eskom on the network of the power grid. The network load and packet delay parameters were sampled when 10%, 50%, 90% and 100% of devices are online. The IEC 61850 protocol model has three scenarios and they are normal operation of a Substation, maintenance in a Substation and Buszone operation at a Substation. In these scenarios packet end to end delay of Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE), vi © University of South Africa 2020 Generic Substation Status Event (GSSE), Sampled Values (SV) and Manufacturing Messaging Specification (MMS) messages are monitored. The throughput from the IED under maintenance and the throughput at the Substation RTU end is monitored in the model. Analysis of the results of the DNP3 protocol simulation showed that with an increase in number of nodes there was an increase in packet delay as well as the network load. The load on the network should be taken into consideration when designing a substation communication network that requires a quick response such as a smart gird. GOOSE, GSSE, SV results on the IEC 61850 model met all the requirements of the IEC 61850 standard and the MMS did not meet all the requirements of the IEC standard. The design of the substation communication network using IEC 61850 will assist when trying to predict the behavior of the network with regards to this specific protocol during maintenance and when there are faults in the communication network or IED’s. After the simulation of the DNP3 protocol and the IEC 61850 the throughput of DNP3 protocol was determined to be in the range (20 – 450) kbps and the throughput of IEC61850 protocol was determined to be in the range (1.6 – 16) Mbps. / College of Engineering, Science and Technology / M. Tech. (Electrical Engineering)

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Supervisor: Prof. R. Tzoneva Co-supervisor: Prof. P. Petev 2013 / Busbars are the most important components in the distribution networks. Faults on the busbar are uncommon, however an occurrence of a busbar fault can lead to a major loss of power. Busbars are the areas in a substation where the levels of current are high and therefore the protective relay application is very critical. In order for the protection scheme to be successful it is important to carry out the following specifications: Selectivity, Stability, Sensitivity, and Speed. To meet all of the above requirements protection must be reliable, meaning that the protection scheme must trip when called up to do so (dependability) and it must not trip when it’s not supposed to (security). The thesis focuses on the reverse blocking busbar protection scheme with aim to improve the speed of its operation and at the same time to increase operational reliability, flexibility and stability of the protection during external and internal faults by implementation of the extended functionality provided by the IEC61850 standard-based protective IEDs. The practical implementation of the scheme by the use of IEC 61850 standard communication protocol is investigated. The research analyzes in detail the reverse blocking busbar protection scheme that is used at the moment in the power systems and it develops an improved IEC 61850 based reverse blocking busbar protection scheme for a distribution network. The proposed scheme is designed for a radial type of a distribution network and is modeled and simulated in the DigSILENT software environment for various faults on the busbar and its outgoing feeders. The results from the simulations are used further for implementation of the designed protection scheme. A laboratory test bench is build using three compliant with the IEC 61850 standard ABB IEDs 670 series, CMC 356 Omicron test injection device, PC, MOXA switch, and a DC power supplier. Two ways of the reverse blocking signals between the IEDs implementation are considered: hard wired and Ethernet communication by using IEC 61850 standard GOOSE messages. Comparative experimental study of the operational trip response speed of the two implementation shows that the performance of the protection scheme for the case of Ethernet communication is better The thesis findings and deliverables will be used for postgraduate studies of other students, research, short courses, and solution of industrial problems. Keywords: Busbar, Power system, reverse busbar blocking scheme; IEC61850; Distribution, Protection relays, IEDs, GOOSE message, laboratory test bench

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012 / The introduction of the IEC 61850 standard in substations for communication networks and systems by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 2003 provided the possibility for communication between devices of different manufacturers. However, the advent of this standard also brought about many challenges associated with it. The challenges introduced by this fairly recent standard of communications in Substation Automation Systems (SAS), and the need for the development of cost effective IEC 61850- compliant devices, motivated the decision of the Centre for Substation and Energy Management Systems within the Electrical Engineering Department of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to focus on the implementation of the IEC 61850 standard using an embedded hardware platform. The development of an IEC 61850 embedded application requires substantial knowledge in multiple domains such as data networking, software modelling and development of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), protection of the electrical system, system simulation and testing methods, etc. Currently knowledge about the implementation of the IEC 61850 standard usually resides with vendors and is not in the public domain. The IEC 61850 standard allows for two groups of communication services between entities within the substation automation system. One group utilizes a client-server model accommodating services such as Reporting and Remote Switching. The second group utilizes a peer-to-peer model for Generic Substation Event (GSE) services associated with time-critical activities such as fast and reliable communication between Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) used for protection of the power network. The messages associated with the GSE services are the Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) messages. The use of GOOSE messages for protection of the electrical system is very important in modern substations. Detailed knowledge of the structure of these messages is important in instances requiring fault diagnosis to determine the cause of mal– operation or to address interoperability concerns or when developing custom IEC 61850- compliant devices with limited functionality. A practical protection application (overcurrent) case study is presented where GOOSE messages are exchanged between a commercial IED and an IEC 61850-compliant controller based on an embedded platform. The basic data model and software development of an actuator node for a circuit breaker is proposed using an IEC 61850 communication stack on an embedded platform. The performance of the GOOSE messages is confirmed to be as per the functional behaviour specified, and per the IEC 68150 standard in terms of the temporal behaviour required. This thesis document tables the methods, software programs, hardware interfacing and system integration techniques that allow for the development and implementation of a low cost IEC 61850-compliant controller unit on an embedded systems platform for the substation automation system. The overcurrent case study distributed between a commercial IED (SIEMENS Siprotec device) and the actuator application developed on an embedded platform for this project (DK60 board) is in compliance with the IEC 61850 standard and utilizing GOOSE messaging is successfully completed both in terms of functional and temporal behaviour. This novel research work contributes not only to the academic community, but to the international Power Systems community as a whole. Keywords: IEC 61850 standard, IEDs, GOOSE message, software modelling, software development, substation automation systems, communication stack, embedded systems, actuator.