IEC61850–Based Systems—Functional Testing and Interoperability Issues

This paper presents a proposal for functional testing of protection and automation systems based on the IEC61850 standard. The proposed methodology is based on the development of tests scenarios which properly represent the actual systems and their operative conditions. It includes the selection of hardware and software that are used to simulate the operational events and acquire data for further analysis. This methodology was developed to evaluate the protection and automation systems of large-sized substations mainly regarding the interoperability between intelligent electronic devices of different manufacturers. This paper explains in detail the proposed methodology and an actual case study.