Virtual isolation of IEDs for testing in IEC 61850 based substation protection systems

Edition 2 of IEC 61850 introduced many new features that further enhance the power of the standard. There are new features that should make the life of the end user easier - assuming the features are supported by future products. They are designed to support not only automated configuration and execution of test procedures, but also remote testing for some specific test cases. It is expected, that interoperability between engineering tools will be improved - something that is urgently needed. New features supporting functional and system testing should facilitate the ways lEC 61850 based installation needs to be isolated - during commissioning, in case of maintenance problems, as well as for routine testing.