CDMA2000 cellular network based SCADA system

Information transfer is of the most importance to the realization of modern SCADA controllers in power systems. To setup a relatively easy-installation communication network system for transferring controlling and sensing information, a CDMA2000 based cellular wireless communication system, i.e., the PowerWDN network, is introduced to such power SCADAs in this paper. By comparison with other wireless and wired communication platforms, the performance of PowerWDN is analyzed when applied to transfer power system signals. It is eventually revealed that, although being a little slower in response to sudden faults in power networks if compared with wired communication networks, the PowerWDN will still be of great significance to many practical uses in modern power systems, especially when the virtual private networking (VPN) technique is being applied.