I I

The Role of Interfaces

in Supervisory Systems
James W Evans1 and Wayne R. Block2

data acquisition (SCADA) functions. These interfaces Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), such as the substa-
must maintain high levels of performance, reliability, tion meter shown in Figure 2, reduce input/output inter-
and dependability in order to provide the
confidence demanded for power system
operation. This article describes some
important considerations in the interface
between a power system and an RTU.
Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of a
power utility RTU.
t
The SCADA-RTU interfaces to control
station equipment through interposing
relays and t o measuring circuits
through transducers, meters, and other
devices. These interfaces have the bene
fits of being simple, easy to design, read- I I
ily available, and inexpensive; and they
have a proven reliability. Physically, this
interface may be distributed throughout
the power station or centralized within Interposing

one or two cabinets. Available panel Transducers

CTa (I Pfs
space and layout of station control cen-
ters often is an over-riding considera- Breakera
Switcher
tion.

DistributedRTUs AND IEDs

The decreasing cost of small RTUs and Figure 1. Major RTUsubsy~tems
the incorporation of communications
ports into electronic control devices has
brought a new dimension to the distributed interface connections and interface cabling to only a network path
concept. Small RTUs linked with a communications net- requirement,
work can be strategically placed throughout the power
station to minimize cabling cost. A data concentratorRTU Analog Input Interfaces
Electric utility SCADA systems primarily gather power
system performance parameters (i.e, volts, amperes,
watts, and vars), which are represented as sampled con-
Detroit Edison Company tinuously variable analog values. Energy output and con-
Los Angeles Department of Water &Power

ISSN 08950156/93/$3.0001993 IEEE April 1993 35

 practice is to allow the output
circuits to remain isolated from
ground to reduce the suscepti-
bility of the transducer to tran-
sient damage. Some RTU
suppliers require a common
ground for all analog signals at
the RTU to accommodate elec-
tronic multiplexers.

Pulse Accumulatom
Energy transfer is processed by
pulse accumulators (PAS) in the
RTU. The PA receives contact
closures from t h e metering
package and accumulates them
in a register. On command from
the master, the pulse count is
frozen and recorded, then
transmitted to t h e master;
sometimes the register is
Figure 2. Intelligent substation panel meter zeroed to begin the cycle for
the next period.
Recent advances in meter
sumption data (i.e., kilowatt hours and kilovar hours) technology have brought the energy meter concept to
are also needed for systems performing economic dis- market. These IEDs perform many functions using a sin-
patch. Other quantities such as transformer tempera- gle package; i.e., analog, demand, watt/var hour, and
tures, insulating gas pressures, fuel tank levels for computed values. These functions are normally provid-
on-site generation, or head level for hydro generation ed for visual observation; but as an option, they can be
might also be transmitted as analog values. Often, trans- provided as traditional analog outputs and demand
former tap position, regulator position, or other multiple contacts. IEDs can replace traditional transducers and
position quantities are also transmitted as if they were electro-mechanical meters.
analog values.
Digital Input Interfaces
Transducers Digital input interfaces are used to monitor the state of
The transducer provides a scaled, lowenergy signal to power equipment. Status monitoring is often provided
represent power system quantities that the RTU can eas- for power circuit breakers, circuit switchers, reclosers,
ily accept. Transducers also isolate and buffer the RTU motor-operated disconnect switches, and a variety of
from the power system and station environments.
Transducer input circuits often share instrument trans-
formers with station metering and protection systems; Abbrevlatlons
thus, they must conform to the same wiring standards AI artificial intelligence
as any switchboard component. Test switches are need- AGC automatic generation control
ed to allow in-seruice testing of the transducers; these AMR automatic meter reading
make testing possible without shutting down the moni- EM1 electromagnetic Interface
tored equipment. ESD electrostaticdischarge
Transducer outputs are usually dc voltages or cur- IED intelligent electronic devices
rents that range upwards of 1-10 volts or 1-10 mil- LED light emitting diode
liamperes. They may be unipolar or bipolar; i.e., their PA pulse accumulator
output polarity corresponds to direction of flow. Some RTU remote terminal unit
transducers also provide integrating demand contacts to SE0 select-before-operate security provision
SCADA supervisory control and data acquisitioh
drive pulse accumulator registers.
SOE sequence of events
Transducer outputs are usually wired with shielded, swc surge withstand capability
twisted-pair cable to minimize stray signal pickup. UCA utility communication architecture
Normally #18 AWC conductors or smaller are satisfacto- UI user interface
ry, depending on individual utility practices. A common

36 IEEE ComputerApplications in Power

 require the circuits from various
parts of the station, and from
different control circuits, be
brought to a common termina-
tion location.
Shielded, twisted pairs are
usually used with low voltage
status points to minimize noise
effects.

Control Output
Interfaces
SCADA control is most often
provided for circuit breakers;
e.g., the 138-kV class circuit
breaker in Figure 4. Control is
also applied t o distribution
feeder breakers, reclosers, and
switchers of all descriptions. It
is not uncommon t o also
include control for voltage reg-
ulators, tap-changing trans-
Figure 3. Digital input interposing relays formers, motor-operated
disconnects, valves, or even
peaking units through a SCADA
other two-state, on-off functions in a power station. system. Automatic generation control (AGC) is another
Digital input interfaces may also be provided with common control function executed through utility
change memory for between-scan monitoring and, SCADA systems. All these control functions share a
increasingly, time tagging to provide sequence of events. commonality: station control functions must be inter-
These indications originate from contacts which are faced to the SCADA RTU. The RTU cannot execute con-
mechanically actuated by the monitored device, and are trols directly from its logic levels, but must be
input to the RTU, either directly or through an interpos- interposed to the station control circuits.
ing relay (Figure 3).

Contact Performance
The mechanical response of relay
contacts and auxiliary switch con-
tacts can create monitoring difficul-
ties in that contacts often bounce
when they transfer from one position
to another. An RTU may interpret the
bouncing of the status contact as mul-
tiple operations of t h e primary
device. Debouncing logic is often pro-
vided in RTUs to resolve bounce
problems. Debounce time is often a
user-selectable parameter, and find-
ing the optimum setting may require
empirical solutions.

Wetting Sources
Status points may be derived from iso-
lated dry contacts sensed by the RTU
or voltage signals from a station con-
trol circuit. Voltage signals eliminate
the need for spare contacts; but Figure 4. SCADA control is provided for this 138-KVcircuit breaker

April 1993 37
 Interposing Relays ments. The RTU receives a new set
Heavy-duty interposing relays are Careful attention point from the master and passes
required between an RTU and sta- it on as an analog output signal, a
tion controls. The relay coils are must be given to the group of contact closures, or logic-
driven by the RTU control system COnfrOlinterface design - level outputs. When analog output
through static or small relay-type for supervisory systems interfaces are used, they should be
drivers, and their contacts switch treated as transducer outputs, and
the station control circuits. A typi- interconnected with shielded twist-
cal RTU cabinet interposing relay ed pairs to reduce the introduction
panel is shown in Figure 5. When of noise. Digital set-point outputs
controlling DC circuits, heavy-duty relays may be should also be protected from noise pick-up with appro-
required; not because of the current requirements but to priate shielding. Introduction of noise in a set-point loop
provide the long contact travel needed to interrupt the can have serious effects if the controlled equipment reg-
arc associated with interrupting a dc circuit. Magnetic ulator attempts to response to noise pulses.
blowout contacts may also be used to improve interrupt-
ing duty. These contacts are fitted with small permanent local User Interface
magnets which lengthen the interruption arc to aid in Many utilities are beginning to use a local user interface
arc extinguishing. They are polarity sensitive, however, (VI) in the substation like the one shown in Figure 6.
and may not work if incorrectly wired. Correct current The U1 is really a small Master station but with a differ-
flow direction must be observed in order to be effective. ence; it usually has only one remote, the local substa-
tion. The U1 function can often be supported on a
Latching Devices personal computer (PC), workstation, or small single
Certain control circuits may need to be modified when board computer.
supervisory control is used to operate station equip- The U1 substitutes CRT displays.~ with one-line dia-
ment. Many of these re- grams in place of conven-
quire latched interposing tual operator interfaces
relays to modify control (e.g., panel meters, and
behavior when supervisory control switches). Other
control is exercised, and capabilities of t h e U1
can be restored through include logging and event
supervisory or local con- reporting. As technology
trol. The disabling of auto- progresses there is an
matic circuit breaker opportunity for the local U1
reclosing when a breaker is to offer modest artificial
opened through superviso- intelligence (AI). The AI
ry control is an example. can cut through the sub-
This concept also applies station alarms which occur
t o automatic capacitor as a result of a major
switcher controls, which event, and lead the opera-
must be disabled when tor directly to the event in
supervisory control is clearer terms.
used. These can be A cost savings comes
restored to automatic con- from not having to install
trol through local or super- the panels, instruments,
visory control. control switches and
wiring, and the potential
Analog Output Interfaces and current wiring for a
Set-point control is also benchboard. In addition,
used for AGC and power the size of the control
system regulation. It differs house can also be reduced.
from pulse control in that a Local UIs have some
new regulation point is sent drawbacks, however, since
to the controlled device via they must be maintained
the RTU, rather than just and need to provide a high
moving the regulator set- degree of availability in a
ting up or down in incre- Figure 5. RTU control interposing panel somewhat harsh environ-

38 IEEE Computer Applications in Power

The addition of SCADA control impacts station security
and deserves a great deal of consideration. Utilities
should recognize that SCADA control concentrates sta-
tion control in a small area, the RTU, which can increase
the vulnerability of station control to human error and
which includes one copy of the document), call IEEE
Customer Service, (800) 678IEEE.
For Further Reading
W.J. Ackerman, W.R. Block, “Understanding Supervisory Systems,”

H.L. Smith, W.R. Block, “RTUs Slave for

Supervisory Systems,” IEEE Computer Applications
in Power, January 1993.
Fundamentals of Supervisory Systems, IEEE
Tutorial Course, 91 EH03374 PWR.
IEEE Standard, “Definition, Specification, and
Analysis of Systems Used for Supervisory Control,
Data Acquisition, a n d Automatic Control”,
Publication ANSI/IEEE C37.1.

Figure 6. Substation local user interface

Systems subcommittee, and is chairman
accident. Careful attention must, therefore, be given to of the working group on Applications of New
the control interface design for SCADA systems. The Technologies in Substation Monitoring and Control.
security of the interface installed must ensure freedom
from false operation, and the design of operating and
testing procedures must recognize these risks and mini-
mize them.
Special attention must also be paid t o the environ-
ment in which the interfaces will be used. IEDs, especial-
ly, may malfunction due to electromagnetic interference
or temperatures above 50 degrees C.

Acknowledgements
This article is based on the “Considerations in Applying
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems to
Electric Utility Stations” chapter of the IEEE Supemisory
Systems tutorial course. The October 1992 and January
1993issues of IEEE ComputerApplications in Power includ-
ed articles that were based on two other chapters of the
tutorial: “Understanding Super-visory Systems” and

April 1993 39