International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS AND

ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME
COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY (IJECET)

ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print)

ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online)
IJECET
Special Issue (November, 2013), pp. 163-172
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Role of Communication Schemes for Power System Operation and

Control
J Sandeep Soni1, Smita Pareek2
1Faculty/ Electrical Engineering, BKBIET, Pilani, Rajasthan, India
2Faculty/Electronics & Communication, BKBIET, Pilani, Rajasthan, India

1j.sandeepsoni@gmail.com, 2pareeksmita@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT: The demand of electrical power is increasing with a very fast rate, so the
transmission and distribution system (Power System) should be capable to overcome the
demand with the most excellent quality of supply. Uninterrupted electric power distribution
with adequate quality is fundamental requirement for modern society. Without proper
communication between the devices used in the field and the control & protection equipment
installed in control room with smooth operation & efficient control of such a big and complex
power system is not possible. The proper communication scheme is used to transfer the data
catch from the outdoor units to the control center for controlling and protecting power system.
Communication is the enabling technology which plays a significant role in the modernization
and atomization of the electric power system. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) systems are very much helpful to provide totally integrated computer environments
based power system with more flexibility in control and operation. In this paper the authors
covers most of the communication schemes used and helpful to provide accurate & precise
control of the operation of the power system to mitigate the huge amount of power increasing
day by day.

KEYWORDS: Power System Automation, Power Line Carrier Communication, Fiber Optic
Communication, Satellite Communication, Cellular & Mobile Communication

I. INTRODUCTION

Power system including production, transmission and distribution is a very complex and wide
infrastructure, which is essential for the growth and development of the society and economy.
For such a huge & complex electrical network, protection and control is not possible without
perfect and effective communication system, which is used to transfer the data & information
from control centers to sub-stations located at same station or at different place, also to
consumer ends. For this Electrical communication systems are designed to send messages or
information from a source that generates the messages to one or more destinations.

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International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
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Fig. 1: The overall communication architecture for power system

New communication channels and techniques provide opportunities to advance the speed of
operation, security, dependability, and sensitivity of protection with optimized cost. No single
communication technology is best suited and capable for all power system needs. The
requirements must consider with following factors type of technique, type of communication,
source of information, amount & frequency and delivery requirements of data transmitted. Due
to these requirements a smart and intelligent electricity network has to be designed that can
integrates all users connected to it and makes use of advanced information, control, and
communication technologies to save energy, reduce cost ,increase reliability and transparency
[2,3]. Almost countries are working on research and developing for such a smart and
intelligent electricity network, known as smart grid.

II. POWER SYSTEM CHALLENGES

For such a critical infrastructures designing, monitoring and controlling is more challenging
job as a consequence of the steady growth of their size, complexity, level of uncertainty,
unpredictable behavior, and interactions [4].Utilities and system integrators face a lot of
difficult challenge regarding characteristics and protocols for data communication whenever
equipment from different vendors was integrated into a single system. To mitigate the
challenges and fulfill the requirements, now day power system automation is recommended in
most of countries. Power system faces various problems like as:

 Cost effectiveness
 Capacity to handle data rates
 Adequate to meet response requirements
 Security (of data and of control actions)
 Quality of electrical supply
 Behavior during fault condition
 System adequacy
 System stability and Reliability

III. POWER SYSTEM AUTOMATION

Power System Automation: Power system automation is the process of automatic monitoring
& control within the station or control commands from remote users to control power system
devices by using IEDs, communications protocols, communications methods and some relevant
software programming to enhance efficiency, reliability, and quality of electric service.
Application of automation of power system can be defined as automatically monitoring,
protecting and controlling switching operations by using suitable group of devices to restore
power service in normal operating conditions after or during fault occurs in system [5].

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ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME

In past the operation and control of power system using automation was very expensive but
now a day by using latest technologies, scientific achievement and communication technology
modern power systems are more reliable and cost effective. With the help of automation
process by using computer interface with I& devices, the process as data acquisition, power
system supervision, and power system control can work together in a coordinated automatic
fashion.

Fig. 2: Power System automation and supervision

A. Communication is the key to power system automation

To manage modern power system almost generating, transmission & distribution stations are
to be interconnected by some means of communication to exchange data or to provide voice
communication. Power system automation includes control, monitoring and protection of
power. Also transmission & distribution, load management and remote metering of load
centers. The designing and implementing a country-wide communication network to serve the
electrical transmission and distribution level is complex task. The following points should be
considered before selecting a suitable communication system [6].

 Redundancy & Availability

 Multi-Service & User expectations
 Alternative transmission technologies
 Network Management & maintenance
 Environmental conditions

IV. COMMUNICATION FOR POWER SYSTEM

In past all devices in communication for power system are according to available features at
that time but now according various requirements like: to increase flexibility in operation &
control, reliability, stability the system should be modified. So by using modern & latest
technology, up gradation of devices, computerized environment modern smart and intelligent
power system can be developed. To control this system best communication system is also
required. According to the present need & need in future of system various strategic plan with

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the help of practice and planning, an overall communications system is designed. A common
architecture for a small distribution system is shown by figure 3.

Fig. 3: Communications architecture for small distribution system

A. Electrical Communication System Elements

According to name the communication system is designed to transfer data & information in
between various locations of power system. In general, a typical communication system can be
represented by following block diagram in figure 4. The parts transmitter, the channel, and the
receiver are the main parts of the communication system.

Fig. 4: Functional block diagram of a communication system

B. Customer load management by using communication system

According to fundamental requirements of communication system the utility should be capable

to manage the load by any direct control of the load, indirect control or by price incentives etc
methods. All of these methods of communication have their own requiems and can be used in
following manor:

 Communication within a Customer Premise

 Communication between the Customer Premise and the Local Distribution Control
Center
 Communication within a Substation or a Distribution Station
 Communication within a Bulk Generation Plant
 Communication between the Transmission Network and Operations Center
 Communication between the Bulk Generation Plant and Operations Center

C. Communication challenges and Issues

Even though by using communication technology power system is very much smart, intelligent,
robust, secure and reliable but there are number of challenges and requirement as discussed
by table-1[3].

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ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME

Basic Description of communication system

Requirement
for CS
Enhanced Priority management of the system for Voice and data services should be
provided preferential over other traffic.
Secure The system ensures the availability and survivability of the network
Networks without unauthorized access to the data & signal.

The service of system for voice and data must be capable to re-
Restorability
provisioned, repaired, or restored to required service levels on a priority
basis if required.
Reliability The system should be capable to perform every time and accurately
according to its specifications & design requirements.
Interoperability Voice and data services must interconnect and interoperate with other
government or private facilities, systems, and their networks.
Mobility The system should capable to support, portable, reorganize, or fully
mobile for voice and data communications.
Survivability The system should be robust to support users under a broad range of
circumstances and conditions.
Scalable The users must be able to manage the capacity of the communications
Bandwidth system services to support variable bandwidth requirements.
Affordability The system should be compatible with new Public Network (PN)
capabilities to minimize cost by using existing infrastructure.
Addressability Addressability of the system is the ability to easily route voice and data
traffic to users regardless of user’s location or deployment status.
Table 1: Basic requirement for communication system

D. Communication requirement classification

According to requirements of utility, the communication systems is the most important part of
power system and according to available facilitates to handling of requirements and the order
of requirements in the available communication these can be classified into three categories,
namely :

 Real-time operational communication requirements

 Administrative operational communication requirements
 Administrative communication requirements

This classification is based on works at the Swedish National Grid and introduced first time in
2001/2002.This classification scheme is very much suitable in present environment and
widely used in most of counties [7].

V. COMMUNICATION SCHEMES

There are various different communication schemes which are available these days, after
evolution of various communication systems best method is opt by planning. The fundamental
requirements for best communication system are:

 Average rate of massage transfer should be high without any loss of information.

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ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME

 System response time for data transfer should meet various application requirements.
 It should capable to handle the requisite amount of data and multitasking operations.
 It should allow the network growth & added new applications.

A proper applicable technology is needed to provide reliable data transfer with a secure
communications system. Following are the methods commonly used for communication in
power system:

A. Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

In PSTN Dial-up and dedicated leased line telephone networks are generally used for up
gradation and automation of power system. The PSTN was designed for two way voice
communication between any two points or users. The telephone network is the same network
used for public uses daily for carries voice and data transmissions. PSTN generally use
standard Bell or Conductive Committee for International Telephone and Telegraph (CCITT)
modems. Packet Switching Network (PSN), cellular radio or rural radio are most suitable
communication networks, which can provide reliable communication with cheaper cost but the
cost increased with an increase in distance and decrease in accessibility[8].

Fig. 5: General Structure of PSTN network

B. Power Line Carrier Communication (PLCC)

PLCC is an approach to utilize the existing power lines for the communication of data and voice
signal as well as protection of transmission lines. This technology was widely used in grid
stations to transmit information at high speed since 1950[9].In a power line carrier
communication system there are three basic elements:

 Transmission line, presenting a channel for the transmission of carrier energy.

 Tuning, blocking, and coupling equipment.
 Transmitters, receivers and relays.

The simplified functional diagram of a power line carrier system is shown in Figure 6. The
fundamental requirement for PLCC is wire-line communication infrastructure which is already
available so the main costs are associated with the terminal equipments only [10, 11].

Fig. 6: Power line carrier communication system

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International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME

C. Cellular Radio Communication

Cellular radio Communication (CRC) is one another kind of communication system generally
used to transport information using electromagnetic waves to provide a feasible
communication link between a transmitter and receiver. There are a number of varieties of
cellular/mobile radio communication systems which are in use today and its up-gradation is
going on [2]. Modern mobile communication systems are networked by using mobile
telephone switching office (MTSO) or mobile switching center (MSC) or public switched
telephone network (PSTN) etc. Cellular radio transmission systems can be classified into three
categories, as simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex.

Fig. 7: Cellular radio communication system

Some modern Multiple access techniques like frequency -division multiple access (FDMA),
time-division multiple access (TDMA), and code-division multiple access (CDMA) are
implemented in modern systems to provide simultaneous access to many users without
interference.

D. Packet Switching Network (PSN)

A packet switched network (PSN) is communications network that groups and sends data in
the form of small packets and it does not create a permanent connection between a source and
destination node. Each packet contains various details like as source IP address, destination IP
address and unique data and packet identifiers. PSN uses low power Ultra High Frequency
(UHF) spread spectrum (typically 935 MHz band), that does not require licensing and it is the
best solution to frequency management using spread spectrum technology[12]. This network
is a computerized nodes based data transmission network send short burst of digital
information over low power radios. In Many power utilities it is implemented on local
networks and the Internet, used generally for real time SCADA, EMS, AMR and various
administrative data flow inter and intra utilities.

Fig. 8: Packet switching network system

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International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME

E. Fiber Optic Communication

Fiber optic communication system is the most suitable method for power system control,
protection and monitoring functions. Even though, the fiber optic solution is expensive but it
gives two main benefits, first one is, it allows utilities to bring back large amount of data on a
frequent basis and second, it can provide true, real-time communications. These two benefits
are enough to select the fiber optics communication and these provides an attractive
alternative if getting large amounts of data on a real time basis is critical and the location is not
extremely remote[8,13,14].

Fig. 9: Fiber- optics communication system

The main properties and characteristics of fiber optics which make it very useful are:

 Low attenuation
 High bandwidth
 Electromagnetic interface immunity
 Security

F. Satellite Communication

Satellite communication system is another reliable communication media which provides

geographical coverage solution not only for remote control and monitoring of power system
but also used for Global Positioning System (GPS) based time synchronization, which can
provides fine accuracy in time synchronization [15]. This is an alternative communication
system for power system in order to reach remote locations where other communication
system such as telephone or cellular networks might not exist.

Fig. 10: Satellite Communication System

By using satellite communication systems, service providers can:

 Expand the network coverage to new areas

 Improve the quality of basic communications services
 Reduce the costs of services to allow more users
 Add new services to increase the value of telecommunications services to users.

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VI. CONCLUSION

Power system should bring significant advantages such as low up-front cost, easy network
maintenance, robustness, flexibility in operation & control and reliable service coverage. The
electrical utilities face various challenges such as equipment failures, lightning strikes,
accidents, and natural catastrophes to provide reliable power to the end-users at competitive
prices with reliability and good quality.

To get highly reliable, self-healing electric system that rapidly responds to real-time events to
maintain uninterrupted power services as well as to provide flexibility in operation & control,
remote monitoring & control, high speed of operation, security, dependability, and sensitivity
of protection etc. with optimized cost a high performance data communication network that
supports both existing functionalities and future operational requirements are strongly
recommended. According to the capabilities and locations of power system equipment overall
communication system is decided, this system may be hybrid communication system consists
of various types of communication system. By using various communication systems overall
power system can be smart and intelligent.

In this paper the authors tried to present a survey of various issues, challenges and need of the
proper communication scheme including of various communication techniques & methods
used for power system. Modern power system can be more effective, reliable in operation &
control with the help of modern SCADA system by using state of the art communication
techniques, programmable logic & control and human machine interface etc.

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BIOGRAPHY

J. Sandeep Soni, Asst. Prof. in Electrical Engg. Deptt. at B. K. Birla Institute of

Engg. & Tech., Pilani. He obtained Diploma (Electrical Engg.) in 2001 and B.E.
Electrical Engg (Hons) in 2004. He worked for more than four years in
corporate industries and more than four years in Engineering Education. He
is an enterprising youth with the research bent of mind. He has number of
papers in National and International Conferences and Journals of high
reputes. His research interests are in Power System Automation, Quality
Monitoring and Stabilization, Smart Grid Technology, FACTS, Electrical Drives & Control and
Renewable Energy & their Applications.

Smita Pareek, Assistant Professor in Electronics & Communication

Department at B.K.Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology. She received
B.E. & M.E. degree in 2002 & 2008 respectively .She is currently pursuing
Ph.D. from N.I.T. Kurukshetra, Kurukshetra, India. She has also taught at
Poornima College Of Enginnering,Jaipur and Government Engineering College
Bikaner, Bikaner. She has more than eleven years of teaching experience. She
is Co-Author of three books for Engineering Undergraduate Students. She has
many papers in National and International Conferences and Journals of high reputes.

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