Competency Training and Certification Program in Electric Power System Engineering

Distribution System Automation

Fundamental of Computer Networks

U. P. NATIONAL ENGINEERING CENTER

NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION
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Course Outline
1. Networks
1. Network Definition
2. Communication Devices
3. Communication Channels
4. Network Topologies
5. Network Types
6. OSI Reference Model
7. TCP/IP
8. IP Addressing
9. Virtual LAN (VLAN)
10. Network Address Translation (NAT)
2. Last Mile Technologies
1. WiMAX
2. Power Line Communication (PLC)
3. SCADA Protocols

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Networks

What is a Network?
 Interconnected group of computers and devices connected via
communications devices and media.
 Facilitates sharing of resources and supports communications.
 Requires:
 Sending & receiving devices
 Communications devices
 Communications channel or path
 Network OS (NOS): the software that runs on a server and
enables the server to manage data, users, groups, security,
applications, and other networking functions

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Networks

Definitions
 Analog signals are continuous waves.
 Digital signals are discontinuous, discrete pulses.
 Converters translate signals.

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Networks

Definitions
 Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data transmitted
through a communication channel at one time.
 Throughput is the actual amount of data transmitted.
 Broadband is any transmission medium that carries several
channels to transport data at high speeds.

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Networks

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Networks

Communication Devices
 Hardware capable of sending/receiving data
 Convert signals so that they are suitable for the communications
channel
 May convert between analog and digital
 Common types
 Dial-up modems
 ISDN and DSL modems
 Cable modems
 Network interface cards
 Wireless access points
 Switches, Routers, Firewalls …

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Networks

Communication Devices: Dial-up Modem
 Dial-up Modem
 Modulate/demodulate

 External modem
 Connects to serial or RS-232 port
 Connects to USB port
 Internal modem
 Card inserted to expansion slot/PC Slot
 Maximum speed: 56 Kbps

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Networks

Communication Devices: ISDN Modem
 Integrated services digital networking (ISDN)
 Standard that provides digital telephone and data service
 No lengthy dial-in procedures or connection delay
 Requires an ISDN adapter/digital modem to connect computers to
ISDN lines
 May be the only broadband solution in rural areas

 Maximum Speed: 64 Kbps

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 10

Networks

Communication Devices: DSL Modem
 Digital subscriber line (DSL)
 Broad term for a group of technologies that offer high-speed
access to the Internet
 Requires a DSL modem to modulate and demodulate analog and
digital signals

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Networks

Communication Devices: DSL
Max. Send Max. Receive Max. Lines Phone
DSL Type
Speed Speed Distance Required Support

18,000 ft
ADSL 800 Kbps 8 Mbps 1 Yes
(5,500 m)

12,000 ft
HDSL 1.54 Mbps 1.54 Mbps 2 No
(3,650 m)

35,000 ft
IDSL 144 Kbps 144 Kbps 1 No
(10,700 m)

29,000 ft
MSDSL 2 Mbps 2 Mbps 1 No
(8,800 m)

18,000 ft
RADSL 1 Mbps 7 Mbps 1 Yes
(5,500 m)

22,000 ft
SDSL 2.3 Mbps 2.3 Mbps 1 No
(6,700 m)

4,000 ft
VDSL 16 Mbps 52 Mbps 1 Yes
(1,200 m)

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Networks

Communication Devices: Cable Modem
 Cable television network
 Faster than dial-up access or ISDN line
 Splitter runs separate cables to TV’s and cable modem
 External
 USB port or Ethernet NIC via a cable
 Maximum Speed: 30 Mbps

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Networks

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Networks

Communication Devices: Network Interface Card
(NIC)
 Coordinates transmission/receipt of data to/from the device
 Card installed in an expansion slot of a PC
 Wireless type includes antenna
 Works with a particular network technology
 Ethernet or token ring

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Networks

Communication Devices: Wireless Access Points
 Allows computers and devices to communicate wirelessly
 Allows data transfer to a wired network

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Networks

Communication Devices: Network Switch
 A network switch is a device that connects network segments
or network devices.
 Layer 2
 Layer 3

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Networks

Communication Devices: Network Router
 A network device that forwards packets from one network to
another.
 Based on internal routing tables, routers read each incoming
packet and decide how to forward it.
 The destination address in the packets determines which line
(interface) outgoing packets are directed to.
 In large-scale enterprise routers, the current traffic load,
congestion, line costs and other factors determine which line
to forward

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Networks

Communication Devices: Firewalls
 A firewall can either be software-based or hardware-based and is
used to help keep a network secure.
 Its primary objective is to control the incoming and outgoing
network traffic by analyzing the data packets and determining
whether it should be allowed through or not, based on a
predetermined rule set.
 A network's firewall builds a bridge between an internal network that
is assumed to be secure and trusted, and another network, usually
an external (inter)network, such as the Internet, that is not
assumed to be secure and trusted.

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Networks

Communication Devices: Media Converters

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Networks

Communication Channel
 It is simply communication path between two devices.
 Transmission media
 Materials or techniques capable of carrying one or more signals
 Baseband media – carry one signal at a time
 Broadband media – carry multiple signals concurrently
 Wired transmission media
 Twisted pair, Coaxial, Fiber Optic
 Wireless transmission media
 Infrared, Radio Frequency, Microwave

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Twisted Pair
 Twisted pair
 Used for network cabling and telephone systems
 One or more twisted-pair wires bundled together to provide protection
against crosstalk, the noise generated by adjacent pairs.
 Two basic types of twisted-pair cable exist: unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
and shielded twisted pair (STP).

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Twisted Pair
 Commonly used types of UTP cabling are as follows:
 Category 1—Used for telephone communications. Not suitable for
transmitting data.
 Category 2—Capable of transmitting data at speeds up to 4 megabits
per second (Mbps).
 Category 3—Used in 10BASE-T networks. Can transmit data at speeds
up to 10 Mbps.
 Category 4—Used in Token Ring networks. Can transmit data at speeds
up to 16 Mbps.
 Category 5—Can transmit data at speeds up to 100 Mbps.
 Category 5e —Used in networks running at speeds up to 1000 Mbps (1
gigabit per second [Gbps]).
 Category 6—Typically, Category 6 cable consists of four pairs of 24
American Wire Gauge (AWG) copper wires. Category 6 cable is currently
the fastest standard for UTP.

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Twisted Pair
 Summarized features of STP cable:
 Speed and throughput—10 to 100 Mbps
 Average cost per node—Moderately expensive
 Media and connector size—Medium to large
 Maximum cable length—100 m (short)

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Coaxial
 Used for network cabling and cable TV.
 Coaxial cable supports 10 to 100 Mbps and is relatively inexpensive, although
it is more costly than UTP on a per-unit length.
 However, coaxial cable can be cheaper for a physical bus topology because
less cable will be needed.
 Coaxial cable can be cabled over longer distances than twisted-pair cable. For
example, Ethernet can run approximately 100 meters (328 feet) using
twisted-pair cabling. Using coaxial cable increases this distance to 500m
(1640.4 feet).

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic
 Light used to send signals
 Distance – up to 120 km
 Greatly increased bandwidth and capacity
 Lower signal attenuation (loss)
 Immune to noise (electromagnetic interference [EMI] and radio- frequency
interference [RFI]
 Signal Security
 Difficult to tap
 Nonconductive (does not radiate signals)
 No common ground required
 Size and Weight
 Resistant to temperature variations
 Expensive, difficult to install and modify!

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic

20km

Central office
Branch office

40km

120km

Branch office
Factory / plant

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic

High Density Glass Core 125 µm

Lower Density Glass Cladding

1 micron = 1 millionth of a metre = 1 µm

125 microns = thick human hair

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic
 Multimode
 62.5/125 Multimode fiber – first available
 50/125 Multimode fiber – available later - better
 Multimode = multi bounce
 2km maximum distance at 100Mbps
 550m maximum distance at 1000mbps ( 50/125 ) with mode conditioning
 Allows “tighter” bends

125 62.5 or
µm 50 µm

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic
 Single mode:
 9/125
 Single mode ≈ Single bounce
 Around 100 km maximum distance
 Larger minimum bend radius
 More expensive optics at each end

125
µm 9 µm

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic
 Various optical transceiver wavelengths
 850nm
 1310nm
 1490nm
 1550nm
 Higher wavelength -> longer distance -> higher cost

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic
 Multimode

Wavelength Distance using Distance using

62.5/125 50/125

100Base-FX 1310nm 2Km 2Km

1000Base-SX 850nm 220m 550m

1000Base-LX (SM) + 1310nm 550m 550m

Mode conditioning

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic
 Single mode

Optical Distance using

Standard Wavelength 9/125

100Base- LX 1310nm 20km

100Base-BX 1310/1550nm 20km

100Base- EX 1310nm 40km

100Base- ZX 1550nm 80km

1000Base- LX 1310nm 10Km

1000Base-BX 1310/1490nm 10km

1000Base- EX 1310nm 40Km

1000Base-ZX 1550nm 70Km

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wired Media: Fiber Optic
 Fiber Connection Types

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Networks
Media Type Maximum Segment Speed Cost Advantages Disadvantages
Length
UTP 100 m 10 Mbps to 1000 Least expensive Easy to install; widely Susceptible to
Mbps available and widely interference; can
used cover only a limited
distance
STP 100 m 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps More expensive than Reduced crosstalk; Difficult to work with;
UTP more resistant to EMI can cover only a
than Thinnet or UTP limited distance

Coaxial 500 m (Thicknet) 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps Relatively Less susceptible to Difficult to work with
inexpensive, but more EMI interference than (Thicknet); limited
185 m (Thinnet) costly than UTP other types of copper bandwidth; limited
media application (Thinnet);
damage to cable can
bring down entire
network
Fiber-Optic 10 km and farther 100 Mbps to 100 Expensive Cannot be tapped, so Difficult to terminate
(single-mode) Gbps (single mode) security is better; can
be used over great
2 km and farther 100 Mbps to 9.92 distances; is not
(multimode) Gbps (multimode) susceptible to EMI;
has a higher data rate
than coaxial and
twisted-pair cable

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wireless Media : Radio Frequency
Wireless transmission media refers to the methods of carrying data
through the air or space using infrared, radio, or microwave signals.
 Radio Frequency (Broadcast Radio)
 Radio is a wireless transmission medium that carries data via radio
frequency signals.
 Radio signals can be long range (between cities or regions) and short
range (within a building).
 Radio signals are susceptible to noise and electrical interference.
 Doesn’t require line-of-sight
 Bluetooth (2.45 GHz)
 802.11b & g (2.4 GHz)
 Cellular Radio Waves

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wireless Media : Microwaves
 Microwaves
 Microwaves are high-frequency radio waves.
 High-speed signal transmission
 Signals sent between microwave stations
 Microwave relay stations are built about 30 miles apart
 Fixed-point wireless
 Requires line-of-sight
 Communications Satellites
o Satellite receives microwave signal and amplifies
o Retransmits over wide-area, to a number of land-based stations

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wireless Media: Microwave
 Typical digital microwave performance

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wireless Media: Microwave
 Satellite Communication

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wireless Media: WiFi
 WiFi Standards

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wireless Media: Infrared
 Infrared
 Infrared is a wireless transmission medium that carries data via light beams.
 Transmitter and receiver must be in line of sight.
 An IrDa port is needed to use infrared with a computer.

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Networks

Communication Channels: Wireless Media: Optical Wireless
 Optical Wireless
 Like fiber optic cable, wireless optics communication systems use laser light to
transmit a digital signal between two transceivers. However, unlike fiber, the laser
link is transmitted through the air (free-space) instead of through a glass strand.
 There must be clear line of site between each wireless optics unit.
 Speed up to 1.5 Gbps
 Very expensive
 Range: Depends

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Networks

Network Topologies
 When you are cabling up your computers and networking devices, various types of
topologies can be used.
 A point-to-point topology has a single connection between two devices. These types of
connections are not common when many devices need to be connected together.
 In a star topology, a central device has many point-to-point connections to other
devices. Star topologies are used in environments where many devices need to be
connected.
 A bus topology uses a single connection or wire to connect all devices. Certain media
types, like 10Base5 and 10Base2 Ethernet, use a bus topology.
 In a ring topology, device one connects to device two, device two connects to device
three, and so on to the last device, which connects back to device one.
 Ring topologies can be implemented with a single ring or a dual ring. Dual rings are
typically used when you need redundancy.
 Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) is an example of a media technology that
uses dual rings to connect computer devices.

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Networks

Network Topologies

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Networks

Network Types
 Local area networks (LANs) are used to connect networking devices that are in a
very close geographic area, such as a floor of a building, a building itself, or a campus
environment.

 Wide area networks (WANs) are used to connect LANs together. Typically, WANs are
used when the LANs that must be connected are separated by a large distance. Whereas
a corporation provides its own infrastructure for a LAN, WANs are leased from carrier
networks, such as telephone companies.

 Four basic types of connections, or circuits, are used in WAN services: circuit-
switched, cell-switched, packet-switched, and dedicated connections.

 A wide array of WAN services are available, including analog dialup, ATM, dedicated
circuits, cable, DSL (digital subscriber line) Frame Relay, ISDN, Switched Multi-
megabit Data Services (SMDS), and X.25. Here, analog dialup and ISDN are
examples of circuit switched services, ATM and SMDS are examples of cell-switched
services, and Frame Relay and X.25 are examples of packet-switched services.

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Networks

Network Types
 Circuit-switched services provide a temporary connection across a phone circuit. These
are typically used for backup of primary circuits and for temporary boots of bandwidth. A
dedicated circuit is a permanent connection between two sites where the bandwidth is
dedicated.

 Cell-switched services can provide the same features that dedicated circuits offer. Their
advantage over dedicated circuits is that a single device can connect to multiple devices
on the same interface. The downside of these services is that they are not available at
all locations, they are difficult to set up and troubleshoot, and the equipment is
expensive when compared to using dedicated circuits.

 Packet-switched services are similar to cell-switched services. Whereas cell-switched

services switch fixed-length packets, called cells, packet-switched services switch
variable-length packets. This feature makes them better suited for data services, but
they can nonetheless provide some of the Quality of Service (QoS) features that cell-
switched services provide.

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Networks

Network Types
 Metropolitan area network (MAN) is a hybrid between a LAN and a WAN. Like a
WAN, it connects two or more LANs in the same geographic area. A MAN, for example,
might connect two different buildings or offices in the same city. However, whereas
WANs typically provide low- to medium-speed access, MANs provide high-speed
connections, such as T1 (1.544 Mbps) and optical services.

 Storage area networks (SANs) provide a high-speed infrastructure to move data

between storage devices and file servers. A storage device, sometimes referred to as a
storage unit, includes disk drives, disk controllers, and any necessary cabling.

 Intranets, Extranets, and Internet: An intranet is a network local to one company.

An extranet is an extended intranet in which certain internal services are made available
to known external users via a secure connection. In an internet, unknown external users
access resources internal to your network.

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Networks

Network Types
 Virtual Private Networks (VPN): A virtual private network (VPN) is a special type of
secured network. A VPN is used to provide a secure connection across a public network,
such as an internet.

 Extranets typically use a VPN to provide a secure connection between a company and its
known external users or offices.

 A VPN typically provides authentication, confidentiality, and integrity to create a secure

connection between two sites or devices. Authentication is provided to validate the
identities of the two peers. Confidentiality provides encryption of the data to keep it
private from prying eyes. And integrity is used to ensure that the data sent between the
two devices or sites has not been tampered with.

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Networks

OSI Reference Model
 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed the Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model to describe how information is transferred from
one machine to another, from the point when a user enters information using a
keyboard and mouse to when that information is converted to electrical or light signals
transferred along a piece of wire or radio waves transferred through the air.

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Networks

OSI Reference Model
 The application layer (7) provides the user interface.

 The presentation layer (6) defines how information is presented to the user.

 The session layer (5) determines if a network connection is needed and initiates the
setup and teardown of connections.

 The transport layer (4) handles the mechanics of reliable or unreliable services.

 The network layer (3) creates a logical topology with logical addresses. Routers
function at this layer.

 The data link layer (2) assigns physical (MAC) addresses and defines how devices on a
specific media type communicate with each other. Bridges, switches, and NICs operate
at this layer.

 The physical layer (1) handles all physical properties for a connection. Hubs and
repeaters function here.

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Networks

TCP/IP
 The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is a standard that includes
many protocols. It defines how machines on an internetwork can communicate with
each other. Here are some examples of applications (and their ports) that use TCP:
HTTP (80), FTP (21), SMTP (25), and telnet (23).

 It was initially funded by and developed for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research
Protects Agency), which is a conglomeration of U.S. military and government
organizations.

 TCP provides a reliable connection between devices by using sequence numbers and
acknowledgements. Every TCP segment sent has a sequence number in it. This not only
helps the destination reorder any incoming frames that arrived out of order, but it also
provides a method of verifying if all sent segments were received. The destination
responds to the source with an acknowledgment indicating receipt of the sent segments.

 Where TCP provides a reliable connection, UDP provides an unreliable connection. UDP
doesn’t check to see if sent segments were received by a destination.

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Networks

TCP/IP
 Comparison of the OSI and TCP/IP

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Networks

IP Addressing
 When you configure the TCP/IP protocol on a computer, an IP address, subnet mask,
and usually a default gateway are required in the TCP/IP configuration settings.

 To configure TCP/IP correctly, it is necessary to understand how TCP/IP networks are

addressed and divided into networks and sub networks.

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Networks

IP Address
 An IP address is a 32-bit number that uniquely identifies a host (computer or other
device, such as a printer or router) on a TCP/IP network.

 IP addresses are normally expressed in dotted-decimal format, with four numbers

separated by periods, such as 192.168.123.132.

 For this process to work, an IP address has two parts. The first part of an IP address is
used as a network address, the last part as a host address. If you take the example
192.168.123.132 and divide it into these two parts you get the following:

192.168.123. Network

.132 Host

 We can also show this in binary format:

11000000.10101000.01111011.10000100

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Networks

IP Address
 To provide the flexibility required to support networks of varying sizes, the Internet
designers decided that the IP address space should be divided into three address
classes-Class A, Class B, and Class C (private addresses).

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Networks

Subnet Mask
 In TCP/IP, the parts of the IP address that are used as the network and host addresses
are not fixed, so the network and host addresses above cannot be determined unless you
have more information. This information is supplied in another 32-bit number called a
subnet mask.

 The function of the subnet mask is to differentiate between the network address, the host
addresses, and the directed broadcast address.

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Networks

Class A Subnets

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Networks

Class B Subnets

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Networks

Class C Subnets

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Networks

Default Gateway
 If a TCP/IP computer needs to communicate with a host on another network, it will
usually communicate through a device called a router. In TCP/IP terms, a router that is
specified on a host, which links the host's subnet to other networks, is called a default
gateway. This section explains how TCP/IP determines whether or not to send packets to
its default gateway to reach another computer or device on the network.

 When a host attempts to communicate with another device using TCP/IP, it performs a
comparison process using the defined subnet mask and the destination IP address versus
the subnet mask and its own IP address. The result of this comparison tells the computer
whether the destination is a local host or a remote host.

 f the result of this process determines the destination to be a local host, then the
computer will simply send the packet on the local subnet. If the result of the comparison
determines the destination to be a remote host, then the computer will forward the
packet to the default gateway defined in its TCP/IP properties. It is then the responsibility
of the router to forward the packet to the correct subnet.

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Networks

IP Address: Dynamic (DHCP assignment) vs. Static
 Static IP and DHCP are two very different ways of obtaining an IP address for a computer.

 DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) allows your computer to automatically

obtain a fully functional IP address from the central RPI DHCP server. Every time you
boot up your computer, your operating system retrieves a new IP address. DHCP is the
default network configuration for most operating systems.

 In contrast, static IP is a manual way of obtaining an IP address for your computer,

where the IP address is pre-determined and always the same.

 Using DHCP is advantageous for network administrators because it removes the

repetitive task of assigning IP addresses to each computer on the network and when
adding more units. It might only take a minute but when you are configuring hundreds
of computers, it really gets annoying. Wireless access points also utilize DHCP so that
users would no longer need to configure their laptops to connect. Having static IPs and
guessing which IP is not in use is really bothersome and time consuming, especially for
those who are not familiar with the process.

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Networks

Domain Name System (DNS)
 A DNS server translates a computer or domain name to the associated IP address. It
provides a way to map friendly host names, or URLs, to IP addresses.

 Individual organizations may have their own DNS servers for their local Intranet.

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Networks

Virtual LAN (VLAN)
 A private VLAN is a technique in computer networking where a VLAN contains switch
ports that are restricted, such that they can only communicate with a given "uplink".
The restricted ports are called "private ports". Each private VLAN typically contains
many private ports, and a single uplink. The uplink will typically be a port (or link
aggregation group) connected to a router, firewall, server, provider network, or similar
central resource.

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Networks

Virtual LAN (VLAN)
 There are several benefits to using VLANs. To summarize, VLAN architecture benefits
include:

 Increased performance: less traffic will need to be routed, and the latency added by
routers will be reduced.

 Improved manageability: VLANs make large networks more manageable by

allowing centralized configuration of devices located in physically diverse locations.

 Network tuning and simplification of software configurations: IP addresses, subnet

masks, and local network protocols will be more consistent across the entire VLAN.
Fewer implementations of local server resources such as DHCP will be needed in
this environment. These services can be more effectively deployed when they can
span buildings within a VLAN.

 Increased security options: By nature, a switched network delivers frames only to

the intended recipients, and broadcast frames only to other members of the VLAN.

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Networks

Network Address Translation (NAT)
 In computer networking, network address translation (NAT) is the process of modifying
network address information in datagram (IP) packet headers while in transit across a
traffic routing device for the purpose of remapping one IP address space into another.

 Simply it allows several computers in a private network to access the Internet via a
router with Public IP address.

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Last Mile Technologies

WiMAX
 This wireless broadband access standard could supply the
missing link for the “last mile” connection in wireless
metropolitan area networks.

 Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a

wireless digital communication technology, based on the IEEE
802.16 standard.

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Last Mile Technologies

WiMAX
 WiMAX has the potential to replace a number of existing
telecommunications infrastructures.

 In a fixed wireless configuration it can replace the telephone

company's copper wire networks, the cable TV's coaxial cable
infrastructure while offering Internet Service Provider (ISP)
services.

 In its mobile variant, WiMAX has the potential to replace

cellular networks.

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 67

Last Mile Technologies

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 68

Last Mile Technologies

Fixed

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 69

Last Mile Technologies

Mobile

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 70

Last Mile Technologies

WiMAX is not Wi-Fi

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 71

Last Mile Technologies

WiMAX Radio, CPE, Antenna

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 72

Last Mile Technologies

WiMAX
 Technology sales people invariably encounter objections to the technology they
are selling. The primary objections to WiMAX are:

 1. Interference: Won't interference from other broadcasters degrade the quality

of the WiMAX service?
 2. Quality of Service (QoS): Wireless is inherently unstable so how can it offer
voice and video services?
 3. Security: Is WiMAX secure? Can anything wireless be secure?
 4. Reliability: Nothing can be as reliable as the telephone company's service
(rumored to offer "five 9s" of reliability or 5 minutes of downtime per year).

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Last Mile Technologies

Power Line Carrier (PLC)
 Power line communications basically mean any technology that enables data transfer
through power lines.

 It is also known as power line carrier, power line digital subscriber line (PDSL), mains
communication, power line telecom (PLT), power line networking (PLN), and broadband
over power lines (BPL).

 Power line carrier communication is mainly used in electric power applications for
telecommunication, tele-protection, tele-metering or some other purposes between
electric substations.

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Last Mile Technologies

Power Line Carrier (PLC)
 PLC is shared channel (like WiFi)

 Robust security is serious issue

 Encryption necessary: security vs. complexity

 Intrusion & interference from adjacent subnets

 Legal restrictions on frequency bands limit data rates

 Power Loss

 Contaminated -- noise, unreliable

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Last Mile Technologies

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 76

Last Mile Technologies

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 77

SCADA Protocols

What is a communication protocol?

 The communication protocol allows two devices to communicate with
each other. Each device involved in the communication must
essentially support not only the same protocol but also the same
version of the protocol. Any differences involved in the
implementation of protocol at the either of ends will result in the
communication errors.

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SCADA Protocols

Why do we need standards?

 .There is usually very little problem for devices to communicate with each other when all
devices are from same supplier and support same protocol. Because of using the unique
protocol, used by the vendor, the utility is restricted to one supplier for support and
purchase of future devices.

 With the arrival of open systems concept , it is desired that devices from one vendor be
able to communicate with those of other vendors i.e. devices should interoperate . To
achieve interoperability one has to use industry standard protocols. Having industry
standard, where the vendors design their devices such that all functionality and
capabilities are possible with the protocol, they provide the utilities, with the flexibility of
buying the best devices for each application.

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SCADA Protocols

Master/RTU functional data/control flow

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SCADA Protocols

 In a SCADA system, the RTU accepts commands to operate control points, set analog
output levels, and provide responses, it sends status, analog, and accumulator data to the
SCADA master station. An RTU simply monitors certain points and stores the information in
a local addressing scheme.

 The SCADA master station is the part of the system that should know that the first status
point of RTU number x is for example the status of a certain circuit breaker of a given
substation.

 This represents the predominant SCADA systems and protocols in use in the utility industry
today.

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SCADA Protocols

 Each protocol consists of two message sets or pairs. One set forms the master protocol,
containing the valid statements for master station initiation or response, and the other set is
the RTU protocol, containing the valid statements an RTU can initiate and respond to. In most
but not all cases, these pairs can be considered a poll or request for information or action, and
a confirming response.

 The SCADA protocol between master and RTU forms a viable model for IED-to-RTU
communications; therefore, the DNP 3.0 and IEC 870-5-T101 (1995) protocols in the practice
are SCADA-based protocols.

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SCADA Protocols

Balanced Transmission

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SCADA Protocols

Unbalanced Transmission

* NACK: requested data not available

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SCADA Protocols

DNP 3.0
 DNP was originally created by Westronic, Inc. (now GE Harris) in 1990. In 1993, the DNP
3.0 Basic 4 protocol specification document set was released into the public domain,
turned over to Users Group in 1993.

 The DNP 3.0 is specifically developed for interdevice communication involving SCADA
RTUs, and provides for both IED-to-RTU and master-to-IED/RTU.

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SCADA Protocols

IEC 870-5-101
 The IEC Technical Committee 57 (Working Group 03) have developed a protocol
standard for telecontrol, teleprotection, and associated telecommunications for electric
power systems. The result of this work is IEC 870-5. Five documents specify the base
IEC 870-5. The documents are:

• IEC 870-5-1 Transmission Frame Formats

• IEC 870-5-2 Data Link Transmission Services

• IEC 870-5-3 General Structure of Application Data

• IEC 870-5-4 Definition and coding of Information Elements

• IEC 870-5-5 Basic Application Functions

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SCADA Protocols

IEC 870-5-101
 IEC 870-5-101 (T101) is a companion standard generated by the IEC TC57 for electric
utility communication between master stations and RTUs. The IEC 870-5-101 is based of
the five documents IEC 870-5-1-- 5. Like DNP 3.0, T101 provides structures that are also
directly applicable to the interface between RTUs and IEDs. It contains all the elements
of a protocol necessary to provide an unambiguous profile definition so that vendors may
create products that interoperate fully.

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SCADA Protocols

Modbus
 Modbus is an application layer messaging protocol, positioned at level 7 of the OSI
model, which provides client/server communication between devices connected on
different types of buses or networks. The industry’s serial de facto standard since 1979,
truly open and the most widely used network protocol in the industrial manufacturing
environment. The Modbus protocol provides an industry standard method that Modbus
devices use for parsing messages.

 The Internet community can access Modbus at a reserved system port 502 on the
TCP/IP stack. Modbus is used to monitor and program devices; to communicate
intelligent devices with sensors and instruments; to monitor field devices using PCs and
HMIs.

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SCADA Protocols

Communication Between Modbus Devices
 Modbus devices communicate using a master-slave technique in which only one device
(the master) can initiate transactions (called queries). The other devices (slaves) respond
by supplying the requested data to the master, or by taking the action requested in the
query.

 A slave is any peripheral device (I/O transducer, valve, network drive, or other measuring
device), which processes information and sends its output to the master using Modbus.

 Masters can address individual slaves, or can initiate a broadcast message to all slaves.
Slaves return a response to all queries addressed to them individually, but do not
respond to broadcast queries.

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SCADA Protocols

Modbus Register Map
 Modbus devices usually include a Register Map. Modbus functions operate on register
map registers to monitor, configure, and control module I/O. You should refer to the
register map for your device to gain a better understanding of its operation.

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SCADA Protocols

Serial Transmission Modes of Modbus networks
 The transmission mode defines the bit contents of the message bytes transmitted along
the network and how the message information is to be packed into the message stream
and decoded. Standard Modbus networks employ one of two types of transmission
modes:

• ASCII Mode

• RTU Mode

 The mode of transmission is usually selected along with other serial port communication
parameters (baud rate, parity etc.) as part of the device configuration.

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SCADA Protocols

ASCII Mode
 In the ASCII Transmission Mode (American Standard Code for Information Interchange),
each character byte in a message is sent as 2 ASCII characters.

 This mode allows time intervals of up to a second between characters during

transmission without generating errors.

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SCADA Protocols

Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) Mode
 In RTU Mode, each 8-bit message byte contains two 4-bit hexadecimal characters, and
the message is transmitted in a continuous stream.

 The greater effective character density increases throughput than ASCII mode at the
same baud rate.

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SCADA Protocols

Comparison of DNP 3.0, IEC 870-5-101 and Modbus
Feature IEC 870-5-101 DNP 3.0 Modbus

Standardization IEC Standard (1995) Open industry Not Applicable

Amendments 2000,2001 specification (1993)

Standardization IEC TC 57 WG 03 DNP user’s group Modicon Inc.

Organization

Physical layer Balanced Mode- Balanced mode Balanced mode of

Point to Point transmission Transmission
Multipoint to point
It supports multiple RS 232 serial interface
Unbalanced Mode- masters, multiple slave Implementation
Point to Point and peer-to-peer
Multipoint to point communication Peer to peer
communication
RS 232 or RS 485 TCP/IP over Ethernet
implementation

TCP/IP over Ethernet,

802.3 or X.21

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SCADA Protocols

Comparison of DNP 3.0, IEC 870-5-101 and Modbus
Feature IEC 870-5-101
Data link layer Frame format FT 1.2
Hamming distance 4
Application layer Both IEC 870-5-101 and
DNP 3.0 provides:
• Time synchronization
• Time stamped events
• Select before operate
• Polled report by exception
• Unsolicited responses
• Data group/classes
Limited to single data
type per message
Can control one point
per message only
No application layer confirms
for events
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DNP 3.0 Modbus
Frame format FT3 Two types of message
Hamming distance-6 frames are used:
ASCII
RTU
Remote starting / Does not give time
stopping of software stamped events.
Applications We have sequence of
events (without time but
Polling by data priority not event list with time.
Level
Does not provide polled
Broadcast addressing report by exception
Multiple data types per Checksum ensures
message are allowed proper end-to-end
Communication
Application layer
confirms events; use of
CON bit is made
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SCADA Protocols

Comparison of DNP 3.0, IEC 870-5-101 and Modbus
Feature IEC 870-5-101
Device Addressing Link address could be 0,
1, 2 bytes
Unbalanced link
contains slave address
Balanced link is point to
point so link address is
optional (may be
included for security)
Configuration Baud rate
Parameters required Device addresses
Balanced / unbalanced
Frame length
Size of link address
Size of ASDU address
Size/structure of point number
Size of cause of
transmission
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DNP 3.0 Modbus
Link contains both Addresses field contains
source and destination two characters (ASCII
address (both always 16 mode) or 8 bits (RTU
bits) mode)
Application layer does Valid address in range
not contains address 1-247
32 point addresses of Address 0 used for
each data type per broadcast
Device
Baud rate Baud rate
Device addresses Mode ASCII or RTU
Fragment size Parity mode
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SCADA Protocols

Comparison of DNP 3.0, IEC 870-5-101 and Modbus
Feature IEC 870-5-101 DNP 3.0 Modbus

Cyclic transmission Eliminates static data Available but interval Not Applicable
poll message from
Master cannot be remotely
adjusted
Interrupted by event
triggered communication
request
Dominant market Europe (South America, North America Used worldwide for
Australia and china) (Australia and china) application with low
volume data

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SCADA Protocols

Protocol message/function types for DNP and IEC 870-5-101
DNP 3.0 implementation IEC 870-5-101 implementation
Function Description <Type ID> or Description
Code (Tx cause)

0 Confirm (P/N=0) Positive confirm

(P/N=1) Negative Confirm

1 Read (1) Periodic, Cyclic

<100> Interrogation command
<101> Counter interrogation CMD
<102> Read command
(5-6) Request
(20) General interrogation
(21-36) Group interrogation
(38-41) Group counter request

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SCADA Protocols

Protocol message/function types for DNP and IEC 870-5-101
DNP 3.0 implementation IEC 870-5-101 implementation
Function Description <Type ID> or Description
Code (Tx cause)

2 Write <120-126> (13) File transfer

<110-113> Parameter of measured
<103> value
Clock sync command
3 Select <45-51> (6,8) Single/double command
4 Operate Set point commands
5 Direct operate regulating
6 Direct operate no ack Step CMD activation
Deactivation

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SCADA Protocols

Protocol message/function types for DNP and IEC 870-5-101
DNP 3.0 implementation IEC 870-5-101 implementation
Function Description <Type ID> or Description
Code (Tx cause)

7 Immediate freeze <113> Parameter activation

8 Immediate freeze no ack (parameter
9 Freeze and clear equals time period
10 Freeze and clear no ack memorization of
11 Freeze with time integrand totals)
12 Freeze with time no ack
13 Cold restart (4)<70> Initialized End of
14 Warm restart initialization
15 Init data to default
16 Initiate application

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SCADA Protocols

Protocol message/function types for DNP and IEC 870-5-101
DNP 3.0 implementation IEC 870-5-101 implementation
Function Description <Type ID> or Description
Code (Tx cause)

17 Start application <105> Reset process command

18 Stop application

19 Save configuration <120-126>(13) File transfer

<113> Parameter activation

20 Enable unsolicited

21 Disable unsolicited

22 Assign to class (20-41) Group interrogations

23 Delay measurement <103> Clock sync command

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SCADA Protocols

Protocol message/function types for DNP and IEC 870-5-101
DNP 3.0 implementation IEC 870-5-101 implementation
Function Description <Type ID> or Description
Code (Tx cause)

129 Response (11) Return info local CMD

(12) Return info remote CMD
<7> Activation confirmation
<7> Deactivation confirmation
<10> Activation termination
<1-21> Process info monitor
direction
130 Unsolicited response (1) Periodic, cyclic
(3) Spontaneous
<104> Test command
<106> Delay acquisition
command

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SCADA Protocols

Protocol Function Types for Modbus
DNP 3.0 implementation
Function Code Function

01 Read Coil Status

02 Read Input Status

03 Read Holding Registers

04 Read Input Registers

05 Force Single Coil

06 Preset Single Register

07 Read Exception Status

08 Diagnostics

09 Program 484

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SCADA Protocols

Protocol Function Types for Modbus
DNP 3.0 implementation
Function Code Function

10 Poll 484

11 Fetch Comm. Event Ctr

12 Fetch Comm. Event Log

13 Program Controller

14 Poll Controller

15 Force Multiple Coils

16 Preset Multiple Registers

17 Report Slave ID

18 Program 884/M84

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SCADA Protocols

Protocol Function Types for Modbus
DNP 3.0 implementation
Function Code Function

19 Reset Comm. Link

20 Read General Reference

21 Write General Reference

22 Mask Write 4X Register

23 Read/Write 4X Registers

24 Read FIFO

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SCADA Protocols

Application Domain
 IEC 870-5-101 and DNP 3.0 are comparable protocols mainly used in Utilities, Oil & Gas
Industries and with some applicability in other domains. However Modbus is more of a
general purpose protocol mainly intended at Industrial applications with direct register
mapping and amount of data transfer is not large.

 If it is power or energy industry, need to interface with SCADA systems with time
stamping and similar requirements makes IEC 870 and DNP suitable one.

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SCADA Protocols

Application Domain
 Communication within substations: There are protocols that are used for communicating
with the devices meant for protection control and metering. The most common protocols
are:
 Modbus
 IEC 870-5-103
 LON
 Profibus
 UCA
 IEC 61850
 Some of the proprietary protocols are:
 SPA (ABB)
 VDEW (Siemens)
 K-BUS (Alstom)

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SCADA Protocols

Application Domain
 Communication outside the substations: Communication protocols used for
communication of data from substation to master control centers are:
 IEC 870-5-101
 IEC 870-5-104
 DNP 3.0
 IEC 60670-6 (TASE .2)
 IEEE P1525
 ELCOM90

 Communication between applications: There are standards that are being defined for
interfaces between various application e.g. IEC 61968

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SCADA Protocols

Application Domain
 Communication outside the substations: Communication protocols used for
communication of data from substation to master control centers are:
 IEC 870-5-101
 IEC 870-5-104
 DNP 3.0
 IEC 60670-6 (TASE .2)
 IEEE P1525
 ELCOM90

 Communication between applications: There are standards that are being defined for
interfaces between various application e.g. IEC 61968

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SCADA Protocols

Bandwidth Usage
 When large area is to be covered than DNP 3.0 and IEC 870-5-101 presents good
solution. DNP 3.0 sends small number of large sized data while IEC 870-5-101 sends
large number of small sized data. Thus when voluminous data is to be communicated
over a large distance DNP 3.0 becomes favored one. Also DNP networks works with
higher baud rates than that of comparable IEC 870-5-101.

 If you are looking for a simple protocol where memory requirements are less and a few
number of data types, then MODBUS is a better option because of its smaller frame size
compared to other protocols and simplicity in implementation. Modbus is a very fast
protocol (it packs a lot of information in just one message). Regarding data integrity, it's
very safe, since you always have to poll the process (there is no spontaneous sending).

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