2020 2nd International Conference on Industrial Electrical and Electronics (ICIEE)

SCADA System Implementation for Small System

Electricity
Kemas M.Tofani P. A. Permana B. B. S. D. A Harsono
Transmission and Distribution Transmission and Distribution Transmission and Distribution
PLN Research Institute) PLN Research Institute PLN Research Institute
Jakarta, Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia
kemas.tofani@pln.co.id putu.agus.tf@gmail.com brianbramantyo07@gmail.com

Dhandis R Jintaka K. G. H Mangunnkusumo

Transmission and Distribution Transmission and Distribution
PLN Research Institute PLN Research Institute
Jakarta, Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia
dhandis63@gmail.com kevin.gausultan@pln.co.id

Abstract—Current technological developments lead to the in-
tegration of conventional and renewable generation. Automation
and optimization systems in the electrical system using the
SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system will
increase the reliability and flexibility of the controlling system.
The research aims to build a SCADA system that can communi-
cate across protocols between devices. The SCADA system covers
the Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) and Master station along with
their human machine interfaces (HMI). The RTU prototype was
created by using a Raspberry Pi and communicating to the
master station with the IEC 60870-5-104 protocol.The master
station including HMI and front-end communication will be made
in C# language which can communicate with the Modbus protocol
and IEC 60870-5-104 protocol. With this system, it is expected
that it can be used for microgrid systems or for training for
laboratory scale.
Index Terms—SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisi-
tion), Remote Terminal Unit (RTU), Raspberry Pi, Master Station,
IEC 60870-5-104 protocol, Modbus protocol.
I. I NTRODUCTION
remote stations into more durable industrial products and
upgrading programming by the master station.
The development of ethernet technology in recent years has
greatly influenced the choice of communication protocol used
in SCADA systems. One of the communication protocols that
uses Ethernet and is the subject of this research is Modbus TCP
and IEC 6087-5-104. That protocols are two of the SCADA
standard protocols that is widely used in the electricity industry
[2]. In addition to the IT field in the electronics field is the
emergence of embedded systems. An embedded system is a
computer system that is designed to perform one or several
specific functions, is more flexible and to meet various end-
user needs. One type of embedded system that is very popular
lately is the Raspberry Pi which will then become the basic
material for the prototype RTU [3]
II. II.SCADA
A. SCADA Architecture

The electricity system regulation in the electricity company
cannot be separated from the role of SCADA. SCADA is short
for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, a computer
system for collecting and analyzing data in real time. SCADA
is used to provide convenience and simplicity in controlling
remotely. The SCADA system provides 4 functions, namely,
data acquisition, networked data communication, data presen-
tation, and control.
Currently, large-scale electricity development is being car-
ried out by Indonesia to improve electricity security and to
electrify areas that are not yet electrified. Therefore, the need
SCADA is composed of several important components,
namely Remote Terminal Unit (RTU), Master Station and
Telecommunications [4]
• Master Station or Control Center, functions as a monitor-
ing, control and data center from the Remote Station.
• Remote Station, functions to collect data needed by the
Master Station and forward the Master Station command
to the equipment at the substation or generation plant.
Remote stations can consist of gateways, IEDs, local
HMI, RTU, and energy meters.
• Telecommunication functions to bridge the communica-

for a system that can monitor and control the electrical system
is needed. In this study a system that can be used to monitor
and control the electricity system is designed. The system
is made more suitable for small electrical systems such as
microgrids [1], local areas, or for laboratory-scale testing. But
it can be developed for larger electrical systems by converting
tion between the Master Station and Remote Station.
The more variety of SCADA equipment in the electrical
system makes a more diverse configuration of existing SCADA
systems. For this reason, a standard governing the SCADA
system is needed in order to obtain a common perception of
SCADA itself. Therefore, the SCADA standard was developed

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 2020 2nd International Conference on Industrial Electrical and Electronics (ICIEE)

by PLN as a state-owned company that regulates electricity in (b)

Indonesia. The standard content includes definitions, hardware,
software, data requirements, testing, performance, feasibility
studies in development, operation and maintenance that have
a relationship with the SCADA system. The standard created
is known as SPLN. One example of a standard SCADA
architecture is illustrated Fig. 1

Fig. 2. (a) Modbus Frame Data Format (b) IEC 104 Frame Data Format

III. SCADA DESIGN

Broadly speaking, the design of this project is divided into
2 main parts, namely RTU and Master station (including HMI
and gateway). The block diagram of the SCADA overview
design is described in Fig 3.

Fig. 1. SCADA architecture according to SPLN.

Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) is a microprocessor-

based electronic equipment that has certain functions to per-
form telecontrol, telemetering, tele-signal, protection, and en-
ergy meters. In this study, the architecture was used according
to figure 1 but the IED, I / O module and energy meter were
replaced and with the prototype RTU using Raspberry PI.

B. Protocol Communication
In this research, SCADA design is made using 2 protocols as
communication which are IEC 60870-5-104 and Modbus TCP.
The protocols proposed in this study based on the SCADA
Fig. 3. SCADA Architecture Design
protocol standard. Modbus TCP remains the choice in this
paper regarding the data format, which is simple and easy
Gateway is a front-end communication to communicate with
to implement. Current technology in microgrid systems, such
remote devices that can communicate with the IEC 104 and
as bidirectional inverter equipment uses the Modbus TCP
Modbus protocols and also possible to convert from the IEC
protocol as one of its communication protocols. Besides IED
104 protocol to Modbus or vice versa. Information from the
Meters or electric measuring devices generally also use the
remote stations will be displayed on the HMI Master station.
Modbus protocol.
Data sent such as metering, events, protection will be saved
IEC 60870-5-104 protocol known as IEC 104 is the standard to the database. Database created using MySQL. An external
for telecontrol equipment and systems based on TCP / IP algorithm is an algorithm created outside the main program
to monitor and control remote processes. IEC 104 is more that can be called by the master station for certain functions.
complex than Modbus. IEC 104 sent packets not only data The external algorithm is a power balance algorithm that
but also additional information. Comparison frame data format functions to give commands to increase and decrease power
between can be seen in Fig 4. Therefore IEC 104 has the to stabilize the frequency at 50 Hz.
ability to transmit data spontaneously without the need for
polling in advance like Modbus [5]
A. Remote Terminal Unit (RTU)

(a) The RTU prototype was made with the Raspberry Pi module
which was the previous research [6]. The design for the RTU
module in this project can be seen in Figure 3 below. In the
picture, there are 4 groups of modules in this project.

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 2020 2nd International Conference on Industrial Electrical and Electronics (ICIEE)

(b)

Fig. 5. User Interface (a) Gateway (b) HMI – overview system

Fig. 4. Schematic hardware RTU

The SCADA Master station program algorithm, both the

The core of the RTU prototype module is the merging of
modules 1 and 2. And for an explanation of each module
section in Fig. 4 is as follows:
• Module 1 consists of the Raspberry Pi module. All
the processes that occur in the RTU are processed and
controlled here. The IEC 60870-5-104 protocol is placed
here also.
• Module 2 is I /O module, which is actually the addition
of this module due to the limitations of Raspberry Pi 2 in
processing analog input due to does not have an internal
analog to digital module, so to be able to process the
analog input data this Arduino Nano module is added.
• Module 3 is a relay module, which is a CB circuit
breaker mechanically, and is connected to the potentiome-
ter source on module 4.
• Module 4 is a simulator module of the RTU function
consisting of 2 LEDs as an indication of PMT conditions
(open / close) and 4 potentiometers as a simulation of the
metering amount whose value will appear on the LCD.
B. Master Station)
The master station program is composed of HMI and
gateway / front end communication.Both are created using the
C# programming language.In contrast to previous studies [7],
the research on the master station algorithm that was made is
adapted to the standard SCADA protocol so that it guarantees
security and security in communication. User interface for
gateway and HMI can be seen in Fig.
(a)
gateway and the HMI, is made using the same principle by
reading the IEC 104 and Modbus communication protocols.
How the algorithm works in reading the protocol is explained
in the following flowchart (see Fig 6).
Fig. 6. SCADA Master Station Program Algorithm
After the connection to the equipment or remote devices
is connected, the program will read protocols throughout the
equipment. The working principle of the Modbus protocol
works by polling so that communication starts from the server
to the client. Modbus polling takes place in thirds of a second,
although the time can be changed shorter or longer. The
algorithm will read every Modbus data function code including
Holding register, Register input, or digital input. The algorithm
will also read the existing measurement data types, whether
decimal, float or long type. Data type conversion is based on
the IEEE754 format.
The principle of communication of the IEC 104 protocol is
different from Modbus. The IEC 104 protocol does not require
polling for data transfer, although the polling system still exists
as an interrogation. Interrogation is the condition of the server
calling each remote device and sending the status information
to the server with a longer time than polling on Modbus. In
IEC 104 data is sent to the spontaneous method. The point is
that every time there is a change in data, the data will be sent
immediately without having to wait for requests from clients
asking for data.

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 2020 2nd International Conference on Industrial Electrical and Electronics (ICIEE)
IV. SIMULATION AND RESULT
The SCADA testing program is made separately between
RTU and Master station. RTU testing is carried out to ensure
that it can communicate with only the IEC 104 protocol
while the Master station Test is carried out so that it can
communicate with the IEC 104 and Modbus protocols
A. RTU Review
RTU testing is done by point to point connection using a
protocol analyzer. Protocol analyzer is software that is embed-
ded in a PC to monitor the protocol during the communication
process. The protocol analyzer used in this test is the Test
Harness by Triangle Microworks. The test configuration is
shown in Fig 7.
Fig. 7. RTU Simulation
The RTU prototype will send data using simulators in
modules 3 and 4, if the protocol analyzer responds to the
data being sent then communication through the IEC 104
protocol is successful. Vice versa protocol analyzer will send
a ”command” signal and must be well received by RTU.
Simulation results are shown in Fig. 8.
Fig. 8. Communication Event in RTU (left) and Protocol analyzer (right)
B. Master Station Review
The master station algorithm is more complex than RTU
because it must communicate with many RTUs and must be
able to communicate with two protocols (IEC 104 and Modbus
TCP). Configuration of the master station testing program can
be seen in Fig. 9.
There are three functions to be tested namely telemetering,
telestatus, and telecontrol. Specifically, for testing the IEC 104
protocol, the same delivery time between the RTU and the
master station must indicate the same time. Because IEC 104
has a time stamp on the protocol data format. Unlike Modbus,
there is no timing in every data transmission. Therefore, the
Modbus protocol is generally only required for telemetering
data. In IEC 104. telemetering testing uses Asdu Measured
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Fig. 9. Master Station Protocol Testing
Value Short (M ME NC 1 and M ME TF 1) types,
telestatus testing uses Asdu type single point information and
double point information (M SP NA 1, M DP NA 1,
M SP NA 1, M SP TB 1 and M DP TB 1). The
test results can be seen in Table 1.
Modbus testing is simpler and there is no time stamp
checking and only includes the holding register function code,
analog input, digital input, and coil. Modbus test results can
be seen in Table 2.
Telecontrol testing on IEC 104 and Modbus have in com-
mon, namely the ”command” instructions from the client
must be received by the RTU and forwarded to the intended
equipment in less than 3 seconds. The test results show the
master station can send ”command” signals with the two
protocols with an average time less than the recommended
time.
V. DISCUSSION
The master station algorithm and the prototype RTU made
can be used for monitoring and controlling the electric power
system. The system is made recommended for small electrical
scales such as microgrid systems or can be used for laboratory
scale. The system created can be developed for a larger
electricity power system by replacing the prototype RTU with
industrial products, while for the master station it can be
developed by optimizing the algorithm made. The master
station program that is made now can communicate with 5
RTU and up to 400 data points and can still be maximized
to the desired number of data points by increasing the buffer
size of the algorithm
 2020 2nd International Conference on Industrial Electrical and Electronics (ICIEE)

TABLE I
IEC 104 T ESTING R ESULT ( A ) T ELEMETERING ( B ) T ELESTATUS

(a)
IO TM Value % COT=3
No IED ELEMENT Range Criteria Result
Address Input BCU/ Mater Error Spontaneus
Gateway
RTU Station
4 4 4.002084 4.00208 0% ≤ 0.7% 08:40:20.798
8 8 8.002084 8.00808 0% ≤ 0.7% 08:41:13.799
4-20
1 IED 1 A 790446 12 12 12.00208 12.0021 0% ≤ 0.7% 08:41:43.799 OK
mA
16 16 16 16 0% ≤ 0.7% 08:42:30.798
20 20 20 20 0% ≤ 0.7% 08:42:57.799

(b)
IO TEST Time Tag COT=3
No IED ELEMENT
Address INPUT Proteksi Gateway Masterstation Result (Spontaneus)
”0” 08:30:39.662 08:30:39.662 08:30:39.662 Ok
1 IED 1 MPU 1 83388731 Ok
”1” 08:30:54.426 08:30:54.426 08:30:54.426 Ok

IO TEST Time Tag COT=3

No IED ELEMENT
Address INPUT BCU/RTU Gateway Masterstation Result (Spontaneus)
Open 08:35:29.819 08:35:29.819 08:35:29.819 Ok
Close 08:35:34.093 08:35:34.093 08:35:34.093 Ok
1 IED 1 MPU 1 83388731 Ok
Inv Open - - - -
Inv close - - - -

TABLE II
M ODBUS T ESTING R ESULT

No Function Result Time Stamp

1 Register Input (R) Ok -
2 Holding Register (R/W) Ok -
3 Digital Input (R) Ok -
4 Coil (W) Ok -

VI. CONCLUSION
Based on the results of tests in the laboratory, the SCADA
master station program algorithm and prototype that were
made successfully communicate with the Modbus and IEC
104 protocols so that it can be applied to system monitoring
and control functions universally. The SCADA Master Station
made has been tested and implemented on a microgrid system
and operates properly. The RTU prototype is used as a backup
if the main equipment fails, so the time needed to recover the
SCADA system can run quickly.
R EFERENCES
[1] S. Li, B. Jiang, X. Wang, and L. Dong, “Research and Application of
a SCADA System for a Microgrid,” 2017
[2] P. S. Communications, C. Committee, I. Power, and E. Society, IEEE
Standard for Secure SCADA. 2019.
[3] L. O. Aghenta and M. T. Iqbal, “Low-cost, open source IoT-based
SCADA system design using thinger.IO and ESP32 thing,” Electron.,
vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 1–24, 2019.
[4] K. R. K. Chauhan, M. L. Dewal, and K. Chauhan, “Intelligent SCADA
System,” no. January, 2010.
[5] P. Matoušek, “Description and analysis of IEC 104 Protocol Technical
Report,” 2017.
[6] M. Usha, “User-Configuration Universal Windows Platform SCADA
System Base on I 2 c Bus Communication,” vol. 5, no. 5, 2016.
[7] N. Web, I. Scada, and U. Java, “powered by JAVA and XML a SCADA,”
no. November, pp. 31–39, 2005.

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