Introduction to the Standard IEC 61850 (Video On Demand)

In Introduction to the Standard IEC 61850, you'll learn ...

• The purpose, architecture, and key components of IEC 61850, including its role in replacing traditional hardwired, vendor-specific substation designs with standardized digital communication.
• The fundamental networking, data modeling, and communication concepts of IEC 61850, including Ethernet-based networks, logical data structures, MMS, GOOSE, Sampled Values, and station and process buses.
• The configuration and interoperability of IEC 61850 systems, including the SCL file ecosystem, engineering tools, standardized data models, and multi-vendor testing considerations.
• The practical application of IEC 61850 concepts to substation design, testing, troubleshooting, and system interpretation, including the relationships among primary equipment, IEDs, communication networks, and system documentation.

Overview

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Credit: 3 PDH

Modern substations increasingly rely on IEC 61850 — the international standard for substation communication, protection, and control — yet many practicing engineers have only worked with legacy hard-wired schemes. This introductory course closes that gap. IEC stands for International Electrotechnical Commission, and IEC 61850 is a standard series titled “Communication networks and systems for power utility automation”.

In simple terms, the practices outlined in IEC 61850 help devices in an electrical power system describe information in a common way and exchange that information over a communication network instead of depending only on point-to-point hardwired signals.

The course uses one guiding idea: IEC 61850 is not just “a protocol.” It is a shared language for power-system devices, a way to name data, a way to exchange messages, and a way to describe the system configuration. The course describes IEC 61850 as a standard series that includes specifications and technical reports for power utility automation, including protocols, data models, and configuration aspects for substation automation and related utility applications. It demonstrates how IEC 61850 uses a virtualized model with logical devices, logical nodes, common data classes, and communication services, allowing device behavior and data to be defined separately from the specific communication method.

No prior knowledge of IEC 61850 or its acronyms is assumed; every technical term is explained in plain language as it's introduced.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• What IEC 61850 is and why it exists — including the replacement of older hard-wired, vendor-specific substation designs with a standardized digital communication framework.
• The core physical equipment in a substation — transformers, circuit breakers, current transformers (CT), voltage transformers (VT), protection relays, and the operator screen or Human-Machine Interface (HMI) — and how IEC 61850 connects them digitally.
• The shift from hardwired signals to digital network messages, including foundational networking concepts such as the Local Area Network (LAN), Ethernet, network switches, fiber-optic cabling, the Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), and GOOSE (Generic Object Oriented Substation Event) messaging.
• The IEC 61850 "common language" — the standardized data model built from Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), Logical Devices (LD), Logical Nodes (LN), Data Objects (DO), and Data Attributes (DA) — including common naming examples such as XCBR (circuit breaker) and MMXU (measurement unit).
• The three main IEC 61850 communication services — MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification) client-server communication, GOOSE publisher/subscriber messaging, and Sampled Values (SV) streamed from Merging Units (MU) — and the differences among them.
• The difference between the station bus and the process bus, including the devices — merging units, breaker controllers, protection relays, HMIs, and gateways — that typically operate on each.
• The Substation Configuration Language (SCL) file ecosystem — including ICD, SSD, SCD, CID, and IID files — and the use of these files by engineering tools to configure a substation's devices.
• Key considerations of multi-vendor interoperability, including common data models, conformance testing, and functional testing across equipment from different manufacturers.
• Foundational concepts for basic design, testing, and troubleshooting tasks, including design documents, SCL configuration files, and common communication issues.
• The components and connections within a complete, simple IEC 61850 system diagram — from primary equipment through IEDs, station and process buses, and communication services — integrating the concepts covered throughout the course.

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 16 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.