History, Evolution, and Future of the Substa tion RTUMark Peterson, PEGE Technica l Applica tion Engineer

Power & Energy Conference - 2020

Biggest Machine on Earth

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America’s Power System:-10,000 power plants

-Half a million miles of transmission-Millions of miles of distribution

-55,000 substa tions

Biggest Machine on Earth

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The goal is to optimize the power production and delivery process.

The collection, secure transfer, and analysis of end-to-end system information is required in order to achieve tha t goal.

SCADA

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• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

– Purpose of SCADA– Process optimiza tion– System situa tional awareness– System control– Without it , essentia lly running blind, must rely upon:

– Dispatched workers– Staffed substa tions– Phone ca ll reporting

Healthcare Analogy

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Monitor:Critica l Real Time Data

Frequency:Constant/Short Interva l

Act ions:Immedia te

Goal: Keep Patient Alive

Emergency Room

Power Production/Delivery System

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Energy Management

System

Monitor:Critica l Real Time Data

Frequency:Constant/Short Interva l

Act ions:Immedia te

Goal: Keep System Alive and Opera tiona l

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• Power plant control rooms were first “control centers”– Extended to nearby substa tions for SCADA functionality– Directly-connected da ta sources

– Device contacts– Electromechanica l meters– Transducers

SCADA History (Early to Mid 1900’s)

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• Power plant control rooms were first “control centers”– Essentia lly extended instrumenta tion– Dedica ted discrete da ta indica tion and display board

– Meters– Lamps

SCADA History (Early to Mid 1900’s)

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• Extended instrumenta tion impractica l for distant sta tions• Alterna tive manual methods

– Staffed sta tions– On-ca ll loca l a rea workers– Public

• Progressive applica tion of telemetry– Simple schemes– Limited to crucia l da ta

SCADA History (Early to Mid 1900’s)

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• SCADA acronym came into use• Early implementa tion

– Field devices, predominantly a t subs– Remote Data Equipment (RDE)

– Standalone, independent– Dedica ted function– Perform data acquisition– Execute control actions

SCADA History (1960’s -1970’s)

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• Remote Data Equipment (RDE)– Hardware

– Discrete electronics– Hardware based logic– Often wire-wound connections– Multiple la rge low-density PCBs– Common card-cage format

SCADA History (1960’s -1970’s)

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• Hard IO– Card based– Local to RDE– Low-level ana log inputs (AIs)

– Typica lly +/- 1mA transducer– Sta tus inputs (DIs)

– Typica lly equipment contacts– Control outputs (DOs)

SCADA History (1960’s -1970’s)

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SCADA History (1960’s -1970’s)

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• Energy Management System (EMS) master– Computer / da ta processor– Communica tions processor

– Communica tion with system devices– Protocol / language

– Simple limited interface

SCADA History (1960’s -1970’s)

– Modifiable display board– Highly dependent on

loca l a rea workers

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• Communica tions– Protocol / language

– Move da ta– Typica lly poll-response scheme– Optimize bandwidth usage– Minimize impact on processor and memory

– Typica lly RDE and Master sourced from common vendor and utilized proprieta ry vendor-specific protocol, e.g. Conitel, CDC, Telegyr

– Near zero concern for interoperability– Bit and byte orienta tions– Often hardware-associa ted

SCADA History (1960’s -1970’s)

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– Often hardware-associa ted– Message segments match hardware I/O cards– e.g. Leeds & Northrup RDE – Conitel protocol

SCADA History (1960’s -1970’s)

SCADA History (1960’s -1970’s)

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• Communica tions Media– 4-wire leased party phone lines– Microwave– Radios– Typica lly FSK via 1200 baud modem

SCADA History (1980’s -1990’s)

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• Remote Terminal Unit (RTU)

– Microprocessor based– Firmware based logic and processing– Implement advanced functionality

– PLC, multiple master support , ca lcula tor, etc.

– Communica tions to Master– Leased phone lines– Microwave– Radio, licensed and spread spectrum– Fiber, mostly multiplexed seria l channels

SCADA History (1980’s -1990’s)

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– IO– Predominantly loca l hard IO– Distributed IO for la rge sta tions

– Utilize da ta in IEDs– Meters– Relays– Controls (e.g. LTC, regula tor, etc.)

– Communica tions media to IEDs:– RS232 seria l– RS485 seria l– Some fiber seria l– Some Ethernet , copper and fiber

SCADA History (1980’s -1990’s)

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– Communica tion Protocols

– Vendors sta rted to emula te other vendors’ protocols– Eliminated vendor hardware limita tions– Increased competition

– Westronic crea ted DNP protocol– Interoperable– Critica l need for RTU-to-IED comms– Publicly released to DNP Users Group– Industry game changer

SCADA History (1980’s -1990’s)

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• Energy Management System (EMS) master– Increased processor and memory– More remote sta tions monitored– Advanced Graphica l User Interface (GUI) display board

– CRT– Projection

SCADA Recent Evolution (00’s-Present)

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• Energy Management System (EMS) master– Many continued to utilize vendor-specific protocols– Progressively implemented DNP– Implemented advanced functionality

– Load control– Sta te estimators

SCADA Recent Evolution (00’s-Present)

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• Energy Management System (EMS) master– GUI

SCADA Recent Evolution

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• Remote Terminal Unit (RTU)– Moved toward substa tion Gateway design/concept

– Hard IO agnostic - Use IED data or 3rd party IO modules– Data primarily sourced from IEDs

– Opera tional rea l time da ta– Classic sta tus and analog va lues– Non-opera tional da ta

– Events– Logs

– Communica tions media– Move to more Ethernet – copper and fiber

SCADA Recent Evolution

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• Substa tion Gateway

SCADA Recent Evolution

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• Substa tion Gateway

– Communica tions Protocols– Evolution of interoperable protocols

– DNP additions– UCA evolution to, and development of IEC 61850

– Specifies how data sha ll be moved– Manufacturing Message Specifica tion (MMS)

– Client/Server scheme– Generic Object Oriented Substa tion Event (GOOSE)

– Publisher/Subscriber scheme

SCADA Recent Evolution

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• Substa tion Gateway

– Communica tions– Drastic reduction in bandwidth constra ints

– Seria l: 1200 baud to 56 kbaud channels– LAN: 1MB to 1GB– Frame relay, SONET, MPLS, etc.

– Drastic reduction of communica tion costs– Standards such as Ethernet and TCP/IP– Explosion of communica tions market– Advances in hardware capabilities

SCADA Recent Evolution

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• Multiple Functions on Common Pla tform

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Advanced Automat ionAutomate substa tion procedures using IEC 61131 compliant tools

Fault Recording & Data Logging and File Ret rievalExtract va luable da ta such as digita l fault records and event files

Secure Remote Access Securely access substa tion device loca lly and remotely

RedundancyHot & Warm-standby, PRP and HSR

Advanced GatewayData collection from substa tion IEDs for control & secure monitoring

Embedded HMI Customizable loca l or remote HMI with multiple windows

SCADA Future

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• Impacts of technology

– Wide variety of communica tions technologies ava ilable– Bandwidth costs no longer the driver they used to be

– Greater system and device intelligence and need for situa tional awareness requires:– More points to be monitored and reported– More da ta to be obta ined and processed– Increased complexity in applica tions– Focus is shifting from data acquisition to da ta

management

SCADA Future

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• Focus shifting from data acquisition to da ta management

– Manage huge amounts of da ta and da tasets– Configura tion of devices and applica tions– Maintenance of devices and applica tions– Updating devices– Securing devices and configura tions

– These will be the main cost drivers

SCADA Future

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• Impacts of technology– Applica tion of da ta ana lysis tools

– Process boatloads of da ta into information– Mine da ta for useful information– Efficient reporting of da ta to those who need it

SCADA Future

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• Data Management– Higher commissioning costs– More applica tions accessing da ta– Deregula tion adds complexity due to increased sharing

SCADA Future

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• Traditional SCADA data management

– Goal was to move points with minimal overhead– Meanings of points mainta ined in multiple places

– Configura tion of RTU and IEDs– Configura tion of da tabases– Configura tion of applica tions– Protocols were primarily register based

SCADA Future

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• Traditional SCADA data management

– Valida tion is costly and time consuming– e.g. Move point 3851 from source to multiple destina tions

– People need to manage and va lida te tha t point– Expensive effort

SCADA Future

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• Communica tion and Data Management Trends

– Industries moving toward Object-Oriented protocols

– Data organized by function– Simplifies distributed applica tions and their management– Standardized objects for interoperability– Self-description and Meta-Data a llow for online va lida tion

– Objects a ren’t just bytes of da ta but a lso descriptions

– Bandwidth is the tradeoff– Connecting applica tions to da ta is bigger

effort/obstacle than the bandwidth to move it

SCADA Future

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• Modern Object-Oriented Protocols

– Goal: Reduce da ta management while mainta ining high integrity and reliability

– IEC 61850 standard objectives– Address da ta management costs via modern

communica tion techniques– High degree of interoperability via standard objects– Simplify config effort via common config language– On-line va lida tion of comm via Meta-Data and self-

description

SCADA Future

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• Scope of IEC 61850– Much broader than traditional protocols– Multiple protocols

– GOOSE, MMS, Sampled va lues– Standardized configura tion language

– SCL - Substa tion Configura tion Language– XML - Extensible Markup Language

– Standard and extensible objects– Naming– Data types

SCADA Future

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SCADA Future

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• Gateway Evolution– Advanced Functionality– Time synchroniza tion and distribution: IRIG-B, SNTP, PRP– Programmable logic– Non-opera tional file ga thering and reporting

• Processing pla tform– Virtua l machines– Multiple OS environment– Conta iner based technology

Conta iner Engine (Digita lly Signed)

Host Opera ting System

Optional Windows

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SCADA Future

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• Security– Secure perimeter access point and ga teway– Authentica tion, authoriza tion, and audit tra ils– Password management– Firmware management– Remote tunneling

(pass-through) connectionto IEDs

– Automated retrieva l and reporting

Summary

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• Substa tion RTU– Moving toward multifunction

ga teway pla tform

• Substa tion Data– Volume will increase, primarily non-opera tional da ta– Efficient , reliable, and secure management of da ta will be

main objectives

Summary

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• Communica tions– Industry is moving toward object-oriented

communica tions and protocols– Interoperability, va lida tion, self-identifica tion will be key

objectives

• Cybersecurity– Critica l infrastructure protection will be crucia l focus– Authentica tion, authoriza tion, and audit tra ils– Compliance with mandates from governing bodies

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