Automated Configuration of Digital Substation Infrastructure using IEC 61850 SCL files

Digital Substations based on the IEC 61850 standard use an Ethernet-based network for communication between devices, all with different functions for metering, controlling, and monitoring the station. The standard defines a standard configuration file, describing the substation equipment. This file does not contain a representation for the Ethernet Switches responsible for forwarding frames within the station. This paper investigates the incorporation of Ethernet switch configuration using the substation configuration description file. Although this concept is not new, existing solutions are often vendorspecific, and there is insufficient documentation of broader adoption.

The method to solve this problem involves creating a substation Ethernet network description that can be converted into a Graph network, where devices and ports are veracities, and edges are device-to-port and port-toport connections. To account for redundant paths in the network, custom algorithms process and convert the graph network to contain port groups, such that when the shortest path is taken between two devices, the settings of effected ports can be found by mapping the content of the file. The method was validated in a Laboratory environment for two different test cases, and both cases were proven successful by measuring the traffic from mirrored Ethernet switch ports.