Iec 61850 Configuration; Configuration Banks; Network Connectivity - GE MiCOM P40 Agile Technical Manual

SCADA Communications
MiCOM P40 Agile P442, P444
The record is extracted as an ASCII format COMTRADE file.
Setting changes (e.g. of protection settings) are not supported in the current IEC 61850
implementation. In order to keep this process as simple as possible, such setting changes
are done using MiCOM S1 Agile Settings & Records program. This can be done as
previously using the front port serial connection of the relay, or now optionally over the
Ethernet link if preferred (this is known as "tunneling").
6.3.2

IEC 61850 Configuration

One of the main objectives of IEC 61850 is to allow IEDs to be directly configured from a
configuration file generated at system configuration time. At the system configuration level,
the capabilities of the IED are determined from an IED capability description file (ICD) which
is provided with the product. Using a collection of these ICD files from varying products, the
entire protection of a substation can be designed, configured and tested (using simulation
tools) before the product is even installed into the substation.
To aid in this process, the MiCOM S1 Agile Support Software provides an IED Configurator
tool which allows the pre-configured IEC 61850 configuration file (an SCD file or CID file) to
be imported and transferred to the IED. Alongside this, the requirements of manual
configuration are satisfied by allowing the manual creation of configuration files for MiCOM
relays based on their original IED capability description (ICD file).
Other features include the extraction of configuration data for viewing and editing, and a
sophisticated error checking sequence which ensures that the configuration data is valid for
sending to the IED and that the IED will function within the context of the substation.
To aid the user, some configuration data is available in the 'IED CONFIGURATOR' column
of the relay user interface, allowing read-only access to basic configuration data.
6.3.2.1

Configuration Banks

To promote version management and minimize down-time during system upgrades and
maintenance, the MiCOM relays have incorporated a mechanism consisting of multiple
configuration banks. These configuration banks are categorized as:
• Active Configuration Bank
• Inactive Configuration Bank
Any new configuration sent to the relay is automatically stored into the inactive configuration
bank, therefore not immediately affecting the current configuration. Both active and inactive
configuration banks can be extracted at anytime.
When the upgrade or maintenance stage is complete, the IED Configurator tool can be used
to transmit a command (to a single IED) authorizing the activation of the new configuration
contained in the inactive configuration bank, by switching the active and inactive
configuration banks. This technique ensures that the system down-time is minimized to the
start-up time of the new configuration. The capability to switch the configuration banks is also
available via the 'IED CONFIGURATOR' column.
For version management, data is available in the 'IED CONFIGURATOR' column in the relay
user interface, displaying the SCL Name and Revision attributes of both configuration banks.
6.3.2.2

Network connectivity

Note:
Configuration of the relay IP parameters (IP Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway) and SNTP
time synchronization parameters (SNTP Server 1, SNTP Server 2) is performed by the IED
Configurator tool, so if these parameters are not available via an SCL file, they must be
configured manually.
If the assigned IP address is duplicated elsewhere on the same network, the remote
communications will operate in an indeterminate way. However, the relay will check for a
This section presumes a prior knowledge of IP addressing and related topics. Further
details on this topic may be found on the Internet (search for IP Configuration) and in
numerous relevant books.
P44x/EN SC/Hb6
(SC) 12-41