IEC 61850
Standard for electrical substation automation and communication between IEDs.
Key Takeaways
- Standard for electrical substation automation and communication between IEDs.
- Advanced-level topic in Communication Protocols
Detailed Definition
Standard for electrical substation automation and communication between IEDs. This term is essential for understanding communication protocols in industrial automation and PLC programming.
IEC 61850 is one of the protocol or networking concepts an automation engineer encounters as soon as a plant has more than one controller talking to a shared device. Standard for electrical substation automation and communication between IEDs.
The role of IEC 61850 in a plant network depends on which layer of the protocol stack it occupies. Lower-layer concerns are about wiring and electrical reliability; higher-layer concerns are about message structure, addressing, and integration with vendor-specific tooling.
On the bench or in the field, IEC 61850 typically reveals itself through specific symptoms — timeouts, packet loss, addressing conflicts, or framing errors — that point to the specific layer at fault. Mature engineers learn the symptom-to-cause mapping for each protocol they touch.
Common Questions
What is IEC 61850?
Standard for electrical substation automation and communication between IEDs.
What prerequisites are needed to understand IEC 61850?
As an advanced-level concept, IEC 61850 requires a solid foundation in PLC fundamentals and intermediate programming concepts. It's recommended to have hands-on experience with Communication Protocols before diving deep into this topic.
What are related concepts I should learn?
To fully understand IEC 61850, you should also familiarize yourself with Modbus, PROFINET, and EtherNet/IP. These concepts work together in industrial automation systems.
Continue Learning
Ready to deepen your understanding of IEC 61850? Here are some recommended resources:
Was this helpful?
Let us know if this glossary term helped you understand IEC 61850 better.
Your feedback helps us improve our glossary and create better content for the PLC programming community.
Quick Info
- Category
- Communication Protocols
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Tier
- Advanced
About Communication Protocols
Industrial networking standards and communication methods