Comparative Analysis of DNP3 and IEC 61850 from Architectural, Data Mapping, Data Modeling and Data Reporting View

Power system operation is largely dependent on the substation's operation. Substation operation requires fast monitoring due to a large amount of data, complexity of the data flow and anticipated control action to be taken in case of any abnormalities. Therefore, there is a need for Substation Automation System (SAS) since it is not possible to track the high- speed data manually and take a fast control action. SAS uses protocols to communicate between the physical/logical device and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). The substation automation protocol most widely used in Europe is IEC-61850 whereas American utilities use DNP3. DNP3 protocol was invented to establish simple communication between two remote computers whereas IEC-61850 was invented to communicate between peer-to-peer devices. In this paper we will emphasize the differences and similarities between these two most widely used protocols. The criteria for comparison will include different parameters such as data modeling, data storage and communication methodologies.