A survey of substation communications technology

A wide variety of telecommunications options exist for remotely communicating with equipment located within an electrical substation. Each communication technology brings with it a number of advantages and disadvantages that must be weighed in order to decide what the best solution is for a particular situation. This paper tries to identify many of the benefits and pitfalls of the various communication technologies commonly used for transmitting data to and from the electrical substation. The assumption is that data is transmitted digitally regardless of its source (voice, potential/current transformer outputs, etc.). Technologies discussed include: plain old telephone service; wireless telephone service; cellular digital packet data; analog and digital leased lines; ISDN; fast packet services; private microwave radio; multiple address systems; VSAT; land mobile two-way radio; optical fiber; power line carrier; and broadband solutions.