Process bus reliability analysis

Several pilot projects related to the Process Bus are being executed with the main goal to certify the reliability of the network as the mean to transmit information which is critical to the integrity of the protection system. This paper presents a methodology to evaluate the process bus reliability based on the model of reliability for different network topologies. Considering the MTBF of the elements of the protection system, the reliability level of the whole system was determined and the results were analysed.