IEC 61850-90-4 vs IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 for Substations
IEC 61850-3 / IEEE 1613 define the hardware-layer environmental and electrical robustness (EMC immunity, wide temperature range, vibration/shock) required for switches to operate reliably in harsh substation environments. IEC 61850-90-4 serves as the application and engineering guideline for designing and validating Substation Ethernet networks, including redundancy, time synchronization, multicast performance, and test procedures.
IEC 61850-3 / IEEE 1613 — Hardware prerequisites (can it survive)
- EMC immunity: withstands lightning surges, switching transients, and strong electromagnetic environments (model dependent).
- Environmental endurance: wide operating temperature, vibration/shock, humidity (model dependent).
- Reliability design: dual-redundant AC/DC power, industrial terminals, DIN-rail / rack mounting (model dependent).
IEC 61850-90-4 — Design and engineering guide (can it run properly)
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Network topology | Star / Ring / Dual networks; evaluate pros and cons and consider fault tolerance and redundancy. |
| Time synchronization | Recommend IEEE 1588v2 PTP (TC / BC as supported, model dependent). |
| GOOSE / SV transport | Line-rate multicast and low latency; plan VLAN / QoS. |
| Seamless redundancy | PRP / HSR (use RedBox where needed); can also work with ERPS / α-Ring (non-seamless). |
| SCL configuration support | Use SCL (Substation Configuration Language) for device / network configuration and documentation management. |
| Bridge / clock models | Support topology and clock object models to ease system integration and engineering tools. |
| Design & testing | Design review and FAT / SAT; provide PICS / PIXIT / MICS and test reports as required (project dependent). |
61850-3 / IEEE 1613 ensure hardware robustness; 61850-90-4 ensures network availability and engineering practicality.
Specific features and documentation depend on the model and the project.
Next step: Why PTP, PRP/HSR, GOOSE/SV, and SCL are needed
Related link: Is IEC 61850-90-4 mandatory?
