IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 Substation Ready Requirements

IEC 61850-3 / IEEE 1613 are the hardware robustness prerequisites, but by themselves they are not enough to claim “substation-ready” from an application perspective. Confirm the hardware basics first (EMC, wide temperature, vibration), then check the IEC 61850-90-4 network setup essentials (redundancy, time sync, multicast performance, and engineering documentation). The list below helps with selection/acceptance and design evaluation.

Hardware prerequisites (IEC 61850-3 / IEEE 1613)

EMC and environmental endurance: utility-grade immunity, wide temperature, vibration/shock (model dependent).
Power and installation: AC/DC dual redundant inputs, DIN-rail or 19″ rack, industrial terminals (model dependent).

IEC 61850-90-4 network setup recommendations

Redundant topology: PRP / HSR seamless redundancy (use RedBox when needed); interwork with RSTP / ERPS / α-Ring where non-seamless rings are required.
Time synchronisation: IEEE 1588v2 PTP (TC/BC as supported), with Power Profile; hardware timestamping and low-jitter paths.
GOOSE / SV: line-rate multicast and low latency; IGMP Snooping / Querier, static multicast, Storm Control, QoS (802.1p / DSCP).
VLAN / traffic engineering: isolation and priority queues (SP / WRR as supported) to prioritise time-critical flows.
SCL and engineering workflow: support SCL (System Configuration Language) for configuration and documentation; interoperate with engineering tools.
Operations and diagnostics: port mirroring, Syslog, SNMP, event alarms, loop protection—useful for commissioning and maintenance.

※ For interoperability with IEDs / SCADA, also confirm IEC 61850-10 conformance and, if applicable, UCAIug Conformance. For cybersecurity, refer to the IEC 62351 series. Features are model dependent and subject to project specifications.

Next step: How does IEC 61850-90-4 differ from IEC 61850-3 / IEEE 1613?
Related link: How to judge IEC 61850-90-4 applicability—switch selection and checks