FAQ

IEC TR 61850-90-4 Recommended Features — Trade-Off Principles and Decision Criteria

Conclusion — not every feature is mandatory. IEC TR 61850-90-4 represents best practices; make evidence-based trade-offs according to site conditions and risk.

Trade-off criteria

  • Use case: Process Bus / Synchrophasor adoption and latency sensitivity.
  • Protection / control needs: depth of fault tolerance, switchover time, protection logic.
  • Budget and device capability: port count, throughput, hardware timestamping, available features.
  • Site conditions and risk: cabling routes, EMC conditions, dual-path feasibility, O&M capability.

Design principles

  • Prioritise: real-time performance and availability (PTP, PRP / HSR, GOOSE / SV, QoS / VLAN).
  • Next: maintainability and security (SCL workflow, monitoring & alarms, access control and authorisation).

Back to: Recommended switch feature list
Reference: Is IEC 61850-90-4 mandatory