Applies to:
All PowerSCADA versions using IEC61850N driver, although it refers to the current PowerSCADA version at the moment of publishing.

Question:
Does PowerSCADA Operation support communication with IEC 61850 devices based on Parallel Redundancy Protocol?

Answer:
YES, PowerSCADA Operation 8.2 (PSO) supports communication with other IED nodes as defined by IEC 61850 standard, over a network that uses Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) nodes as defined in the standard IEC 62439-3 (March 2016).
Implementing the IEC 61850 standard, PSO can communicate as a Client with any Server (IEDs) by using the native IEC61850N driver.
The IEC61850N communication driver uses MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification) which is an Application Layer protocol (7th, top layer of OSI model).
PRP is a Link Layer redundancy protocol (Layer 2 of OSI model), which allows higher layer network protocols to operate without modification.
This means that MMS protocol works without problems, further means that PowerSCADA Expert IEC61850N driver will work.
PRP implements redundancy in the nodes rather than in the network.
Thus, to connect a PowerSCADA Server node to such network, a Redundant Box (RedBox) device is needed.
For redundant PowerSCADA server nodes, a RedBox device is needed for each node.
This RedBox requirement should not be seen in any way as a limitation of PowerSCADA software, it is a hardware device that is needed to connect to such a redundant network.

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Created on April, 11th 2018 by
Adrian Dicea
PowerSCADA Product Prime @ Expert Level - Global Technical Support

Publicado para: Schneider Electric España