Section 20
Station communication
20.6
IEC 60870-5-103 communication protocol
20.6.1
Application
IED
ANSI05000660 V4 EN-US
Figure 244: Example of IEC 60870-5-103 communication structure for a substation
IEC 60870-5-103 communication protocol is mainly used when a protection IED communicates
with a third party control or monitoring system. This system must have software that can
interpret the IEC 60870-5-103 communication messages.
When communicating locally in the station using a Personal Computer (PC) or a Remote Terminal
Unit (RTU) connected to the Communication and processing module, the only hardware needed is
optical fibers and an opto/electrical converter for the PC/RTU, or a RS-485 connection depending
on the used IED communication interface.
20.6.1.1
Functionality
IEC 60870-5-103 is an unbalanced (master-slave) protocol for coded-bit serial communication
exchanging information with a control system. In IEC terminology a primary station is a master
and a secondary station is a slave. The communication is based on a point-to-point principle. The
master must have software that can interpret the IEC 60870-5-103 communication messages. For
detailed information about IEC 60870-5-103, refer to IEC 60870 standard part 5: Transmission
protocols, and to the section 103, Companion standard for the informative interface of protection
equipment.
20.6.1.2
Design
538
Station
HSI
Star coupler
IED
automation system
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TCP/IP
Control
Center
Gateway
IED
ANSI05000660-4-en.vsd
1MRK 511 401-UUS F
IP14615-1 v2
IP14864-1 v1
M17109-3 v7
M17109-38 v3
M17109-41 v1
Bay control REC670
Application manual