Smart Grid Communications

Presented by Solveig Ward

Smart Grid Vision

Slide I 2

Communications Requirements

DOE Smart Grid Communications Requirements 2010

Slide I 3

Evolution of Telecommunications
TDM
Manual network era
Extent of
Deployment

Manual
switching

1920

1940

Digital network era

Analog automatic network era

2-motion
selector
switching

Semielectronic
switching

1960

Ethernet

1980

Data networking era

Packet
based
switching

Digital
switching

2000

2020

Time Division Multiplexing

Synchronous communications

Time division multiplexing

2

24

64 Kbps
.
.
.
.
TDM
.
MUX
.
.
.
64 Kbps

64 Kbps
1

......................
1.544 Mbps
AGGREGATE

24

TDM
MUX

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

64 Kbps

24

24

Slide I 5

TDM Networking

Slide I 6

Conventional substation
communications

Slide I 7

Requirements
Data
Delay (latency)
tolerance*
Jitter (variation in
delay) tolerance*
Stream/burst
transmission
Error tolerance

Voice

High

Moderate/Low (100 ms)

High

Moderate

Bursts

Stream

Low
Moderate,
by
the
Packet/data loss
application requesting
tolerance
retransmission
Yes, by the application
Interruption
requesting
tolerance
retransmission
Proprietary/
Protocol standard
standardized

High
Some data loss is
acceptable until voice
quality becomes too low
Moderate (0.5 sec)

Protection
communications
Very low
(<20 ms)
Very low
Stream
Very low
No

None/very low
Standardized

Proprietary
Slide I 8

TDM versus Ethernet

Protective Relaying Communications
Requirements

Ethernet Communications Characteristics

Low bandwidth (< 100 kb/s)

High bandwidth (>100 Mb/s)

Fixed, predictable latency with little

wander

Variable unpredictable latency with

significant wander

Continuous, non-burst oriented

Burst (packet) oriented

Slide I 9

Ethernet

Ethernet packets

Mesh network
Slide I 10

Why Ethernet?
Cost!
1/10/100 Gbps over the same fiber
Plug-and-play no configuration required
More efficient bandwidth utilization

One platform that carries all type of traffic; voice, data

Concerns:
Real-time data; latency
Protection channels unpredictable and variable end-to-end
delays
Slide I 11

The solution - MPLS

Ethernet is a connectionless communications system by
design
MPLS transforms Ethernet into a connection-oriented
communications system
Promising QoS similar to TDM systems

Slide I 12

MPLS Benefits
Is expected to meet latency requirements for real-time
data
Teleprotection trial by Alcatel Lucent: 15 ms end-to-end delays

MPLS allows provisioning and management of VPNs

Cyber Security: In the absence of misconfiguration or
deliberate interconnection of different VPNs, it is not
possible for systems in one VPN to gain access to
systems in another VPN
MPLS routers / applications providing encryption are becoming
available
Slide I 13

MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching

Layer 2: Ethernet which can
carry IP packets, but only over
simple LANs or point-to-point
WANs
Layer 3: Internet-wide
addressing and routing using
IP protocols
MPLS sits between these
traditional layers, providing
additional features for the
transport of data across the
network (Layer 2.5)
Slide I 14

Label Switching
In a traditional IP network:
Each router performs an IP lookup (routing), determines a next-hop based
on its routing table, and forwards the packet to that next-hop
Rinse and repeat for every router, each making its own independent routing
decisions, until the final destination is reached

MPLS does label switching instead:

The first device does a routing lookup, just like before, but instead of finding
a next-hop, it finds the final destination router and it finds a pre-determined
path from here to that final router
The router applies a label based on this information
Next router use the label to route the traffic without needing to perform any
additional IP lookups
At the final destination router the label is removed and the packet is
delivered via normal IP routing

Slide I 15

Architecture

Slide I 16

MPLS Basics

Customer Edge
(CE) router
managed by
customer

Provider Edge
(PE) router
managed by
service provider

Provider (P) router

managed by
service provider

Slide I 17

Combined CE/PE

Slide I 18

QoS per VRF

VRF = virtual route forwarding; tables created and used to create traffic separation
Implementing QoS guarantees complete control of resources (bandwidth, priority, and so
on)
Implementing QoS allows peaceful coexistence of several traffic types (network
management, physical security management) with missioncritical traffic (SCADA, PMU,
GOOSE)

Slide I 19

MPLS VPN
By properly provisioning one physical MPLS VPN capable
infrastructure, several network overlays are possible
SCADA
PMU

GOOSE

Slide I 20

Communications considerations

Bandwidth (cost)
Latency (end-to-end delays)
Latency Control and QoS
Reliability (cost redundancy)
Monitoring
Management
Security
What is the availability requirements for the application
If data are lost, what are the consequences?
Slide I 21

Bandwidth

Slide I 22

Latency versus utilization

Slide I 23

Latency

Slide I 24

Traffic segmentation

Slide I 25

Special Protection Scheme Example

PMU

Slide I 26

Conclusions
Properly engineered MPLS promises to provide QoS suitable
for real-time data
Testing is needed

Base communications requirements on application needs

Do not send more data or more often than the application will use
High availability (=redundancy) may not be needed in all parts of the
network and at all locations
Low latency may not be needed for all types of data

Engineer the telecom network to provide the best

performance / cost ratio

Slide I 27

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