There is increasing requirement to integrate a substation automation system (SAS) which provides high performance and flexibility. IEC 61850 is upshot of the hard work of IEC Technical Committee to fabricate a open standard for SAS. IEC 61850 has gained recognition in a very short span of time and is spreading throughout the world. Substations are getting increasingly dependent on IEDs / relays compatible with IEC 61850 standard. However, the compliance of a device with the standard does not guarantee interoperability with devices from different substation automation equipment vendors. Employing IEC 61850 compatible devices present a test to several system integrators, due to deficiency of knowledge, skills & expertise of Logical Nodes (LNs), Reporting (RCB), Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE), Sample Measured Values (SMV) and system redundancy. To ease a smooth implementation, all the features and data exchanges between devices must be evaluated & validated to ensure that the system functions correctly. It is vital to establish the compatibility of the devices & products furnished by diverse manufacturers so as to establish a fruitful SAS.

Keywords : Protocol, Substation Automation, Relays, IEC 61850, LNs, GOOSE Message, Redundancy, IEDs, Inter- operability.