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Design, Development, and Commissioning of a Substation Automation Laboratory to Enhance Learning

Mini S. Thomas, Senior Member, IEEE, D. P. Kothari, Senior Member, IEEE, and Anupama Prakash
AbstractAutomation of power systems is gaining momentum across the world, and there is a need to expose graduate and undergraduate students to the latest developments in hardware, software, and related protocols for power automation. This paper presents the design, development, and commissioning of an automation lab to facilitate the understanding of substation automation (SA). The laboratory has relay intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) that support IEC 61850 protocol, a universal secondary test kit for testing the relays, a protocol converter that can be programmed and can handle a large number of power automation protocols, a Global Positioning Systems (GPS) clock for time synchronization, and all related software. In this paper, the retrotting of the latest relay IEDs with the existing control center software has been demonstrated. The commissioning process and the experimental setup of the SA laboratory have also been described. A post-training evaluation emphasizes that the student learning experience is helping students to gain a better understanding of the theory and to have better career prospects in power automation. The SA laboratory, which demonstrates all aspects of substation automation, is being used extensively for research and training in this emerging eld. Index TermsIntelligent electronic devices (IEDs), interoperability, laboratory, protocol, proprietary software, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, substation automation.

I. INTRODUCTION HERE has been a surge in the automation of electric power systems worldwide, especially in the transmission and distribution sectors, in order to optimize the use of available natural resources, leading to greener power. Distribution automation involves the automation of the substations, distribution feeders, and customer premises to ensure a reliable and customer-friendly electric power supply. Substation automation essentially deploys intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), which have the capability to collect and process data to perform online monitoring and control operations, at the substation [1], [2]. With the growing activity in the power sector, and especially with the migration toward a smart grid, a need was felt to add

Manuscript received March 11, 2010; revised May 10, 2010; accepted June 01, 2010. Date of publication July 12, 2010; date of current version May 04, 2011. M. S. Thomas and A. Prakash are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India (e-mail: mini@ieee.org; anupamaprakash@hotmail.com ). D. P. Kothari is with Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, India (e-mail: dpk0710@yahoo.com). Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TE.2010.2053372

new courses at the undergraduate and graduate level in Power Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. The nal-year undergraduate students are offered a course on automation of power systems that provides a glimpse into the automation of the power sector and the components of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems [3].1 The department also runs a graduate program in Electric Power System Management with special emphasis on power automation and renewable energy. This program has specic courses on SCADA systems, distribution automation, substation automation, restructuring and deregulation of power systems, protective relaying, numerical protection, data communication, computer networking, as well as courses on renewable energy. These courses have been supplemented with hands-on training in the state-of-the-art SCADA laboratory and the departments substation automation (SA) laboratory. Laboratories play a very important role in enhancing students practical knowledge and their deeper understanding of the theory lessons by providing hands-on experience. Electric power system laboratories have usually been virtual in nature, as practical experiments cannot be performed on a high-voltage transmission system; to an extent, this undermines the basic goal of laboratoriespractical education. Realizing the need for a well-equipped laboratory for the training of graduate students, young engineers, and working professionals in the eld of SCADA and associated power automation, a SCADA laboratory was set up [4], and active research, development, and training programs are underway there. With the increase in substation automation activity, related laboratories have been set up worldwide, predominantly in the industrial sector. The need was therefore felt to set up a substation automation laboratory in the university, and the design was begun. The SA laboratory designed and presented here is a combination of the virtual transmission system with real IEDs and other equipment, thus enabling the students to understand the concepts of a substation and its functionalities. In the eld of automation, communication technologies play an important role; with the introduction of the IEC 61850 communication protocol for power automation, there is an urgent need to study and understand this evolving protocol, as well as to contribute to the research going on to rene the protocol for use at different levels of power automation [5], [6]. The data collected by the IEDs can be broadly categorized as operational data, which are in the form
1IEEE tutorial course sponsored by the Data Acquisition, Processing and Control System Sub Committee of the Substation Committee, IEEE Power and Energy Society.

0018-9359/$26.00 2010 IEEE

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of analog and digital values, and nonoperational data, which are essentially waveform data. The analysis of the operational and nonoperational data captured by the IEDs is very useful to many of the departments of an electric utility. With the above facts in mind, the substation automation laboratory was designed to motivate the students toward the following learning goals: gaining practical skills and experience with actual numerical relays; studying and testing the features of numerical relays;. studying and implementing the communication protocols used in the substation; understanding and implementing the concepts involved in migrating to new technology but with old equipment; understanding the philosophy behind converting one communication protocol into another; determining IED data points of value to an electric utility; studying and developing integration architecture to extract operational and nonoperational data from IEDs; determining the functional requirements of the data concentrator to extract the operational and nonoperational data and the concentration of this data; communicating the operational data to the SCADA master station, nonoperational data to the enterprise data warehouse, and providing remote access capability; studying and testing other IEDs such as an energy analyzer, digital fault recorders, the sequence of event recorders, and smart energy meters. The SA laboratory was set up keeping in mind the different user groups that are looking for a platform to understand the varied aspects of automation in the power sector. It is being extensively used for the following. Learning: The increase in automation in the power sector has boosted the demand for qualied automation engineers. This laboratory helps senior-level undergraduate and graduate students to gain hands-on experience that prepares them to work in the area of power automation. Training: Professionals working in the power sector need to update themselves with the frequent changes in the technology. Training working professionals and new engineers is one of the main objectives of the SA laboratory. Research: This laboratory also provides a platform for post-graduate and research scholars to develop new concepts and thus contribute to the fast-developing eld of automation. Testing of new IEDs: The laboratory is used for testing and validation of new IEDs using the universal test kit and related software. Development of humanmachine interface (HMI) and supporting the future incremental HMI changes. Development and testing of substation automation applications. In the literature, remote access and virtual laboratories in electrical engineering have been extensively reported. Z. and O. Aydogmus describe a Web-based remote access laboratory using SCADA where all the instruments used in the lab are remotely accessed [7]. The setting up of a power system virtual laboratory [8], case-based reasoning and system identication for control engineering learning [9], and a teaching method-

Fig. 1. Five layers of substation integration and automation and the three functional data paths from the substation to the utility enterprise.

ology for wireless and mobile embedded systems [10] have also been reported. The paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the concepts of substation automation and the related communication protocols. Section III briey describes the design of the SA laboratory. Section IV gives an insight into the system hardware and software available in the laboratory. Section V briey describes the experiments which are conducted in the laboratory. Section VI discusses the improvement in student learning. Finally, in Section VII, conclusions are drawn. II. SUBSTATION AUTOMATION AND IEC 61850 Substation automation systems are one of the building blocks of modern utility protection and control systems. They interface with primary substation equipment such as bus bars, transformers, breakers, transmission lines, and distribution feeders and provide measurements and status information to the upper layers of the system hierarchy. SA systems also detect any abnormal system or substation condition and execute the necessary action to prevent further deterioration of a disturbance or damage to equipment. Substation integration and automation can be divided into ve levels [11], as shown in Fig. 1. The lowest level, which is an integral part of every substation, comprises power system eld equipment in the switch yard. The second and most important part of substation automation is the IED implementation, comprising the replacement of electromechanical relays with IEDs with one or more microprocessors and communications ports. These IEDs have the ability to transmit data, execute control commands, and frequently provide a local user interface. Once the IEDs are installed, the third task is to integrate these IEDs in the most effective manner to integrate protection, control, and data acquisition functions into a minimal number of platforms so as to reduce capital and operating costs and panel and control room space requirements. On completion of the integration of the IEDs, a large number of SA applications like intelligent alarm processing or adaptive relaying relay coordination can be implemented in the fourth stage. The utility enterprise level, the fth in the hierarchy, consists of third-party enterprise software that is integrated with the complete system, with both opera-

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tional and nonoperational data being analyzed at the enterprise level. Thus, a better understanding of nonoperational data extraction and use is gained. This reduces maintenance cost by analyzing historical data and performing predictive maintenance instead of periodic maintenance. There are three primary functional data paths from the substation to the utility enterprise [12]. The most common data path is that of transmitting the operational data to the utilitys SCADA system. The second data path is that of transmitting the nonoperational data to the utilitys data warehouse, and the third is remote access to IEDs. Attempts have been made to follow the hierarchical levels of SA implementation in the current SA laboratory setup, with the operational data path already having being implemented and the nonoperational and remote access paths planned to be added in the near future for better understanding. An automated substation is one where all the secondary equipment within the substation is interlinked. In earlier days, serial communication buses or proprietary communication media associated protocols were used almost entirely to link the conventional automated substation. With the development of different protocols, most of the substation worked with one single vendor monopoly. Efforts were made, therefore, for standardization by the IEC 60870-5 series of communication protocols and the DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) [13]. These protocols brought some semblance of conformity and interoperability within a substation and for remote telemetry between multivendor systems. Besides intraoperability within the substation, interoperability between different substations was also desirable; it thus became necessary to have common understanding among the various naming conventions, object naming, and addressing formats for engineering. Utility Communications Architecture (UCA) started working on these lines, detailing a well-dened set of object naming conventions and employing XML to bring about uniformity in data and context by using metadata and an overall object-oriented approach. This was later coopted into the IEC 61850 Standard, which provides a basis for substation communication and engineering, thus allowing interoperability as well as standardizing substation engineering and substation solutions. Thus, IEC 61850 is a standard for the design of electrical substation automation. It denes the communication between devices in the substation and the related system requirements. It supports all substation automation functions and their engineering. IEC 61850 also supports the free allocation of functions to IEDs, and therefore supports different approaches in function integration, function distribution, and SA architecture. The standard contains an object-oriented data model that groups all data according to the common user functions in objects called logical nodes (LN). All related data attributes are contained and dened in these LNs. Access to all the data is provided in a standardized way by the services of the standard, which are dened to fulll the performance requirements. The data model and services of the standard are mapped to a mainstream communication stack consisting of MMS, TCP/IP, and Ethernet with priority tagging [5], [6]. With the development of Standard IEC 61850, the utilities were forced to implement various options for retrotting and expanding of existing infrastructure that had not reached the end of its operational life in order to get the maximum advantages and benets of the new technology at the minimum cost.

The various modules of the SA lab were designed in view of the integration of the latest technology available with the existing infrastructure in the substation automation area. These modules help students to understand the concept of IEC 61850, interoperability, and the substation migration process. III. DESIGN OF THE LAB The design of the substation automation lab took care to incorporate all the components required to demonstrate the capabilities of the IEDs and the standard IEC 61850, as well as to perform advanced research in the eld. The core of the substation automation system is the protection relay IEDs which perform a variety of functions. It was essential to incorporate a variety of relay IEDs in the design of the lab to include all the aspects of system protection. The relay IEDs are from different vendors and communicate on different protocols. SA uses various protocols such as Modbus, IEC 60870-103, 101, and currently IEC 61850 for communication. Hence, a protocol converter was included in the design of the laboratory to integrate IEDs with different protocols. Since the relay IEDs need to be tested for numerous fault conditions to demonstrate their capabilities and to set their parameters, a secondary test device that generates a variety of fault conditions as per the requirement was included in the lab design. As the time synchronization of the relays and the status points at different locations is done by means of a GPS clock in the power system, for better understanding of the sequence of events in the aftermath of a fault, a GPS clock was incorporated in the design of the laboratory. A high-speed data highway is essential to transfer the information, so the laboratory incorporates industry standard networking, having an Ethernet data highway (coaxial cable) operating at 100 Mb/s. The control center was designed to meet the research and training requirement. The control center software for the SA laboratory has not been procured yet, as all the available software in the market for this application is vendor-specic, with usage being limited to a certain set of equipment. A successful attempt has been made to integrate the substation automation lab IEDs with open-ended software, which enables the user to develop highly interactive HMI for remote control. This software is affordable, supports MODBUS, and was already available. IV. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE The architecture of the substation automation system used in the laboratory, among the various IEDs connected to the protocol converter, is of a distributed function type as shown in Fig. 2. It has an open-ended system architecture, whose components are described here. A. System Hardware The system hardware comprises the relay IEDs, the protocol converter, the GPS clock, the universal tester, the engineering stations, and operator stations. 1) Relay IEDs: Multifunctional relay (Siprotec4 7SJ64) can be used as a protective control and monitoring relay for distribution feeders and transmission lines of any voltage in networks.

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Fig. 2. System architecture of the substation automation laboratory.

Differential protection relay (Siprotec4 7UT6) is used for fast and selective fault clearing of short circuits in transformers of all voltage levels and also in rotating electric machines like motors and generators for short lines and bus bars. Distance protection relay (Siprotec4 7SA6) is a universal device for protection control and automation. Its high level of exibility makes it suitable to be implemented at all voltage levels. Protection, automation, and control system relay (SEL-451) is a distribution relay featuring auto-reclosing with synchronism check, circuit breaker monitoring, and circuit breaker failure protection. 2) Protocol Converter: The protocol converter in the SA lab has eight RS-232 ports and two 10/100 Base-T Ethernet ports. It supports multiple protocols, as each of the channels can be programmed independently. It also has data concentration capability. 3) GPS Clock: The GPS clock provides demodulated IRIG-B time code at six outputs to drive multiple points and has a built-in display for easy readability. 4) Universal Tester: The Omicron test universe consists of the CMC256 and the test software. The CMC256 is a computer-controlled test device, which can test protective relays, transducers, and energy meters. It consists of state-of-the-art hardware and user-friendly Windows-based software and provides complete exibility and adaptability for different testing applications. 5) Data Highway and Workstations: The laboratory incorporates industry standard networking. It has an Ethernet data highway (coaxial cable) operating at 100 Mb/s and currently supports a network of operator stations and engineering stations, all connected in bus topology. B. System Software The laboratory uses two sets of software programs. The rst is hardware-specic and dedicated software; the other is openended software, which can communicate with any hardware device. 1) Proprietary Software: Hardware-Specic: The dedicated, hardware specic, software used in the system is Digsi4, Easy Connect, and Omicron. These software programs are used to congure the various hardware devices of the laboratory. Digsi4 is Siemens proprietary software used to congure the Siemens relays. Easy Connect software program is used to congure the protocol converter as necessary.

The Omicron software program has a wide range of powerful options including manual testing of all kinds of devices, transient playback, and test with transient signals, measurement of analog signals, and visualization and analysis of recorded analog and binary signal. 2) Control Center Software: Open-Ended Software: The SCADA portal developed by ABB is an open-system software that supports IEDs from various vendors, allowing the development of highly interactive HMI for remote control. It combines the unique usability features found in HMI with a simple integration of control equipment with a variety of IEDs. It can communicate with locally and geographically distributed devices through communication protocols like OLE Process Control (OPC) and MODBUS. This allows operators and support engineers to access all process control information within an enterprise in real time, and to assemble it in a format best suited to their task. The SCADA portal has state-of-the-art process displays, diagrams, and symbols. The SCADA server is an objectoriented server with database, alarm detection, and scaling functions. It has real-time processing/handling of alarms and events. It can process trend history, which is scalable in time and other dimensions, and can display multiple signal trends. It supports both serial communication and parallel TCP/IP networks. It supports OPC, OLE/DB interfaces, and time synchronization. Fig. 3 shows the SA system hardware and its associated software. V. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP IN THE SA LAB A series of experiments can be performed in the laboratory to understand the operation of the relay IEDs, the concept of IEC 61850, and other communication protocols and interoperability. A few of these are described. A. Retrotting of IEC 61850 Compliant IEDs With Open-Ended Software Rather than implement completely new technology, it is very important to understand the migration process of moving from old technology to the new technology, given that many older hardware investments might not have completed their operational life. One such migration option is to employ protocol converters for IEDs, RTU, and SCADA Systems, as they provide

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Fig. 3. SA system software relational diagram.

Fig. 4. Clientserver relationship of the IEDs and gateway.

interoperability between their new IEC 61850based systems as well as old proprietary or other IEC Standard-based systems. In order to help the students understand this migration process, an attempt was made to integrate the IEDs (IEC 61850 compliance) available in the laboratory with the available control center software SCADA PORTAL (supporting old proprietary protocol) through a protocol converter, which involves the following tasks. 1) Physical wiring of the devices and grounding: Once all the hardware equipment was procured, the main task was to establish proper connection between all the devices and provide proper grounding schemes. All the relay IEDs and the Omicron tester are on the substation LAN and the substation computer, which provides the HMI (supporting legacy protocol) and is connected to the substation LAN through a gateway, since legacy protocols do not support Ethernet. All devices on the substation LAN interact based on clientserver or peer-to-peer relationships. A client is a network entity that issues service requests to a server. A server is a network entity that responds to the requests of a client. Fig. 4 shows the clientserver relationships of the IEDs, substation master, and the gateway in the substation architecture. The relay IEDs can also work in a peer-to-peer relationship where each entity has the same status on the network, i.e., there are no masters and no slaves.

Once the networking is complete, the hardware is as shown in Fig. 5, which is the physical realization of a part of the setup as shown in Fig. 2. 2) Simulation of eld devices: In order to congure the relay IEDs and to perform various experiments related to substation automation, it is important to create different substation environments and to help the students analyze the working of substation equipment under normal and fault conditions. Monitoring and controlling an actual substation is obviously not a viable option at a laboratory level. Hence, software such as the Power System Computer-Aided Design/Electromagnetic Transients program (PSCAD/EMTDC) and MATrix LABoratory (MATLAB) were made available in the laboratory for simulating the different eld devices and the working environment. 3) Integration with control center software: The following section describes the integration of relay IEDs with the control center software. Conguration of relay IEDsThe IEDs available in the SA laboratory are made by Siemens and SEL. These IEDs are congured using their proprietary software DIGSI4.0 (Siemens) and ACSELERATOR Quick set (SEL). The OMICRON tester is used to inject different values of three-phase voltages and currents, as per the conguration, to the relay IEDs. These injected values are processed by the relay, and analog values such as frequency, power factor, power, phase voltages, and line voltages can

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Fig. 5. Substation automation laboratory setup.

Fig. 6. LCD display of operational values.

be seen on the LCD display provided on the front panel of the relay as shown in Fig. 6. This operational data, available in the IEC 61850 format, must be communicated to the control center. The control center software used in the laboratory can communicate with the IEDs in the laboratory through MODBUS. Thus, it is imperative to convert the relay protocolsfor example, IEC 61850 protocolinto MODBUS protocol by a protocol converter or gateway [14], [15]. Conguration of Protocol ConverterThe protocol converter has a standard input le as per IEC 61850 standards, which denes all the IEC 61850 logical nodes, data objects, data attributes, and the like, from which the SCL le is generated. The conguration utility generates three major output les: 1) an SCL le that contains details of the data model as per the IEC 61850 Standard; 2) conguration les for the other protocols; 3) a mapping information le, derived from a procedure to map the data between other protocols and IEC 61850 attributes. This mapping information is stored in a separate le. The data from the relay IED are in IEC 61850 format. The protocol converter is congured to collect the data in

IEC 61850 format from the relay by creating two channels, one as client and the other as slave. In this particular case, where data need to be converted from IEC 61850 to MODBUS, the client channel is congured for IEC 61850, and the slave for MODBUS. For example, the value of frequency needs to be transferred from the relay to the control center and displayed on the HMI. Frequency Value (From the Relay) in IEC 61850 Format: Logical Device name: Name of the IED Logical Node name: MMXU MMX Tag: MMXU MX Hz mag f The protocol converter carries out the following functions: conversion of Ethernet to the MODBUS communication interface (RS232); conversion of IEC 61850 protocol to MODBUS. Frequency Value in MODBUS Frame: Data type identication Object type: Analog input Function: Read holding register Data address identication Format: Unsigned single register Starting address: 01 No. of Positions: 01 The converted data in MODBUS frames is then communicated to the control center software and displayed on the HMI. Similarly the protocol converter can be congured for other protocols such as IEC 60870-103, 101. Development of HMIThe next task is to develop the HMI, which refers to the communication between human and machine and is of utmost importance in modern computer-based control systems. The HMI was designed using the software SCADA PORTAL. The graphic was developed to display all the analog values such as frequency, power factor, phase voltages, line voltages, active power, reactive power, apparent power, and so on and binary values such as status, which are properly linked to their respective MODBUS frames. Thus, all the analog values are displayed correctly at the control center software. A screenshot is shown in Fig. 7. The above set of experiments helps the students to understand various aspects of migration and the impacts of introducing protocol converters in a substation environment to achieve the various migration requirements. B. Testing of Relays The numerical relays available in the laboratory are very complex, as one single unit can perform multiple functions. Analysis of the functionality of different principal elements in a protection relay under different fault and abnormal system conditions is an important activity during the commissioning of protection relay IEDs. The process of evaluating the performance of these relay IEDs is very tedious, requires special techniques, and may take several iterations. The performance of the relay IEDs available in the lab was veried before commissioning, by ofine and online tests. In the ofine test, a relay model was developed and tested for the performance parameters, while in the online test, an actual relay

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Fig. 7. Display of analog values.

IED was tested with fault waveforms, and the fault clearing capability, location, and type of fault were assessed [16]. C. GOOSE Messaging Generic object-oriented substation event (GOOSE) is based upon the asynchronous reporting of IEDs digital outputs status to other peer devices enrolled to receive it during the conguration stages of the substation integration process. It is used to replace the hard wired control signal exchange between IEDs for interlocking and protection purposes, and consequently is mission sensitive, time critical, and must be highly reliable. The associated IEDs receiving the message use the information contained to determine what the appropriate protection response is for the given state. It can be used for breaker failure protection to trip the adjacent breakers or to provide distribution or transmission bus protection based on GOOSE messages from the feeder protection IEDs. Using the GOOSE message module of the universal tester, the GOOSE messaging for protection was veried. D. Substation Monitoring The relays are integrated with the control center software, and different analog and digital values like V, I, and CB status can be controlled and monitored through the developed HMI. The settings of trends and alarms and a variety of other functions performed in a control center can be implemented in the SA lab. VI. STUDENT LEARNING ENHANCEMENT Generally, protective relay principles are taught to undergraduates as part of the theory course. Similarly, advanced courses at the graduate level expose students to the theoretical aspects of numerical relays without providing much practical course work, thus not giving students the opportunity to experiment with the new technologies in power automation. Some power utility companies are using the Substation Automation Training Simulator to learn the practical aspects of substation automation and the various functionalities of IEDs [17]. However, these utilities are too involved with project development and implementation to give any training or exposure to the students. Hence, stu-

dents and faculty members have no platform on which to learn the practical aspects of substation automation and the implementation of relay IEDs. The SA laboratory environment provides the students with an opportunity to explore the intricacies of the modern relay IEDs, interoperability, communication protocol structure, control center operation, and many other aspects of a substation. A post-training evaluation conducted among the undergraduate and graduate students showed that the laboratory helped them better to understand the power automation process. The laboratory modules have not only exposed them to the latest components available used in most modernized substations, but also gave them the freedom to operate the equipment by designing their own transmission system, distribution network, and other switchgear used in the substation, using the software available in the laboratory. Students acknowledged that they understood the process of integrating IEDs with the available control center software and could attempt to do this with any other control center software. Exposure to substation data communication and networking was gained by simulating the substation communication networks in the laboratory and testing the performance through the hardware available. One such example is the testing of GOOSE message. It was observed that the students who experienced the SA laboratory are better equipped to join power automation companies and have a better understanding of the system. VII. CONCLUSION The substation automation laboratory was designed and commissioned to facilitate the understanding of the operation of substations equipped with the most modern numerical relays supporting the communication protocol IEC 61850 for the benet of electrical engineering students and professionals. This paper has described the features of the components of the SA lab: the relay IEDs, protocol converter, universal tester, GPS clock, and the commissioning and testing procedure. A list of experiments to be performed has also been developed and demonstrated. The laboratory is unique, giving students hands-on experience in the

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conguration of the latest numerical relays, their operation, and control. The laboratory was conceived and designed after extensive consultation with industry and with utilities. The SA laboratory will soon be supplemented with an enterprise data-warehouse to demonstrate the following: extraction of nonoperational data from IEDs; concentration of operational and nonoperational data at the substation level; communication of operational data to the SCADA master station historian to the enterprise data warehouse; communication of the nonoperational data from the substation data concentrator to the enterprise data warehouse through WAN. The substation automation laboratory is primarily used for regular research and training programs for the benet of faculty and students of Jamia and the neighboring institutes in order to give them hands-on experience with substation automation systems. In addition, regular training programs will be held for practicing engineers on substation automation systems. The courses will be modular and will suit both practicing and new engineers. REFERENCES
[1] K.-P. Brand, V. Lohmann, and W. Wimmer, Substation Automation Handbook. Bremgarten, Switzerland: Utility Automation Consulting Lohmann, 2003. [2] C. Strauss, Practical Electric Network Automation and Communication Systems. Oxford, U.K.: Newnes, 2003. [3] Fundamentals of Supervisory Systems, ser. IEEE Tutorial Course. New York: IEEE, 1988, sponsored by the Data Acquisition, Processing and Control System Sub Committee of the Substation Committee, IEEE Power and Energy Society. [4] M. S. Thomas, P. Kumar, and V. K. Chandna, Design, development and commissioning of a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) laboratory for research and training, IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 158288, Aug. 2004. [5] M. Yalla and M. Adamiak, Application of peer-to-peer communication for protective relaying, IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 446451, Apr. 2002. [6] IEC 61850Communication Networks and Systems in Substation, IEC Standard, 20022004 [Online]. Available: http://www.61850.com/, 14 parts [7] Z. Aydogmus and O. Aydogmus, A Web-based remote access laboratory using SCADA, IEEE Trans. Educ., vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 126132, Feb. 2009. [8] M. Duarte, B. P. Butz, S. M. Miller, and A. Mahalingam, An intelligent universal virtual laboratory, IEEE Trans. Educ., vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 29, Feb. 2008. [9] P. R. Acevedo, J. J. F. Martinez, M. D. Gonzalez, and R. G. Valencia, Case-based reasoning and system identication for control engineering learning, IEEE Trans. Educ., vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 271281, May 2008.

[10] J. S. Chenard, Z. Zilic, and M. Prokic, A laboratory setup and teaching methodology for wireless and mobile embedded systems, IEEE Trans. Educ., vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 378384, Aug. 2008. [11] J. D. McDonald, Electric Power Substation Engineering, 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC, 2007. [12] J. D. McDonald, Substation automation, IED integration and availability of information, IEEE Power Energy Mag., vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 2231, Mar./Apr. 2003. [13] IEEE Trial-Use Recommended Practice for Data Communications Between Intelligent Electronic Devices and Remote Terminal Units in a Substation, IEEE Std 1379-1997, 1998. [14] B. A. Forouzan, Data Communication and Networking, 4th ed. New Delhi, India: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2006. [15] Modbus Protocol User Guide, Oct. 2005 [Online]. Available: http:// www.lantronix.com/pdf/Modbus_Protocol_UG.pdf [16] M. S. Thomas, A. Prakash, and Nizamuddin, Modeling and testing of protection relay IED, in Proc. Power Syst. Technol., IEEE Power India Conf,, New Delhi, India, Oct. 2008, pp. 15. [17] T. Nissen and D. Peterchuck, Substation integration pilot project, IEEE Power Energy Mag., vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 4249, Mar./Apr. 2003. Mini S. Thomas (M88SM99) received the Bachelors degree from the University of Kerala, Kerala, India, in 1984, and the M.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, India, in 1986, both with gold medals, and the Ph.D. degree from IIT Delhi, Delhi, India, in 1991, all in electrical engineering. Her employment experiences were at the Regional Engineering College Calicut, Kerala, India; the Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi, India; and currently as a Professor with the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. She has published 45 papers in international/national journals and conferences. Her current research interests are in SCADA systems, intelligent protection of power systems, and the smart grid. Prof. Thomas received the prestigious Career Award for young teachers, instituted by the Government of India, for 1999.

D. P. Kothari (SM03) received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering, the M.E. degree in power systems, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, India. Currently, he is Vice Chancellor of the Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India. He was a Professor with the Centre for Energy Studies and Director I/C with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India. His activities include optimal hydrothermal scheduling, unit commitment, maintenance scheduling, energy conservation, and power quality. He has guided 28 Ph.D. scholars and has contributed extensively in these areas, as evidenced by the many research papers authored by him. He has also authored 22 books on power systems and allied areas.

Anupama Prakash received the Bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Madan Mohan Malviya Engineering College, Gorakhpur, India, in 1991, and the M.Tech. degree in electrical power system management from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, in 2006. She is currently an Associate Professor with the DIT School of Engineering, Greater Noida, India.