Simulation of IEC 61850-based substations under OMNeT++

Abstract

Communication systems are essential components within the Smart Grids. Given the complexity of real world communication systems, advanced simulation platforms are required to facilitate the study, analysis, design and evaluation of such systems. The IEC 61850 is one of the most relevant communication standards concerning Smart Grids. Existing simulation platforms for IEC 61850-based systems are mainly focused on the evaluation of the performance and functionality of the communication networks. In this paper, a new IEC 61850 simulation platform is presented. It is based on OMNeT++ and it not only allows to conduct a network performance analysis, but also to carry-out hardware-in-the-loop simulations, or even to evaluate algorithms before implementing them into a real device. For that purpose, a new simulation core using two parallel processes has been developed, and a real IEC 61850 communication stack has been integrated into OMNet++.