Enabling Process Bus Communication for Digital Substations Using 5G Wireless System

Digital substations (DS) became a large evolutionary advancement for electrical substations with introduction of IEC 61850 communication protocol due to minimized digital and control infrastructure involved. However, maintenance cost and simplicity can further be improved if wired communication between the control room and switchyard is complemented or substituted with a wireless solution. Wireless connectivity can bring benefits to both brown- and greenfield installations, to avoid cumbersome and expensive cable trenching or be used as a redundancy solution. Ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) technology developed in 5G networks promises support in this field. This paper presents performance results for 4G and 5G wireless systems enabling communication between switch yard and control room in digital substations. Evaluations of a 4G LTE Rel. 13 system was performed by measurements in lab environment and the performance of a 5G new radio (NR) network at the substation coexisting with surrounding macro network is done with system level simulations. Results of the tests and evaluations demonstrate the limitations of 4G LTE Rel. 13 connectivity, as well as capabilities to fulfill the communication needs in substation case using 5G NR system.