SOLUTIONS

FOR THE
SMART GRID

Whitepaper

Engineered and
manufactured
in Taiwan

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .01

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

04 08

Introduction to the smart grid Challenges of the smart grid

04 What is the electrical power grid? 08 Harsh environments

06 How is the power grid evolving? 08 Reliability
07 How does ATOP support the (r) evolution? 10 Electromagnetic compatibility
10 Security and safety
12 Fast responsiveness

14 16

IEC 61850, the new standard Time distribution

14 What is IEC 61850? 16 Importance of time Synchronization in next
generation’s Power Grid
16 What is IEEE 1588v2?
17 Products

02. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

18 24

Legacy networks Modbus products

18 Why are Legacy substations still relevant? 24 Where and why do you need Modbus products?
19 How does ATOP help the integration of Legacy 24 Modbus Gateways overview
networks in the Smart Grid? 26 Concentrator function
22 Success stories 26 Redundancy function
28 Success stories

30 31

System integration Future

30 ATOP’s value as a System integrator for 31 Internet of Things

powering connectivity 31 Integrating small power producers into a more
complex grid

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .03

INTRODUCTION TO THE SMART GRID

What is the electrical

power grid?

The electrical power grid is one of the largest network infrastructure over the surface of the earth. It comprises several
components such as power plants, transmission grid, substations, distribution grid, and consumers. Nowadays the power grid
in each continent consists of a large, complex network of high, medium and, low voltage powerlines interconnected with each
other. Thousands of power plants currently deliver energy through the power grid to billions of consumers whose life depends
on the electrical power availability. The electricity is one of the essential utilities in daily life.

However, the traditional power grid has been constructed and expanded more than a century to deliver electricity to the end
users. The oldest components in the power grid system could be very old and most of their basic building blocks and concepts
have not been changed much.

Over the years, the power plants became more advanced and more efficient while the transmission lines became more and more
connected. The power grid, which once can reach only very small portion of the world’s population, can now dramatically
extend its network and distribute the electricity to very large population. In the 21st century, the traditional power grid system
and its operators encounters several problems and difficulties in managing the large system such as aging equipment, higher
maintenance cost, obsolete system layout, outdated engineering tools, and pressure under a deregulated industry.

04. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

INTRODUCTION TO THE SMART GRID

TRANSMISSION GRID

SCADA

Grid control

Foreing import

Nuclear Plant Step-up transformer Foreing export

600~1700 MW

Thermal Plant Transmission

Step-up transformer to other areas
300~800 MW

Step-down substation
275kV to 110kV

Hydro - Electric Plant Step-up transformer ~30 MW Factory area

50~200 MW

DISTRIBUTION GRID Distribution substation

110kV to 30~50kV

Solar Farm Industrial Substation ~2 MW Factory

Wind Farm Residential Substation ~3 MW City network

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .05

INTRODUCTION TO THE SMART GRID

How is the power grid

evolving?

The emerging trend of green and renewal energy, such as solar

photovoltaic (PV) power system and wind power, introduces several
thousands of small power producers into the power grid system.
However, the energy generated from these new renewable
sources are not constant. This causes the power grid to become
more complex and difficult to manage. Additionally, there are
new opportunities of two-way flows of electricity and information
between the incumbent producers and consumers. While the
existing power grid remote supervision was in place long time ago,
it cannot cope with this fast growing trend and massive information
flow of data. Fortunately, the Internet revolution, which already
changed the way people communicate over the past 25 years, can
be utilized and overlay to enhance the power grid.

The vision of “smart grid”, which incorporates the modern

information technologies into the electrical power grid, will enable
the maximization of energy usage and improve the utilization of
resources in the grid system. The smart grid will be an automated
and distributed advanced energy delivery network that can provide
more reliability and continuity of service while balancing various
power consumption profiles with different power generation
profiles of thousands of traditional and modern renewable power
plants. The electricity generation industries will be able to reduce
grid maintenance activities or down time and brownout with the
new technique such as automated demand response program
through the smart grid and the introduction of smart meters.

06. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

INTRODUCTION TO THE SMART GRID

How does ATOP support the

(r)evolution?

ATOP is and has been part of the smart grid revolution from the very
beginning. Whether it is a substation in China or a power plant in
Indonesia, ATOP’s devices have enabled the power grids to provide
a reliable, safe, and trouble-free service to the energy consumers.
Supported by our 25-year experience in industrial automation and our
commitment to 15% investment in research and development from
our corporate budget, ATOP’s technical leading position provides
the reliable, rugged, and trustworthy backbone for the vision of
smart grid with a broad range of information technology products
such as precision time distribution, IEC 61850-3 fully-compliance
products, network protocol gateways, data concentrators, and
industrial managed switches.

Our experienced team can support the customers toward the

smart grid (r)evolution with step-by-step in their design of the most
suitable network topology for their specific applications and is
ready to train and support the users on-site during all steps in their
project implementation.

And this is just the beginning…

Want to learn more?

• Protocol gateways and Modbus products: detailed

information available in ATOP Protocol Product Selection Guide
brochure or in the datasheets.
• Switches and networking equipment for the power
station: detailed information available in ATOP’s Industrial
Networking brochure, Switch Product Selection Guide or in the
datasheets.
• Time distribution, Grandmaster Clock and Precision Time
Protocol: detailed information available in Precision timing
Whitepaper.

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .07

CHALLENGES OF THE SMART GRID

Harsh environments

Having a solar power plant in the desert or a substation in Siberia? No problem. ATOP’s rugged products are specifically
designed to withstand the harshest environment on the surface of the planet. With their fanless design and industrial grade
components, our products can support applications almost everywhere on the globe and at the same time guarantee a long
MTBF by having no moving parts that usually are causes of earlier breakdowns.

Reliability

How much is the acceptable power grid down-time nowadays? The answer is zero. With the advent of smart grid, the era
of brownouts or blackouts should ideally be over eventually. Unfortunately, these events can still happen in the complex
network with various high voltage and low voltage devices such as the power grid, but they should be minimized as much
as possible. Deploying high quality long mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) devices can help minimizing the risk, but the
failure can still happen due to either unexpected internal or external causes. ATOP’s devices provide redundancy features
to further minimize the risk of down-time. In an event of link or device failure, ATOP’s Smart Redundancy Feature will
detect the failure, relay back the reason of the failure to a control center, and automatically recover from such failure
to provide continuous operation. For instance, with Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS) and Media Redundancy
Protocol (MRP) Client settings, network connectivity will be resumed in less than a heartbeat with no hassle.

08. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

CHALLENGES OF THE SMART GRID

PROTOCOLS

SCADA Ethernet - Fiber

Ethernet - Copper
Process Bus

Control Room

RHG9528
Ethernet Switch

EHG7508 ERPS Ring EHG9512

Ethernet Switch With self-recovery Ethernet Switch
mechanism in less than
20 ms

IED IED IED

Circuit breaker

Circuit breaker
Transformer

IED

FEATURED PRODUCTS

EHG7508 : Industrial 8-Port PoE Managed Gigabit Switch (-20~70 ° C)

EHG9512 : IEC 61850-3 12-Port Managed Gigabit Switch (-40~85 ° C)

RHG9528 : IEC 61850-3 modular Managed Switch, max 24 Gigabit and 4 x 10 GbE po rts (-40~85 °C)

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .09

CHALLENGES OF THE SMART GRID

Electromagnetic compatibility

Overhead 230kV power lines or a 13,000 V surge entering the power supply input can be fatal if the deployed devices are
not properly shielded and isolated against electromagnetic susceptibility (EMS). Without proper design and precaution
against EMS, equipment breakdown could happen. With confidence, ATOP’s IEC 61850-3 compliant devices are
specifically designed to withstand the harshest electromagnetic interferences without suffering fatal damage. ATOP’s
devices pass electromagnetic compliant (EMC) level 3 and 4 requirements and they are compliant with the strictest
regulations in the matter of susceptibility and interference.

Security and safety

Utilities’ security and safety are also important issues in the smart grid era. The more the utilities can be remotely controlled
over networks, the more they are vulnerable to various threats and malicious activities such as network penetration, taking
control over of the system, and disrupting of the service. ATOP’s Protocol Gateway devices provide embedded security
measure through virtual private network (VPN) using IP security (IPSec) encryption so that all information going in and out of
the devices can be properly protected from potential attacks.

10. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

CHALLENGES OF THE SMART GRID

SECURITY
SCADA
ATOP embedded Modbus and
Protocol Gateways seamlessly
support your remote application
by providing connectivity,
security and reliability.
Security is provided through
Encrypted VPN tunnels
Control Room

Internet

Encrypted VPN Tunneling PG5901B

MB5901B
through 3G/4G Cellular 3G/4G to Ethernet or Serial
3G/4G to Ethernet or Serial
Network Secure IEC61850, IEC60870,
Secure Modbus Gateway
Modbus and DNP3.0 Gateway

Solar Farm
Wind Farm

FEATURED PRODUCTS

SE5901B All-in-one 3G/4G to Ethernet or Serial Gateway (-40~75 °C)

- 1 Gigabit RJ45 port, 1 software selectable RS-232 RS-485 RS-422 serial port (2 in I/O version)
- 3G/4G or 4G with integrated GPS cellular connectivity
- 2 Digital Inputs/ 2 Digital Outputs [optional]; Power reserve in case of power failure [optional]
- VPN through IPsec or OpenVPN. Maximum 10 Tunnels

MB5901B All-in-one 3G/4G to Ethernet or Serial Modbus Gateway (-40~75 °C)

- Same hardware features of SE5901B, plus

- Seamless Modbus TCP/RTU/ASCII conversion from/to Ethernet/Serial or Cellular
- Advanced Modbus management features, like device ID virtualization
- VPN through IPsec or OpenVPN. Maximum 10 Tunnels

PG5901B All-in-one 3G/4G to Eth or Serial DNP3, Modbus, IEC61850 and IEC60870 Protocol Gateway (-40~75 °C)

- Same hardware features of SE5901B, plus

- Seamless conversion between Modbus TCP/RTU/ASCII, DNP3.0 TCP/Serial, IEC 60870-5-101/-5-103/ -5-104
and IEC 61850 all in master/slave mode
- Easy and fast to configure
- VPN through IPsec or OpenVPN. Maximum 10 Tunnels

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .11

CHALLENGES OF THE SMART GRID

Fast responsiveness

Integrating legacy equipment with new infrastructures

always has a common problem on speed or data
throughput mismatch. New technologies offer
much wider bandwidth and have more and stricter
requirements in the matter of responsiveness. Old
ones are generally slow and do not have as frequent data
update as new one. ATOP managed to solve this problem
in a number of ways. For example, our data concentrators
can autonomously poll data from intelligent electronic
devices (IEDs) or remote terminal units (RTUs) and store
them in the internal memory until the programmable logic
controller (PLC) or the master running on the new protocol
or on the new physical layer asks for an update. This
helps reducing bottlenecks and greatly increases system
performance.

12. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

CHALLENGES OF THE SMART GRID

SCADA

Control Room

MB5916A-CT 1
Modbus concentrator
3

COM 16
COM ...
COM 1

COM 2

Other RTUs

Other RTUs

PROTOCOLS

Other RTUs Modbus TCP - Fiber

Modbus RTU - RS-485 serial

OPERATION’s LOGIC

ATOP’s concentrator autonomously and routinely polls The concentrator stores the data in its internal memory
1 the IEDs through the low-speed RS-485 interface 3 and waits for a polling command from the master, on
the high-speed interface. This will poll device ID # 248

The slave devices return the register value to ATOP’s When polling command is received, the data is relayed
2 concentrator according to the polling requests. 4 directly to the master from the internal memory without
the need to wait until all slaves return the requested
values to the master

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .13

IEC 61850, THE NEW STANDARD

What is IEC 61850 ?

Over the last few decades, various countries around the globe have developed, promoted, and adopted
different communication protocols for use between components (such as Control Centers, Remote
Terminal Units, Intelligent Electronics Devices) and for network management in electrical power
grid. In the North American countries, Distributed Network Protocol (DNP) 3.0 became the de facto
standard which also adopted by IEEE as IEEE Std. 1815-2012, while European countries relied mainly
on IEC 60870-5-101/103/104. The rest of the world adopted Modbus protocol due to its openness and
simplicity.

Recently, there are attempts to develop a unified and standardized communication protocol for electrical substation
and power grid automation which is called IEC 61850. The new IEC 61850 standard focuses its domain knowledge on the
electrical power grid system. It is an object oriented protocol where it utilizes data modeling scheme that clearly describes
each component (such as process objects, protection, and control functionality) of the grid or the substation as standard
logical nodes. This enables data access to the power grid system to yield more details than ever before. IEC 61850 Part
3 also defines requirements for network and hardware that are suitable for substation automation. These requirements
include electromagnetic immunity (EMI), surge protection, vibration resistance, shock resistance, and temperature ranges
that the devices in smart grid system should comply to.

14. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

IEC 61850, THE NEW STANDARD

SUPERVISORY
LAYER
PROTOCOLS

SCADA Ethernet - Fiber

Ethernet - Copper
Purple color: Serial RS-485 -
Modbus
NTS7700 Blue color: Process Bus

Control Room

10 Gb link
RHG9528 Data base

STATION BUS
Fiber RSTP ring

EHG9508 Fiber cable EHG9512

Ethernet
Ethernet

RSTP ring

PG5916A

IED IED IED RTU

PROCESS BUS
Circuit breaker

Circuit breaker
Electric switch

Electric switch
Transformer

Primary powerlines Seconday powerlines

FEATURED PRODUCTS

RHG9528 - 28 Port switch PG5916A - Protocol gateway NTS7700 EHG9508 EHG9512

• Rack-mount IEC 61850-3 • 6x10/100 RJ45 Ethernet po rts or • Grandmaster clock • 8-port IEC61850-3 • 12-port Gigabit IEC
managed switch 6x100 STOP ports. with GPS/GLONASS/ Gigabit
• HSR/PRP High-Availability • 8-16-20 RS485-RS232-RS422 BEIDOU capability. switch managed switch
• Modular architecture (8 port SFP serial ports. • Embedded IEEE1588 • 2x1G SFP uplinks • 4x1G SFP uplinks
100/1000, 8 po rt 10/100/1000 • DNP3, Modbus, IEC 61850, IEC v2 Precision time • Hardware IEEE1588v2 • Hardware IEEE1588v2
RJ45 ports or 4-port RJ45/SFP 60870-5-101/103/104 p rotocol Protocol with many End-to-End transpar- End-to- End transpar-
HSR/PRP module) with gateway. options. ent clock ent clock
maximum 24 ports. • Redundancy option. • SyncE for Telecom
• Additional 4x1/10-Gigabit uplinks
• Hardware IEEE1588v2 BC/TC 1.5us/day.
• -40 / 85°C operation

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .15

TIME DISTRIBUTION

Importance of time Synchronization

in next generation’s Power Grid

IEC 61850 requires all IEDs inside the network to be synchronized, preferable with IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol. This
allows precise event and data timestamping and may help the supervisors to understand what went wrong and in which exact
sequence. The precision is far beyond SNTP or NTP where accuracy is in milliseconds (10-3s): PTP achieves nanosecond
accuracy (10-9s).

But Precision Time Protocol is not only substations: it is a fundamental element in cellular wireless networks (such as 4G
and 5G) and it is extremely important in HFT platforms (High Frequency Trading) and banking.

ATOP provides a full IEEE 1588v2 solution, from time generation to transparent clock.

What is IEEE 1588v2?

The IEEE 1588 standards describe a hierarchical master-

slave architecture for clock distribution. Under this
architecture, a time distribution system consists of one or
more communication media (network segments), and one
or more clocks. An ordinary clock is a device with a single
network connection and is either the source of (master)
or destination for (slave) a synchronization reference. A
boundary clock has multiple network connections and can
accurately synchronize one network segment to another. A
synchronization master is selected for each of the network
segments in the system. The root timing reference is
called the grandmaster. The grandmaster transmits
synchronization information to the clocks residing on its
network segment. The boundary clocks with a presence
on that segment then relay accurate time to the other
segments to which they are also connected.

Primary timing source for a Grandmaster Clock is either

the GPS or GLONASS, GALILEO, BEIDOU satellite systems.
Being positioning satellites accurate atomic clocks, the GM
can compute the exact timing with extremely low error.

16. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

TIME DISTRIBUTION

Products

ATOP provides full IEEE 1588 v2 solutions, ranging from Grandmaster clock to
Transparent/Boundary clocks. Advanced industrial L2 and L3 managed switches,
specifically EHG7XXX, RHG7XXX, EHG9XXX and RHG9XXX family support IEEE1588v2
hardware-assisted transparent End-to-End clock and software-assisted boundary clock.

As a Grandmaster, ATOP’s NTS7700 Grandmaster clock provides a reliable and fault-tolerant solution for substation,
telecom and HFT requirements. IEC61850-3 Certified, embeds 2 x 100/1000 Mbps SFP slots and 2 x 10/100/1000 Mbps
RJ45 ports and supports IEEE1588v2 in Multicast, Unicast and Unicast Negotiation modes, NTP and SNTP server and can
be enhanced supporting IRIG-B legacy time distribution and BJT standards through its expandable design.

The integrated circuitry guarantees an accuracy of

+-15ns when the device is locked to GPS and the
high-accuracy OCXO oscillator ensures the overall
drifting to be maximum 1.5 microseconds a day when
the Grandmaster loses its connection to the GPS
satellites. NTS7700 supports GPS, GLONASS and
BEIDOU GNSS Systems. • Want to learn more? Detailed information available in ATOP’s
Precision Timing Whitepaper and in the datasheets.

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .17

LEGACY NETWORKS

Why are Legacy substations still relevant?

Electrical grid system is a large power distribution network that went through decades of development. Generally, the power
utilities invest in the latest technologies available to them at the times of their installations such as the latest IEC 61850 compliant
equipment.

However, the life-time of the equipment in the grid system can typically span several years as a life-cycle of a substation can
be more than 50 years. Replacement of latest devices ahead of time is out of the question due to their substantial investments.
Therefore, the legacy equipment will normally remain in use and the power grid is naturally equipped with both legacy and new
technologies. The challenge for the smart grid system is to continue developing the power grid by integrating newer and legacy
technologies with seamless control and supervision.

IEC 61850
SCADA

Atop Protocol
Gateways
seamlessly interconnect
different protocols allowing
you to get a fast and reliable
Legacy Substation
integration

Integrated Power Grid

Modbus Legacy Substation DNP 3.0 Legacy Substation

IEC 60870-5-104
Legacy Substation

18. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

LEGACY NETWORKS

How does ATOP help the integration

of Legacy networks in the Smart Grid?

ATOP’s broad product range has been specifically designed to allow seamless integration as simple as possible. Legacy substations
operating with outdated or unpopular protocols may remain in place and can be connected to the new network through ATOP’s
Protocol Gateways. Our powerful hardware platform with a stable and reliable software will manage the translation from protocol
to protocol transparently. ATOP’s user-friendly configuration tool will help the customer or the system integration to map data
points and commands within minutes enabling the customer to manage changeovers, upgrades, or integrations in a fast and
cost-effective way. To support the customer in flexibly handling these challenges, ATOP offers more than 80 different protocol
combinations that are available on 10 different hardware platforms empowering the customer to choose among hundreds of
different products!.

Protocol Interface Function

Modbus RTU RS-485 ; RS-232 ; RS-422 Master/Slave
Modbus TCP Ethernet Client/Server
DNP 3.0 over Serial RS-485 ; RS-232 ; RS-422 Master/Slave
DNP 3.0 over Ethernet Ethernet Client/Server
IEC 60870-5-101 RS-485 ; RS-232 ; RS-422 Master/Slave
IEC 60870-5-103 RS-485 ; RS-232 ; RS-422 Master/Slave
IEC 60870-5-104 Ethernet Client/Server
IEC 61850 Ethernet Client/Server

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .19

LEGACY NETWORKS

Hardware platforms

RS-485 RS-232 Additional

Picture Hardware Mount Ethernet Ports
RS-422 ports features

can be PoE-
PG5901-1P Din-Rail 2 (RJ45) 1 (TB5 or DB9)
powered [optional]

PG5901-RT Din-Rail 3 (RJ45) 1 (TB5 or DB9)

1 (DB9 vers.) / 4G LTE or 3G

PG5901B Din-Rail 1 (RJ45)
2 (TB14 I/O vers.) connectivity

can be PoE-
PG5904D-4P Din-Rail 2 (RJ45 or SFP) 4 (TB5 or DB9)
powered [optional]

PG5908 Rack-Mount 2 (RJ45) 8 (RJ45)

PG5916 Rack-Mount 2 (RJ45) 16 (RJ45)

PG5900A Rack-Mount 6 (SFP or RJ45) -

PG5908A Rack-Mount 6 (SFP or RJ45) 8 (TB5 or DB9)

PG5916A Rack-Mount 6 (SFP or RJ45) 16(TB5 or DB9)

• Want to learn more? Detailed information are available in ATOP’s Industrial Communication brochure or on the
Datasheets.

20. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

LEGACY NETWORKS

SCADA
SCADA can seamlessly
access other protocol's
Internet
devices as if it's talking
to IEC 61850 devices

Control Room
IEC 61850

RHG9528 RHG9528
Remote Area

10 GbE Fiber RSTP Ring IEC 61850

PG5901B Modbus
meter

RHG9528 RHG9528

RSTP Ring IEC 61850

IED IED IED

PG5916A PG5916A

PG5901

PROTOCOLS

IEC 61850 - Fiber

IEC 61850 - Copper
IEC 60870-5-104 - Copper
DNP3.0 Serial RS-485
Modbus RTU Serial RS-485
IEC 60870-5-104 IED RTUR TU RTU RTU

FEATURED PRODUCTS

RHG9528 - 61850 Modular Giga Managed Switch (-40~85 °C) PG5901B - 3G/4G Protocol Gateway (-40~75 °C)

• Max 24 Gigabit ports, with 3 Module slots • 1 Gigabit RJ45 port

• 8-Port 100/1000 SFP or 8-Port 10/100/1000 RJ45 modules • 1 sw-selectable RS-232 RS-485 RS-422 serial port
• Additional 4 x 1 or 4 x 10 Gigabit SFP uplink slots • Cellular connectivity: 3G, 4G or 4G with integrated GPS
• IEC 61850-3, IEEE 1613, UL/cUL/IEC(CB) 61010-2-201 cert. • DNP3, IEC61850, IEC 60870-5-101/103-104, Modbus Gateway
• IEEE 1588v2 Hardware-assisted TC • 2 DI / 2 DI [optional]; Power reserve in case of power failure
• ERPS, RSTP, STP and MRP (client) redundancy [optional], IPsec and OpenVPN.

PG5901 - Protocol Gateway (-40~85 °C) PG5916A - IEC 61850-3 Protocol Gateway(-40~85 °C)

• 2 Fast Ethernet RJ45 or SFP ports • 6 x 10/100 RJ45 ports or SFP slots
• 1 sw-selectable RS-485, RS-232, RS-422 Serial port TB5/DB9 • 8 or 16 sw-selectable RS485-RS232-RS422 serial ports.
• DNP3, IEC61850, IEC 60870-5-101/103-104, Modbus Gateway • DNP3, Modbus, IEC 61850, IEC 60870-5-101/103/104 gateway
• Optional PoE version allows the device to be powered through • Can be set-up in redundant couples in order to have a
PoE fault-proof system

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .21

LEGACY NETWORKS

Success stories

PROJECT-BASED SOLUTIONS-IEC 61850

System description: The customer would like to manage

via Modbus TCP SCADA the substation infrastructure that
is IEC 61850 client and the introduction of a high degree of
redundancy in the event of a link, IED, switch or device failure.

Application: Solutions provided:

• High to Medium Voltage substation • Support to System integrator in defining the
Location: Ideal Network Topology for the application
• Indonesia • Customs designed redundant IEC 61850
Main protocol useed: Concentrators with Fiber Uplink, protocol
• Field side; IEC 61850 gateway to the redundant Modbus backbone
• Control side; Modbus TCP/RTU • Managed 61850-3 compliant switches with RSTP
Requirements: • On-site setup. configuration, test and
• High degree of data redundancy, IEC 61850-3 troubleshooting
compliant hardware

22. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

LEGACY NETWORKS

IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS

SCADA PROTOCOLS
Modbus TCP

Copper - IEC 61850

Fiber - Modbus TCP
Fiber - IEC 61850
Fiber - Redundancy

EHG7508
Ethernet Switch

PG5900A PG5900A
IEC 61850 to Modbus IEC 61850 to Modbus
Protocol Gateway Protocol Gateway

EHG9512 EHG9512
IEC 61850-3 IEC 61850-3
Ethernet Switch Ethernet Switch

RSTP Rings

Other
Switchboards

IEC 61850-3 IEDs

Switchboard

MAIN FEATURES / DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

• Link Recovery time is <600 ms with RSTP topology

• The Protocol Gateway will automatically poll each IED automatically via Ethernet (IEC 61850-3) and convert data to Modbus.
• The obtained data will be remapped in a memory in a way to be easily accessible, for any specific enquiry from the master (Modbu
TCP) and will be returned with high speed.
• High degree of redundancy: in order to have a device unaccessible multiple links should be broken simultaneously
• Architecture is designed in a way that link failures will be detected and the second concentrator can take over the job, issuing relay
alarms and specific status registers change to immediately inform control room of malfunction
• Design is EMC level 3-4, IEC 61850-3 certified

FEATURED PRODUCTS

EHG9512 IEC 61850-3 8-Port Gigabit Managed Switch (-40~85 °C)

- 8 x 100/1000 RJ45 ports and 4 Gigabit SFP uplink slots

- IEC 61850-3, IEEE 1613, UL/cUL/IEC(CB) 61010-2-201 certified
- IEEE 1588v2 Hardware-assisted TC and many others

PG5900A – Redundant Protocol Gateway (-40~85 °C)

- 6 Fast Ethernet RJ45 or SFP ports

- Seamless conversion between Modbus, DNP3, IEC 60870-5-101/3/4 and IEC 61850 all in master/slave mode
- Can be set-up in redundant couples in order to have a fault-proof system
- IEC 61850-3, IEEE 1613, IEC(CB) 61010-2-201 certified

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .23

MODBUS PRODUCTS

Where and why do you need

Modbus products
Since its introduction, Modbus has become one of the most popular protocols used worldwide. Modbus RTU (through serial
connection) and Modbus TCP (through Ethernet networks) are often used in the backbone of industrial automation, substation
automation, and building automation. Because of its lightweight and broad market penetration, ATOP creates a specific product
line for Modbus devices. The slow migration of the communication standard from serial-based (RS-232, RS-485, and RS-422)
devices to Ethernet-based devices introduces the need of smart converters.

Modbus Gateways overview

From simple to complex applications, ATOP has 10 products supporting Modbus in a wide variety of options. ATOP’s entry-level
products provide seamless conversion of Modbus RTU to Modbus TCP with almost no configuration required. ATOP’s devices
are available from one to sixteen serial ports and with flexibility in their installation using DIN-rail, Field Mount, or Rack-Mount.
An advanced LTE version also enables recent high-speed wireless communication for Modbus protocol. Our products are
enhanced with harsh environment operational capability, vibration resistance, power or serial port isolation for equipment
and device protection, redundant power supplies, and many more special options. For the most critical application, ATOP
provides additional reliability through redundancy function and supports enhanced responsiveness through concentrator
function

24. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

MODBUS PRODUCTS

Modbus Gateaway

Ethernet Serial Concen Redun Power Additional

Category Picture Model Mount Isolation
Ports ports trator dancy Supply Features

Field-
Entry Level MB5001C 1 1 Optional No No 1xDC
Mount

PoE PD
MB5901 2 RJ45 1 Din-Rail No No No 1xDC version
available

PoE PD
2 RJ45
MB5904D 4 Din-Rail Optional No No 2x DC version
or 2 SFP
available

Enhanced

MB5908/ 8~16 Rack-

2 RJ45 Optional No No AC/DC
MB5916 RJ45 Mount

1+1
(RS-
3G-4G
MB5901B 1 RJ45 232, IO Din-Rail Optional No No DC
connectivity
version
only)

PoE PD
2 RJ45
MB5904D-CT 4 Din-Rail Optional Yes Yes 2x DC version
or 2 SFP
available

MB5908-CT/ 8~16 Rack-

Advanced 2 RJ45 Optional Yes Yes AC/DC
MB5916-CT RJ45 Mount

2x AC/
MB5908A-CT 6 RJ45 Rack- IEC 61850-3
8~16 Optional Yes Yes DC/ HV
MB5916A-CT or SFP Mount certification
DC

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .25

MODBUS PRODUCTS

Concentrator function

Data concentrator function is a unique feature on ATOP’s Advanced

Modbus Gateways. This feature is ATOP’s proprietary mechanism
for responsiveness enhancement. Generally, a Modbus Gateway
is working in the following manners. The Modbus Gateway has
to wait for a master device’s request, then it has to convert and
relay information to a field device. Once a response is returned
from the field device, the response is then converted and relayed
back to the master device. This has significant negative impact
on the responsiveness. Instead, ATOP’s Advanced Modbus
Gateways with data concentrator function will continuously poll
(at an interval specified by the customer) IEDs autonomously
and store the data in their internal memory waiting for master
device’s requests. Once the request arrived, the return data will be
retrieved from the internal memory of the Modbus Gateways. This
has several positive implications on the system performance: the
master device may need just one connection and one query to get
all data at once, the response time will be dramatically reduced,
and many different data structures can be accessible based on
specific need.

• Want to learn more? Detailed information available in ATOP’s

Protocol Selection Guide and in the datasheets.

Redundancy function
ATOP’s Advanced Modbus Concentrators can be embedded with additional redundancy feature implemented through ATOP’s
proprietary communication protocol. For instance, a number of IEDs can be connected in multiple chains through serial ports
where the primary Modbus gateway (1) and the secondary Modbus gateway are connected on different ends of the chains
as shown in the figure below. There can be an Ethernet link which could be either fiber or copper connection (3) between the
primary gateway (1) and the secondary gateway (4). Both primary and secondary gateways may be further connected to a
master through different redundant rings (5).

In normal situation, the secondary gateway (4) will be silent, listening, and recording the data. In the event of a network
breakdown, one of the gateway that is still reachable will take over communication with the master and relay back the link
requested data to the master together with a link failure notification. One the other hand, if there is a serial link failure (2), the
secondary gateway will autonomously poll the missing data and update the primary gateway (1) memory ensuring the data
relayed to master is complete.

This feature enables the customer to manage the network with much fewer down-times than before and provides additional
safety feature protecting the utility or the substation from accidental or intentional failure coming from the outside of the
system.

26. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

MODBUS PRODUCTS

SCADA
5

Control Room

1 3 4
MB5916A-CT MB5916A-CT
Modbus concentrator Modbus concentrator

2
COM1

COM2

...

COM16

RTU 1R TU 2 RTU X
PROTOCOLS

Modbus TCP - Fiber

Redundancy Link- Fiber
Modbus RTU - RS-485 serial

FEATURED PRODUCTS

MB5916A – Redundant Modbus Concentrator (-40~85 °C)

- 6 Fast Ethernet RJ45 or SFP ports

- Up to 16 sw-selectable RS-485/232/422 Serial ports
- Modbus TCP/RTU/ASCII, concentration function
- Can be set-up in redundant couples in order to have a fault-proof system

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .27

MODBUS PRODUCTS

Success stories

PROJECT-BASED SOLUTIONS-
CONCENTRATOR

System description: The customer would like to manage

via Modbus TCP SCADA the substation infrastructure that
is Modbus RTU based. The infrastructure is very complex
and each switchboard involves around 190 slaves that need
to be accessed simultaneously for data, diagnostics and
configuration.

Application: Solutions provided:

• Medium to Low Voltage substation
• Support to System integrator in defining the Ideal
Location: Network Topology
• Malaysia, refinery under constraction • Customs designed redundant Modbus
Concentrators with Fiber Uplink - 16 Serial Port
Main protocol useed:
• Managed switches with RSTP redundancy
• Moodbus TCP / Modbus RTU • On-site setup, configuration, test and
Requirements: troubleshooting

• Redundancy and data concentration

28. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

MODBUS PRODUCTS

IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS

EWS SCADA PROTOCOLS

Modbus TCP Modbus TCP

Serial - Modbus RTU

Fiber - Modbus TCP
Fiber - Redundancy

EHG7508
EthernetSwitch

MB5916A MB5916A
Modbus Concentrator Modbus Concentrator

COM1

COM2
Other 10
Switchboards
...

COM16

RTU 1R TU 2 RTU X

Switchboard (1/11)

MAIN FEATURES / DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

• MB5916A Modbus concentrators will automatically poll each IED automatically via serial port (Modbus RTU)
• The device’s high performance allows 16 COM ports to simultaneously poll 16 devices per port within a second
• Obtained data will be remapped in a memory in a way to be easily accessible, for any specific enquiry from the master (Modbus TCP)
and will be returned with high speed
• Architecture is designed in a way that link failures will be detected immediately and the second concentrator can take over, issuing
relay alarms and specific status registers change to inmediately inform control room of malfunction
• Design is EMC level 3-4, IEC 61850-3 certified

FEATURED PRODUCTS

EHG7508 : Industrial 8-Port PoE Managed Gigabit Switch (-20~70 °C)

- 8 10/100/1000 RJ45 ports or 1000 SFP slots

- maximum 8 x 30 W PoE ports (240W power budget) `
- Profinet CC-B compatible; Ethernet/IP; ERPS, RSTP, STP, MRP redundancy;
- IEEE 1588v2 Hardware-assisted TC and many others

MB5916A – Redundant Modbus Concentrator (-40~85 °C)

- 6 Fast Ethernet RJ45 or SFP ports

- Up to 16 sw-selectable RS-485/232/422 Serial ports
- Modbus TCP/RTU/ASCII, concentration function
- Can be set-up in redundant couples in order to have a fault-proof system

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .29

SYSTEM INTEGRATION

ATOP’s value as a System integrator for

powering connectivity

An affordable, reliable, and easy to use device is not

everything. Customers who have been working in complex
system integration project know that the fast, effective,
and reliable support can make the difference between
success and failure. ATOP with its 10-year experience in
the power grid industry has the domain knowledge and
the ability to design the network topology according to the
customer’s needs. ATOP can also support customers on-
site for training, configuration, and real world testing of the
provided solution.

Our history of success cases speaks for itself.

30. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID

FUTURE

Internet of Things

The recent hype about Internet of Things (IoT) will also have unavoidable concerns in the power industry and utility sector. When
everything is enhanced with connectivity, there will be serious challenges in security and safety in the power grid system.
Opening up the power grid network to the outside world may have extremely dangerous security implications. Connectivity through
IoT protocols, wireless accessibility, and security enhancement are the tops priority for ATOP’s engineers for the years to come.

Integrating small power producers into

a more complex grid

The future of distributed power generation will require distributed

network accessibility. Frequently, small power producers are
in the areas that are not easily accessible by a fiber network or a
sufficiently good communication. For example, an unmanned
small solar power plant in the middle of a desert should be able to
relay or receive key information to and from the main grid control
room. Thus, ATOP’s rugged network devices will certainly play an
important role in the future of distributed power generator.

ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID .31

 TAIWAN HEAD OFFICE

2F, No. 148, Sec. 1, Tung-Hsing Rd,

30261 Chupei City. Hsinchu County
Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel: +888-3-550-8137
Fax: +886-3-550-8131
E-mail: sales@atop com.tw

ATOP INDIA OFFICE

Abhishek Srivastava
Head of India Sales
Atop Communication Solutions(P) Ltd.
No. 22. Kensington Terrace,
Kensington Rd,
Bangalore, 560008. India
Tel: +91-80-4920-6363
E-mail: [email protected]

ATOP EMEA OFFICE

Bhaskar Kailas (BK)

Vice President (Business Development)
Atop Communication Solutions(P) Ltd.
No. 22. Kensington Terrace,
Kensington Rd.
Bangalore, 560008. India
Tel: +91-988-0788-559
E-mail: [email protected]

ATOP AMERICAs OFFICE

Venke Char
Sr. Vice President & Head of Business
11811 North Tatum Blvd, Suite 3031
Phoenix, AZ 85028, United States
Tel: +1-602-953-7669
E-mail: [email protected]

ATOP CHINA BRANCH

3F. 75. No. 1086 Building,

Qingzhou North Road
Shanghai, China
Tel: +86-21-64956231

ATOP INDONESIA BRANCH

PT.Atop Indonesia Technologies

Wisma Slipi, Jl. Let.Jend. S. Parman Kav.
12, Unit : 308, Jakarta Barat 11480
Indonesia
Tel. (+62-21)5326171
Fax. (+62-21)5326172
www.atop.com.tw E-mail : [email protected]
www.atoponline.com
032. ATOP’S SOLUTIONS IN THE POWER GRID