IEC870 Interface Guide

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GEC ALSTHOM T&D PROTECTION & CONTROL LIMITED, St Leonards Works, Stafford ST17 4LX, England Tel: 01785 223251 Telex: 36240 Fax: 01785 212232

Preface

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Preface

Preface

This document details the IEC870 communication standard used on GEC ALSTHOM T&D Protection & Control relays in sufficient detail to enable third parties to interface these relays to other systems and to develop other slave devices (relays) which utilise this communication system. It describes how messages are formed and transmitted from one device to another. It does not describe what the messages mean as this is dependent on the application to which IEC870 is put and the particular format of the data that is transmitted. This guide should be used with the appropriate user guide for the particular application that the IEC870 system will be used with. The information and illustrations found in this book are not binding. GEC ALSTHOM T&D Protection & Control Ltd. reserve the right to modify products in line with a policy of continuous product improvement. Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

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Table of Contents

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Table of Contents Table of Contents Page

Preface ..................................................................................3 Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard..........................7

1.1. PHYSICAL LAYER.................................................................................................................. 7 1.1.1. TRANSMISSION MEDIUM.................................................................................................... 7 1.1.2. IEC870 ELECTRICAL STANDARD: ........................................................................................ 8 1.1.3. TRANSMISSION METHOD ................................................................................................... 8 1.2. DATA LINK LAYER ................................................................................................................ 9 1.2.1. MEDIA ACCESS ............................................................................................................... 9 1.2.2. LOGICAL LINK ................................................................................................................ 9

List of Figures

Page

Figure 1. IEC870 message frame. ...........................................9 Figure 2. Information field format. ..........................................9

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Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard

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Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard

Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard

IEC870 is an international standard communication system which was developed for telecontrol applications. It defines two areas of application, unbalanced operation (master to slave) and balanced operation (peer to peer). GEC ALSTHOM T&D P & C (Stafford) have decided to implement frame format FT1.2 with variable length in the unbalanced mode. The IEC870 standard (References 1 & 2) defines layers 1 & 2 in the Open System Interface (OSI) communication 7 layer model. The GEC ALSTHOM T&D P & C (Stafford) implementation uses the "enhanced performance architecture" which combines the functions of layers 3 to 7 in a single application layer. This application layer is referred to as the Courier communication protocol. This document describes the frame structure of the IEC870 FT1.2 messages as implemented by GEC ALSTHOM T&D P & C (Stafford) together with an overview of the communication procedures. Full details of the transmission and reception procedures to be followed by an outstation may be found in the document "Standard Coding Model for an IEC870 FT1.2 Outstation" (Reference 3).

1.1.

PHYSICAL LAYER

This part of the model defines the physical medium of the communication standard and how it is connected.

1.1.1.

TRANSMISSION MEDIUM

Recommended cable: Multi-core with outer screen, minimum conductor size 7/0.2mm, generally to DEF STANDARD 16-12 Part 4 e.g. Belden 9933 UL 2919 Connection Method IEC870 is normally connected in a point to point manner, although multi-drop systems may be achieved by utilising the splitter units (Model GT0023) supplied by GEC ALSTHOM T&D P & C (Stafford). The IEC870 network thus fashioned must contain one Master Control Unit located at the top of the tree. The total IEC870 network from the Master Control Unit to the farthest slave device is known as a spur.

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Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard

Cable Termination: IEC870 connections will typically be by means of 25pin D-type connectors. Typical Connector Pinout: Pin Number Essential 1 2 3 7 Control 4 5 6 8 20 Power 9 10 Signal Name Signals PG - Protective Ground TXD - Transmitted Data RXD - Received Data SG - Signal Ground Signals RTS - Ready to Send CTS - Clear to Send DSR - Data Set Ready DCD - Data Carrier Detected DTR - Data Terminal Ready Signals +12V - 12V Signal Function Signal Direction N/A Output Input N/A Output Input Input Input Output Input/Output Input/Output

Screen connection Serial data output Serial data input Signal reference level Unit has data to send Intermediate device can accept data to send Intermediate device can communicate Intermediate device has received valid carrier signal Unit is ready to communicate Power for intermediate units Power for intermediate units

The two data lines and the two ground connections are essential for the operation of the communication link. The other signals provide control or power for intermediate devices such as modems or splitter units and may not be required when these devices are not used. It should be noted that not all intermediate devices will supply all the control signals and a certain amount of flexibility in connection of these signals will be required. Maximum length of Single Connection: 15m or 2500pF total capacitance (core to core and core to screen) Maximum Slave Devices per Spur: 32.

1.1.2.

IEC870 ELECTRICAL STANDARD:

Voltage Signals: Based on RS232 voltage levels: Loaded driver output = 5V to 15V (3k load). Driver short-circuit current 500mA Receiver input range = 25V. Receiver input sensitivity = 3V

1.1.3.

TRANSMISSION METHOD

Transmission : Half Duplex asynchronous transmission.

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Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard Transmission Rate: Variable up to 20Kbits/Sec with the following preferred rates 600 Bits/Sec 1200 Bits/Sec 2400 Bits/Sec 4800 Bits/Sec 9600 Bits/Sec 19200 Bits/Sec

1.2. 1.2.1.

DATA LINK LAYER MEDIA ACCESS

The media access layer defines how access is obtained on the media to transport data. IEC870 messages are transmitted as frames as defined below. These frames consist of eight bit data values transmitted least significant bit first, with an even parity bit appended. The characters are framed by one start bit and one stop bit. The characters that constitute a frame should be transmitted without any idle time between them. There should be a minimum interval of three character periods (33 bit periods) between frames transmitted by the master station. Start Length Length Start Byte Byte Byte Byte 68h LL Repeated 68h Figure 1. IEC870 message frame. Information field xx xx ...... xx xx Checksum xx End Byte 16h

A frame begins with a start byte of 68h and is terminated by an end byte of 16h. The start byte is followed by a single byte indicating the number of bytes in the information field which is repeated. The frame header is completed by a second start byte. The byte immediately preceding the end byte is a checksum calculated over the whole of the information field. This checksum may be calculated by performing a modulo 256 addition of all the bytes involved (i.e. the addition of the byte values ignoring any carries). The information field is located between the second start byte and the checksum field.

1.2.2.

LOGICAL LINK

The logical link layer defines the additions to a valid IEC870 frame for device addressing purposes as well as the operation of the control byte. Received frames that fail any of the checks should be discarded. Information Field: Control Byte Unit Address Network Address CC UU {AA..AA} 00 Figure 2. Information field format. Data field dd..dd

Control Byte This byte contains the following fields in messages transmitted from the master device

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10 MSB

Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard Bit Number 5 4 Frame Check Frame Check Bit Valid FCB FCV LSB 3-0 Function Code

7 Reserved (0)

6 Primary PRM (1)

In messages transmitted to the master device the control byte has the following format MSB Bit Number LSB 7 6 5 4 3-0 Reserved Primary Access Data Flow Function Code Control (0) PRM (0) ACD (0) DFC (0) The ACD and DFC bits are not used by the Courier implementation, and will always be set to zero. The Courier protocol only supports a sub-set of the functions included within the IEC870 standard, in messages from the master device the supported functions are: Function Reset Remote Link Send - No Reply Request Class 2 Data Code Value 00h 04h 0Bh Frame Check Valid No* No Yes

The reset remote link function expects both the FCV bit and the FCB bit to be zero, the frame is rejected otherwise. In messages to the master the functions supported by Courier are: Function Confirm Data Reply Code Value 00h 08h

The unit address field designates the destination device in request messages from a master control unit to a slave device and the source device in response messages from a slave device to a master control unit. A slave device should only receive messages with a unit address field matching its own device address, a programmed group address or the global address of 255. Master control units should accept all messages from slave devices regardless of the address field. The network address field is between 1 and 6 bytes in size and is terminated by a zero byte. The network address is used to identify subservient units in a multi-tier hierarchical system as described in the network address section of the Courier protocol. A slave device expects to find a zero terminator as the only element of the network address field, and will reject the frame should any other value be found. The Data Field of the information field is totally transparent and the information can take on any form and contain any binary bit combination.

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Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard References 1. 2. 3. IEC870 standard Part 5 Section 1 "Transmission frame formats" Published by:- International Electrotechnical Committee IEC870 standard Part 5 Section 2 "Link transmission procedures" Published by:- International Electrotechnical Committee "Standard Coding Model for an IEC870 Outstation" Internal GEC ALSTHOM T&D P & C (Stafford) document

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Chapter 1: IEC870 Communication Standard

AMENDMENTS Issue A B C Date 06/05/93 20/05/93 12/04/95 Changes First Issue Changed headers. Changed fonts

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