300 JOURNAL OF MODERN POWER SYSTEMS AND CLEAN ENERGY, VOL. 10, NO.

2, March 2022

Distribution Management Systems for Smart Grid:

Architecture, Work Flows, and Interoperability
Rabih A. Jabr, Fellow, IEEE and Izudin Džafić, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—
—The smart grid integrates advanced sensors, a two- tion processing. The physical aspects are concerned with the
way communication infrastructure, and high-performance com‐ basic grid components, and they are not covered herein. In‐
putation-based control. The distribution management systems stead, this paper will discuss communications and informa‐
for smart grid include several functions for manipulating legacy
voltage control devices and distributed energy resources tion processing.
through closed-loop volt/var control, leading to wide-area regu‐ Reference [1] compiles the definitions of the smart grid
lation of voltages in the presence of fluctuating power. The oth‐ according to the European technology platform, the US De‐
er primary distribution network analysis application is con‐ partment of Energy, the International Electrotechnical Com‐
cerned with automatic fault location and service restoration fol‐ mission (IEC), and the IEEE. The definitions all lead to the
lowing fault events, aiming to provide the grid with autono‐
smart grid built on the traditional grid but with many sen‐
mous intelligence for self-healing. Communication technologies
are vital to enable the computing applications of distribution sors for measurement, a robust communication infrastruc‐
networks, whether they work in centralized or distributed ture, high-performance computation that can handle large
modes. This paper presents the state of the art in distribution amounts of data, and legislation, i. e., agreements between
management system architectures and modern workflows show‐ different parties involved in the power grid operation. Self-
ing data exchange, practical parallel implementations designed healing is also an essential feature of the smart grid that im‐
to handle large amounts of data, in addition to communication
standards that serve as interoperability enablers. It demystifies
proves their resilience [5], [6]; it encompasses the automatic
the relationship between different functions developed indepen‐ removal of faulted components and feeder reconfiguration to
dently by power system researchers and shows their operation reroute the power supply leading to the minimum un-sup‐
as a complete system, thus placing them in a better context for plied demand. References [7] and [8] review the traditional
future research and development. and the more recent service restoration (SRES) methods
Index Terms—
—Cyber security, data communication, power dis‐ built on advanced metering infrastructure and distribution au‐
tribution networks, self-healing, software architecture, voltage tomation.
control. Table I is an adapted and expanded version of the compar‐
ison in [3] between the traditional and smart grids. Table I
suggests that the standardization will be further pushed by
I. INTRODUCTION the smart grid to enhance interoperability so that power utili‐

T HE smart grid has evolved from legacy power systems

and is vital for the economic advancement of nations
and the quality of life of their citizens. The power system lit‐
ties can choose equipment and software from different ven‐
dors and yet have them work together. Flexible and dynamic
pricing systems are likely to become more prominent in fu‐
erature includes several reviews concerning the development ture smart grids [9]. For instance, with the wide use of elec‐
of smart grid technologies, their applications, and architec‐ tric vehicles, the user can defer charging a vehicle when the
tures for integrating renewable energy [1] - [4]. The Institute price is low and even sell energy back through the network
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Project 2030 if the vehicle is not currently in use [10], [11]. Future re‐
categorized the logical-level view of the smart grid into search directions include advanced model-based code genera‐
three principal areas: physical, communications, and informa‐ tion, where changes in the mathematical model of power sys‐
tems are directly translated into the real-time software appli‐
Manuscript received: August 6, 2021; revised: January 18, 2022; accepted:
cation.
February 28, 2022. Date of CrossCheck: February 28, 2022. Date of online pub‐ At the root of the operation of the smart grids is a soft‐
lication: March 30, 2022. ware infrastructure that handles the sensor and network data.
The work of Izudin Džafić was supported by MONKS, Sarajevo, FBiH, Bos‐
nia and Herzegovina (No. 27-02-11-41250-34/21).
The software base allows for new services and functional‐
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribu‐ ities; its use with the technologies from different vendors re‐
tion 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). quires interoperability enablers, including communication
R. A. Jabr is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon (e-mail: rabih. standards and a common information model (CIM) applica‐
[email protected]). ble to data collected from heterogeneous sensors [12] - [14].
I. Džafić (corresponding author) is with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, For example, a recently proposed CIM allows extracting rele‐
University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia and Herzegovina (e-mail: idzaf‐
[email protected]). vant data from asset management databases and enables data-
DOI: 10.35833/MPCE.2021.000542 driven parameter updates of smart grid application algo‐
JABR et al.: DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR SMART GRID: ARCHITECTURE, WORK FLOWS, AND INTEROPERABILITY 301

rithms [15]. The software system is classically centralized in 1) Distribution system power flow (DSPF). Real-time
one location. Meanwhile, it can have distributed versions, DSPF (RT-DSPF) computes the voltage phasors at the net‐
through protocols of the IEC 61850 suite, to improve re‐ work nodes from the knowledge of the grid parameters and
sponse time and eliminate single-point-of-failure scenarios. power injections, representing generation and loads. RT-
This paper presents the architecture and workflows between DSPF uses the forward/backward sweep for radial networks
different computer processes when the grid is under regular [16] and the current injection method for meshed networks
operation (closed-loop volt/var control (CL-VVC)) and after [17]-[21].
fault inception (automatic fault location (FLOC) and SRES). 2) Short-term prosumer forecasting (STPF). In the smart
It also discusses the communication standards for centralized grid context, the prosumer can be either a producer or a con‐
and distributed operation, allowing the interoperability be‐ sumer of power. STPF uses historical load profiles, weather-
tween different equipment. related information, energy values from automatic meter
readings (AMR), and the newer advanced metering infra‐
TABLE I
COMPARISON BETWEEN TRADITIONAL GRID AND SMART GRID
structure (AMI). The forecasted energy values are computed
using probabilistic modeling techniques [22] or neural net‐
Traditional Grid Smart Grid works [23].
Mechanized systems Digitalization 3) Distribution system state estimation (DSSE). DSSE esti‐
One-way communication Two-way real-time communication
mates the state vector of distribution networks by applying a
Centralized power generation Distributed power generation
weighted least-squares approach on a redundant set of mea‐
surements [24], [25]. A current or power balancing method
Radial network Dispersed network
is commonly adopted in industrial implementations to
Fewer data involved Massive volumes of data involved
achieve high-performance computation [26], [27]. Given that
A small number of sensors Numerous sensors and monitors
many of the measurements originate from STPF, i.e., pseudo
Insufficient automatic monitoring High level of automatic monitoring
measurements, DSSE is also referred to as load estimation.
Manual control and recovery Automatic control and recovery 4) Optimal feeder reconfiguration (OFR). OFR solves an
Little security and privacy optimization problem that reconfigures the structure of the
Inclined to security/privacy concerns
concerns
distribution network to result in load balancing amongst feed‐
Operator attention to system
disruptions
Adaptive protection ers or minimum loss operation. The reconfigured network
Simultaneous energy production
should satisfy some preset operation constraints. Due to the
Use of storage systems complexity of the underlying optimization problem, a com‐
and consumption
Limited control Comprehensive control scheme monly adopted method is the switch exchange heuristic [28]-
Sluggish response to emergencies Speedy response to emergencies [30], which is extended in [31] to cover for particular scenar‐
Some user choices Comprehensive user choices ios emerging from distributed energy resource (DER) integra‐
Limited interoperability Unlimited interoperability tions.
Limited architectural extensions Flexible architectural extensions
5) Distribution system short-circuit computation (DSSCC).
DSSCC runs short-circuit calculation screening to check the
Traditional software development Advanced model-based code generation
capability of a circuit breaker or fuse in the maximal current
Static price system Flexible/dynamic price system
mode and then check the relay sensitivity under the minimal
current faults. The DSSCC engine can operate using either
phase or Fortescue coordinates [32], [33], and it is extended
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II
to cover power-electronics-based distributed generation
lists the software implementations of the main functions im‐
(DG) [19].
plemented in the distribution management system (DMS) for
6) Volt/var control (VVC). VVC solves an optimization
the smart grid and points to classical references for practical
problem that controls the load tap changer (LTC) installed
implementation. Section III presents data interactions for CL-
on substation transformers and step voltage regulators,
VVC and Section IV presents the operations required to es‐
switched capacitors, and the reactive power from DERs. The
tablish self-healing by usage of automatic FLOC and SRES.
goal of VVC is mainly to lessen voltage violations that oc‐
Section V is devoted to communication standards for central‐
cur due to load and renewable power variations and VVC
ized and distributed implementations, including those project‐
has secondary objectives such as loss minimization and con‐
ed for future use. Finally, the paper is concluded in Section
servation voltage reduction (CVR). The VVC optimization
VI.
problem has continuous and discrete variables; it is practical‐
ly solved using the power-flow-based multi-step discrete pro‐
II. MAIN FUNCTIONS OF DMS FOR SMART GRID gramming search, also known as discrete coordinate-descent
The following functions are implemented as part of the search [34] - [37], and other adaptations [38]. CVR contrib‐
software infrastructure of DMS. The choice of the underly‐ utes to saving energy and reducing the peak load; whose use
ing algorithm is primarily motivated by the need for high- is described by [39] - [41] in an active distribution manage‐
performance implementations. Therefore, the references list‐ ment system (ADMS) for the networks with DERs.
ed for each function include classical works that form the ba‐ 7) FLOC. FLOC the uses the statuses of fault locators
sis of industrial applications. that are telemetered to the distribution management center to
302 JOURNAL OF MODERN POWER SYSTEMS AND CLEAN ENERGY, VOL. 10, NO. 2, March 2022

determine the fault branch in a network [42], followed by ei‐ tion network [36]. In Fig. 1, PMUI and PMUV are the cur‐
ther one- or two-terminal impedance-based methods to local‐ rent and voltage of phasor measurement unit (PMU), respec‐
ize the fault on the line accurately [43]-[45]. Traveling wave tively. Voltage regulation is becoming more of a challenge
methods are the second kind of FLOC procedures. with the increased proliferation of DERs such as photovolta‐
8) Fault isolation (FISO). FISO is a procedure for opening ics, giving rise to sudden real power fluctuations. The use of
circuit breakers to isolate the fault. Ideally, FISO isolates the manual operator control in modern active distribution net‐
smallest possible part of the system by opening switches up‐ works is consequently becoming impractical, thus leading to
stream and downstream of the fault [46]. the adoption of CL-VVC. CL-VVC can act on local control‐
9) SRES. SRES restores power to load nodes affected by lers by changing their set-points, e.g., by choosing the volt‐
FISO by transferring energy to them via alternative feeders age set-point of a voltage regulator. An alternative is block‐
[47]. SRES is essentially an OFR problem whose solution re‐ ing the local controller and directly commanding the parame‐
configures the network to serve as many loads as possible ter of a voltage controller such as the load-tap changer
(LTC) position or the switched capacitor setting. The control
within the feeder loading limits while effectuating a mini‐
actions implemented by VVC intend to operate the network
mum number of switching operations [48], [49].
over the next 15 to 60 min with a few voltage violations as
possible. These need to be valid over a predetermined peri‐
III. DATA INTERACTIONS FOR CL-VVC
od, as the frequent changing of controller parameters leads
CL-VVC, as depicted in Fig. 1, is mainly used with local to the loss of life of the switched-type controller itself and is
controllers to regulate voltage levels throughout the distribu‐ therefore associated with a switching cost.

DSO Component 3: graphical user

interface (GUI)
Calculated values:
Distribution network AMR, wind,
Tap changer positions
and temperature data Graphical Graphical
Capacitor status/position
display l display
DG set-points Real-time
Apply Client 1 Client N
Smart home appliance schedule measurements
calculated
Battery charging/discharging (V, P, Q, I,
values
schedule PMUV,
Prosumer schedule PMUI)

Component 4
SCADA

Component 1
data bus Database

AMR
RT-DSPF Verification Block net Real-time
Start RT-DSSE measurements Data (CIM)
Calculated
control set verification values
Is net
Y enabled
RT-VVC RT-DSSE
Activation for closed
loop? Prosumer Temperature GIS
forecast (P, Q)
wind
social import module
N
Logging (output for events
STPF
errors and warning)

OFR DSSCC

Component 2: CL-VVC

Fig. 1. CL-VVC Within a DMS for smart grid.

Real-time VVC (RT-VVC), which is run in closed-loop gorithm behind RT-VVC is practically a discrete coordinate-
mode [50], starts with STPF to compute the forecasts of descent search, where determining the best direction at each
loads and power from DG. STPF takes the readings from step of the algorithm requires the execution of RT-DSPF.
AMI/AMR integrations as input, including weather informa‐ The RT-DSPF is also used to verify the VVC solution, as
tion pertaining to temperature and wind, in addition to social discussed in Section III-B.
events. Then, RT-VVC uses STPF and RT-DSSE data, where In the event of branch flow overloads detected during the
one of the RT-DSSE outputs is an estimation of the load and VVC solution, the RT-VVC calls on the OFR module to re‐
generation. RT-VVC also interfaces with two distribution net‐ configure the network for load balancing. Besides, the effec‐
work applications: RT-DSPF and OFR. The optimization al‐ tiveness of the protection system is verified for the reconfig‐
JABR et al.: DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR SMART GRID: ARCHITECTURE, WORK FLOWS, AND INTEROPERABILITY 303

uration solution by computing the maximum and minimum control-before-VVC set.

limits of fault currents via the DSSCC program. The OFR 2) Predicted objective function value after VVC, i. e., the
module further contributes to improving the voltage profile value obtained from simulating the operation of network at
on the network. The RT-VVC calculation is carried out for a different snapshots of load/generation from STPF using the
subnetwork only when the subnetwork is enabled for closed- control-after-VVC set. This value also accounts for the addi‐
loop operation. The RT-VVC calculation results, i.e., the con‐ tional costs due to controller switching.
trol set-points or parameters, including the changes in switch If changing the set-points and parameters according to
statuses from OFR, are sent to the supervisory control and data VVC improves the predicted objective function value by a
acquisition (SCADA) system over the data bus. SCADA sys‐ preset margin, the control set-points and parameters obtained
tem then implements the action on the actual network. by VVC are transferred via SCADA system to the distribu‐
Figure 2 shows further details about STPF and DSSE, ex‐ tion network, and thus CL-VVC is activated. Yet, the STPF
panding on what is initially presented in Fig. 1. In Fig. 2, may not accurately predict the actual load and generation
wP, wQ, wI, w PMU , w PMU are the weightings; and Pest and Qest from DERs, and therefore a CL-VVC verification stage is re‐
quired.
I V

are the estimations of active power and reactive power, re‐

spectively. Because AMRs provide energy measurements B. CL-VVC Verification
that are accumulated over predefined periods, they cannot be Commissioning the CL-VVC can be very difficult. Sever‐
used as direct inputs to DSSE but instead form part of the al problems arise owing to the fact that accurate predictions
STPF input data stream. Thus, the output of STPF is quasi- may not be provided by STPF, especially at the early stages
real-time active and reactive power measurements together of CL-VVC usage. The other issues stem from the fact that
with their associated weights required for DSSE. network topology and equipment parameters are typically im‐
SCADA Typical load
ported from a graphic information system (GIS). The GIS
alarms
AMIAMR
profiles import inevitably contains incorrect equipment parameters,
Pest,
Qest
which can lead to poor optimization results. Therefore, a ver‐
P,
Q, P,
Q, Wind ification process is put in place to ensure that the optimiza‐
wP,
wQ wP,
wQ Humidity tion measures are correct and not distorted by poor STPF ac‐
DSSE Database STPF Temperature curacy or bad equipment parameters or topology.
Solar radiation
Pest,
Qest Social events CL-VVC verification entails comparing the real-time ob‐
Real-time jective function value for the control-before-VVC and con‐
measurements
P, Q, I, PMUI, PMUV Machine learning trol-after-VVC sets. The comparison between the two sets is
wP, wQ, wI, wPMUI , wPMUV carried out over the time horizon where the controller set-
points and parameters are intended to be valid. Two real-
Fig. 2. Further details about STPF and DSSE. time objective function values are computed by summing (or
integrating) the individual objective function at different
A. CL-VVC Activation time points. The computation of the following individual ob‐
jective function values at a specific time is done using RT-
Once the VVC solution is computed, a decision needs to
DSPF and takes the load values given by RT-DSSE as input.
be made to implement the control set-points and parameters
1) Real-time objective function value before VVC, i. e.,
via the SCADA system. The set-points and parameters are in‐
the objective function value obtained from simulating the op‐
tended to be valid over some time, and not only for the con‐
eration of network at different time points using control-be‐
ditions prevailing at the time of VVC calculation. The fol‐ fore-VVC set with estimated load/generation from RT-DSSE.
lowing two sets of control set-points and parameters are con‐ 2) Real-time objective function value after VVC, i. e., the
sidered: ① control-before-VVC set, i. e., the set of existing objective function value obtained from simulating the opera‐
control set-points and parameters; ② control-after-VVC set, tion of network at different time points using control-after-
i.e., the set of control set-points and parameters obtained by VVC set with estimated load/generation from RT-DSSE.
VVC. This value also accounts for the additional costs due to con‐
Therefore, the decision to use the control-after-VVC set is troller switching.
based on whether implementing it gives rise to a better-pre‐ Thus, if the real-time objective function value before
dicted objective function value (including the switching cost) VVC is greater than that after VVC over several trials, the
when simulated across the load/generation pattern from CL-VVC can be blocked for this subnetwork. Blocking dis‐
STPF, compared with the control-before-VVC set. The com‐ ables closed-loop operation and ensures that improper set‐
parison of the predicted objective function values using con‐ tings will not damage equipment.
trol-after-VVC set instead of control-before-VVC set is
made via DSPF with different load/generation values from C. Application Scheduling and Interlocking
STPF. The following two predicted objective function values The distribution network of a metropolitan city can be
are computed by summing the individual objective functions huge, and therefore it will be impractical to compute an RT-
over different snapshots. VVC solution of the complete network. Most VVC applica‐
1) Predicted objective function value before VVC, i.e., the tions work on a subnetwork basis so that each subnetwork is
value obtained from simulating the operation of network at optimized on its own. Therefore, any potential problems
different snapshots of load/generation from STPF using the leading to the blocking of VVC, as mentioned above, would
304 JOURNAL OF MODERN POWER SYSTEMS AND CLEAN ENERGY, VOL. 10, NO. 2, March 2022

not affect the complete network. Figure 3 shows an example lide. The DMS includes several real-time functions: DSPF,
with two subnetworks energized from two injection busbars DSSE, VVC, FLOC, FISO, SRES, DSSCC, and STPF.
connected to the transmission network. There are practically Figure 5 is a closer view of Fig. 4 showing two applica‐
hundreds of these subnetworks in an extensive distribution tion schedulers, one for DSSE and one for VVC, each run‐
system, which opens the door for an implementation involv‐ ning n different processes, which could be time-based (peri‐
ing high-performance computation with parallelism. The par‐ odic) or event-based.
allel implementation necessitates a scheduler to track which
of the applications is operating on which subnetwork.
DSSE1
Transmission network DSSE DSSE2
Commands, scheduler

…
events,
DSSEn
Injection Injection results
busbar 1 busbar 2 DMS Data
environment model
V, P, Q V, P, Q VVC1
Feeder head Feeder head
busbar 1 busbar 2 VVC
I I VVC2
P, Q scheduler
Commands,

…
events, VVCn
results
SW 1
Master Slave
process process

V
I Fig. 5. Real-time application schedulers in DMS.

I I
I
Through interlocking, each process can apply to any of
I
the subnetworks in the data model. Thus, if DSSE1 is work‐
ing on subnetwork 2, none of the other DSSE and VVC
functions can process the data of subnetwork 2 at the same
SW 2
time. Figure 6 depicts a specific example of the scheduler
applying to the two subnetworks in Fig. 3. For illustration,
Subnetwork 1 Subnetwork 2 suppose switch 1 (SW1) is closed and switch 2 (SW2) is
Real-time measurement; Load open, which results in one network instead of two. An event
Fig. 3. Subnetworks energized from two injection busbars connected to causes SW1 to open, giving rise to two subnetworks and ini‐
transmission network. tiating event-based RT-DSSE, as detailed here: the tripping
event of SW1 will be delivered through communication ser‐
Figure 4 depicts an application scheduler with interlocking vice to the application scheduler (compared with Fig. 4).
in DMS. The DSSE scheduler will schedule two DSSE executions, i.
e., DSSE1 corresponding to subnetwork 1 and DSSE2 corre‐
Distribution system GIS sponding to subnetwork 2, where both DSSE processes are
control center Asset management run in parallel, as shown in Fig. 6.
DMS
Historical DSPF DSSE Date
CL-VVC DSSE 1 DSSE 2
information DSSC scheduler model
system Application VVC
User interface (HIS) scheduler FLOC Populate
with FISO Request 1 injection source
interlocking Find
SERS
SCADA Communication DSSCC injection source Calculate
service STPF injection 1
Execute
injection 1
Calculate
Distribution system network injection 2
Execute
injection 2
Fig. 4. Application scheduler with interlocking in DMS.

Completed Write results

As its name suggests, interlocking prevents an application injection 1
from modifying data while another one is updating its con‐
trol set-points or parameters. For example, a subnetwork
Completed Completed Write results
may have a VVC operating on it based on events in the net‐ request 1 injection 2
work (measurement change due to a trip), and another VVC
execution is time-based; thus, both applications must not col‐ Fig. 6. DSSE execution using a multi-process approach.
JABR et al.: DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR SMART GRID: ARCHITECTURE, WORK FLOWS, AND INTEROPERABILITY 305

Due to the multitude of events and processes, it is always IV. OPERATIONS REQUIRED TO ESTABLISH SELF-HEALING BY
beneficial to have the DMS functions run as fast as possible. USAGE OF AUTOMATIC FLOC AND SRES
Therefore, the described architecture can handle large There are two approaches to implement SRES in distribu‐
amounts of data for many sensors and meters due to the par‐ tion networks following a fault event, as described in Fig. 7.
allel implementation.

DSO Component 3: GUI

Component 5: D-FLISR Distribution network TCT

Graphical Graphical
display l display
IED 1
Apply Fault indicators, Client 1 Client N
switching COMTRADE
IEC 61850
procedures fault records
GOOSE

IED n
SCADA

Component 4
Component 1
data bus

Switching Database
procedures
Fault indicators, and local
Switching
COMTRADE regulator
procedures
fault records settings
Loading Data (CIM)
conditions
FLOC FLSO SRES

GIS
DSSCC OFR RT-DSPF import module
Component 6: C-FLISR

Fig. 7. Approaches to implementing SRES in distribution networks following a fault event.

The first approach (component 5) is distributed fault loca‐ for performing FLOC followed by FISO, whose output is
tion, isolation, and service restoration (D-FLISR), and the switching procedures that isolate the part of the network un‐
second one (component 6) is centralized fault location, isola‐ der fault and lock it. Finally, the switching policies are im‐
tion, and service restoration (C-FLISR). plemented on the distribution network through SCADA. This
A. D-FLISR is in contrast to the operation of D-FLISR through IEDs,
where opening breakers and locking are done without resort
In D-FLISR, intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) inter‐
to SCADA and typically within 10 ms. FISO is followed by
change data so that after a fault event, the part of the net‐
SRES. For example, if a fault occurs at the beginning of a
work that is faulty is de-energized. In contrast, the part unaf‐
radial feeder, loads that are downstream of the fault can be
fected by the fault remains energized. Portions of the net‐
re-energized. In SRES, the parts of the network that are not
work that are de-energized but not faulty should be re-ener‐
faulty and not energized will have their loads redistributed
gized through the communication of the IEDs to control the
to other feeders, typically using OFR as the primary compu‐
circuit breakers. To implement D-FLISR, communication
tational engine. OFR practically employs the branch ex‐
through IEC 61850 and the generic object oriented substa‐
change method, where RT-DSPF is used at every iteration of
tion event (GOOSE) protocol is necessary (compare Subsec‐
the algorithm, and DSSCC validates the effectiveness of the
tion V-A and [51]). For instance, in the event of a short cir‐
cuit on a busbar in a substation, GOOSE will open the switch‐ protection, as previously explained. Once the fault is cleared,
es that energize the busbar and lock them so that even an oper‐ a crew is sent to fix the situation causing the fault problem
ator cannot close them via SCADA; this is essential to ensure on-site; this process can typically take hours and, therefore,
the safety of the crew attending to the fault problem. the need to restore service to as many customers through
SRES should within seconds or minutes.
B. C-FLISR Figure 7 also shows that the input to FLOC can be trou‐
C-FLISR relies on having a good communication infra‐ ble call tickets (TCT) in addition to fault indicators and fault
structure and high-performance computation so that all calcu‐ records. One possible research direction is to have the TCT
lations leading to self-healing are done in one place. Howev‐ system integrated through artificial-intelligence-based speech
er, it does not rely on having modern IEDs. The process recognition to automate the process rather than relying on an
starts with the data from fault indicators and fault records operator listening to the tickets and placing specific marks.
306 JOURNAL OF MODERN POWER SYSTEMS AND CLEAN ENERGY, VOL. 10, NO. 2, March 2022

V. COMMUNICATION STANDARDS FOR CENTRALIZED AND packets, which makes it fast but less reliable than TCP/IP.
DISTRIBUTED IMPLEMENTATIONS GOOSE enables high-speed event exchange (4 ms for send‐
The smart grid involves systems assisting the needs of nu‐ ing events, e. g., switch status change). However, since it is
merous stakeholders. Therefore, it should support devices based on UDP, it is unreliable and requires resending data in
and systems developed separately by various vendors, the op‐ several intervals (intervals of 4, 16, 100, and 1000 ms).
eration protocols of different utilities, customer types (indus‐ 3) Sampled measured value (SMV), which is specified in
trial, business, and residential), and regulatory contexts [52]. IEC 61850-9 and provides support of “sampled values” that
are continuously streaming raw measurements from sensors,
The operation of the smart grid relies on several communi‐
e.g., voltage measurements from potential transformers (PTs)
cation standards that enable interoperable systems and com‐
or water flow measurements in hydro plants. This provides
ponents. The use of standards is essential to have different
means for complete substation digitalization. SMV is also
companies innovating to design products that can be integrat‐
based on UDP, which makes it very fast.
ed into future smart grids [52]-[54].
IEC 61850 also specifies the common format for transient
A. Available Standards data exchange (COMTRADE) used in FLOC applications.
1) IEC 60870 Suite 3) IEC 62351 Suite
The IEC 60870 suite is an open and mature standard sup‐ The primary domain of the IEC 62351 suite is cyber secu‐
ported by most of the vendors of SCADA, DMS, and energy rity. It is an open standard that defines security requirements
management system (EMS); it all two-way real-time commu‐ for power system management and information exchange, in‐
nication. Almost every power utility uses this standard for in‐ cluding the communication network, the TCP and MMS pro‐
ter-control center communications between their systems of files, the inter-control center protocol (ICCP), and substation
SCADA, DMS, and EMS [52]. automation and protection [52]. This standard suite is em‐
2) IEC 61850 Suite ployed in conjunction with related IEC standards but has not
The IEC 61850 suite defines communication aspects for been widely utilized yet.
automation and protection in transmission and distribution 4) IEEE C37.238-2011
substations. It is being expanded to cover communication be‐ The IEEE C37.238-2011 defines a typical profile for us‐
tween substations, between substations and control centers, ing the IEEE 1588-2008 precision time protocol (PTP) in
and including hydroelectric plants, DG, and synchrophasors. power system applications employing an Ethernet communi‐
The expansion in capabilities is essential for distributed self- cations design. The profile specifies the mechanisms and set‐
healing over large areas. In addition, some standards have tings to facilitate device interoperability and robust response
adjusted IEC 61850 for using in wind turbines (IEC 61400- during failure events, and it ensures consistent and reliable
25) and switchgear (IEC 62271-3) [52]. time distribution across broad geographic regions.
Figure 8 shows the IEC 61850 communication stack. 5) IEEE C37.239-2010
There are three widely used protocols. The IEEE C37.239-2010 is a standard data file format
used for offline analysis exchange of different types of event
Applications data about electric power systems and their models.
B. Developing Standards: IEC 61968 Suite
Data extraction
The IEC 61968 suite is an open standard that is becoming
IEC 61850 data modeling and services more widely implemented by the standards development or‐
ganization with assistance from a users group. This suite
MMS GOOSE SMV comprises integration with IEC 61850 and MultiSpeak (CIM/
61850 for distribution network management). In addition, it
TCP/IP UDP is supposed to have comprehensive coverage of distribution
automation equipment and operations.
Data link on physical (Ethernet) layer
C. New Perspectives: Quick UDP Internet Connections (QU‐
Fig. 8. IEC 61850 communication stack. IC)
The QUIC is a freshly standardized protocol [55]. It is a
1) Manufacturing message specification (MMS), which is new multiplexed transport protocol built on top of UDP. The
based on a client-server paradigm, and it is implemented on Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) provides and main‐
top of the transmission control protocol/Internet protocol tains the specification of QUIC, also known as RFC 9000.
(TCP/IP). With TCP/IP, every packet in a sent data stream Compared with TCP/IP, the main advantage of this protocol
will get an acknowledgment message, which makes it robust is reduced connection establishment time, multiplexing with‐
for communication but slow. MMS is typically used in SCA‐ out a head of line blocking, and improved congestion con‐
DA systems. trol feedback. In addition, the results in the protocol are ca‐
2) GOOSE, which is based on publisher-subscriber mecha‐ pable of handling priority between messages. The primary
nism and uses user datagram protocol (UDP) multicast. It is goal of QUIC is to solve existing hypertext transfer protocol
specialized for sending events such as tripping due to a (HTTP) obstacles. However, its robust features, mainly when
fault. UDP does not involve acknowledging the receipt of a device uses a wireless connection (4G, 5G), will make it
JABR et al.: DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR SMART GRID: ARCHITECTURE, WORK FLOWS, AND INTEROPERABILITY 307

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