Design and Demonstration of an IEC 61850-Based Distribution Substation Using Digital Twin Technology

The digital twin of a substation provides a virtual model that leverages real-time data from Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) to enhance operational efficiency and support data-driven decision-making. With IEC 61850 emerging as the global standard for substation automation, ensuring the interoperability, reliability, and functionality of IEDs within this framework is critical. An IEC 61850 substation employs standardized communication protocols, enabling seamless integration and interoperability among multi-vendor IEDs. Core functionalities include GOOSE (Generic Object-Oriented Substation Event) messaging for rapid, event-driven data exchange, Sampled Values (SV) for accurate analog data transmission, and MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification) for reporting and control functions. To validate and optimize the performance of GOOSE message generation and SV transmission, the IEC 61850 substation model is implemented and tested on the Distributed Test Manager (DTM) platform by Triangle Microworks.