The importance of the ACSI layer

ACSI stands for Abstract Communication Service Interface and is an integral part of the IEC 61850 standard.  However, competitor products don’t always include its functions in their protocol libraries.  Xelas 61850 Products make optimal use of the ACSI implementation in the ACSI Library. This is a major advantage for developing 61850 applications.

ACSI Layer Architecture

The figure shows the 61850 Product Architecture.  When you use market products that just expose a MMS API, your  developers still need to implement all ACSI operations and SCL object modifications.

Some highlights of the ACSI SCL Library API architecture:

  • The ACSI API hides the specific underlying protocol (MMS, GOOSE, SV), so developers do not require its specific know-how
  • The raw MMS ,GOOSE and SV PDUs are automatically decoded into ACSI messages
  • The ACSI API allows for automated callbacks for pre-processing, attribute change and post-processing
  • All operations automatically update the relational database (applicable to the Client)
  • Full GOOSE and Sampled Values functionalities are supported and implemented in separate threads for high-performance

ACSI Layer Library advantages for developers

  • The use of the ACSI library reduces development time of 61850 applications by approximately  70% compared to developing against a MMS library
  • Individual and Regression test scripts further reduce development, integration and regression time by approximately 50%
  • The various 61850 operations are categorized. It is easy to select which operations need to be implemented for certain IED types.