IEC 61850 Modbus Gateway

Xelas Energy releases the IEC 61850 to Modbus TCP/IP Gateway product.

The Modbus Gateway is a seamless addition to the Xelas Energy 61850 Product family.

The Modbus Gateway acts as a 61850 Server and maintains seamless connectivity to Modbus TCP/IP devices. The Modbus Gateway is part of Xelas Energy strategy to provide 61850 connectivity to legacy substation networks.

The two figures describe the architecture of the Modbus Gateway as well as its use in an example network integration project.

The IEC Modbus Gateway can also be used to expose an IEC 61850 interface as discussed in the DER (Distributed Energy Resources) standard : IEC 61850-7-420. Please see the Xelas Energy DER webpage for more information.

Modbus Gateway Architecture and Highlights

The figure on the left shows the Modbus TCP/IP Gateway architecture:

  • Provides individual mapping of 61850 attributes to Modbus registers, described with the IEC 61850 SCL file
  • Controlling direction supports mapping of the following IEC61850 ACSI operations:  ASSOCIATE, RELEASE, SETDATAVALUES, OPERATE
  • Monitoring direction supports mapping of the following IEC61850 ACSI operations: GETDATAVALUES, REPORT INDICATION, GOOSE INDICATIONS, SV INDICATIONS

Some of the Solution advantages:

  • Software gateway architecture for Window / Linux, no need for proprietary hardware
  • Configuration by editing SCL files. No programming necessary, runtime updates
  • Scalable architecture can handle complex Modbus networks
  • Seamless integration with Xelas Energy IEC 61850 Product line

Substation Gateway : Example implementation of the IEC 61850 Server to Modbus TCP/IP Gateway

The figure on the left shows the example on how to use the IEC Modbus Gateway in a substation to integrate all IEC 61850 and Modbus TCP/IP devices into a high-level CIM compatible Object Model.

  • The SCL-files for the substation captures both the parameters for the Xelas Client and Server, including the translations to Modbus
  • The Substation Gateway interfaces directly with all 61850 equipment devices. To connect with the Modbus-devices, the Xelas Client connects via the IEC Modbus gateway to the Modbus devices
  • The north bound interface CIM interface is exposed by the 61850 Client DE via XML Web Services
  • Xelas products used:
    • 61850 Client Development Environment with MMS, SV, GOOSE protocol support. The 61850 Client DE has integrated SQL support, Scripting interface and JAVA Web GUI
    • IEC Modbus Gateway
    • 61850 Client northbound XML interface, including CIM mediation adaptor

Some of the Solution advantages:

  • Different products used within the solution can be run on different platforms and different layers in the substation
  • Object-model based logic is far more reliable and maintainable than the linear logic currently used for Modbus devices
  • Migration from devices, currently using Modbus -but gradually migrating to IEC 61850, can be done purely through software configuration
  • Process logic between Modbus and 61850 devices is completely captured in the SCL
  • Configuration by editing SCL files. No programming necessary

The IEC 61850 Modbus TCP/IP Gateway is available on the following platforms:

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Embedded Linux
  • Other platforms available on request

To request an evaluation package or get more information about the IEC 61850 Modbus Gateway please email: info@xelasenergy.com