Skip to main content

IEC 60870-5-103

IEC 60870-5-103 is a protocol for power system monitoring and controlling. Mostly used for communication between protection devices and devices of a control system in a substation (RTU) over fiber optics.

image-1643031034165.png

Info about protocol

Telegram Structure

Teleram format with fixed length

image-1643029019486.png

Telegram format with variable length

image-1643031086615.png

  • RES - Reserved
  • PRM - 1 if master, 0 if slave

PRM = 1

  • FCB - alternating bit for successive services per station
  • FCV - (if FCV=1 FCB enabled)

PRM = 0

  • ACD - access demand (if ACD=1 there are class 1 data)
  • DFC - data flow control (if DFC=1 further messages may cause data overflow)

Function Code

PRM=1

Dec

Frame type

Service function

FCV

0

SEND/CONFIRM expected

Reset of remote link

0

1

SEND/CONFIRM expected

Reset of user process

0

2

SEND/CONFIRM expected

Reserved

-

3

SEND/CONFIRM expected

User data

1

4

SEND/REPLY expected

User data

0

5

 

Reserved

-

6

 

Reserved

-

7

 

Reserved

-

8

REQUEST for access demand

Expected response specifies access demand

0

9

REQUEST/RESPOND expected

Request status of link

0

10

REQUEST/RESPOND expected

Request user data class 1

1

11

REQUEST/RESPOND expected

Request user data class 2

1

12

 

Reserved

-

13

 

Reserved

-

14

 

Reserved

-

15

 

Reserved

-

PRM=0

Dec

Frame type

Service function

0

CONFIRM

ACK: positive acknowledgment

1

CONFIRM

NACK: message not accepted, link busy

2

 

Reserved

3

 

Reserved

4

 

Reserved

5

 

Reserved

6

 

Reserved

7

 

Reserved

8

RESPOND

User data

9

RESPOND

NACK: requested data not available

10

 

Request user data class 1

11

RESPOND

Request user data class 2

12

 

Reserved

13

 

Reserved

14

 

Reserved

15

 

Reserved

Type identification

Standard IEC 60870-5-103 data types[1-255]

  • [1-31] - standard definition
  • [32-255] - for special use

Dec

Description

Direction

Support

1

Time-tagged message

Monitor

Yes

2

Time-tagged message with relative time

Monitor

Yes

3

Measurands I

Monitor

Yes

4

Time-tagged measurands with relative time

Monitor

Yes

5

Identification

Monitor

Yes

6

Clock synchronization

Both

Yes

7

General interrogation

Control

Yes

8

End of general interrogation

Monitor

Yes

9

Measurands II

Monitor

Yes

10

Generic data

Both

No

11

Generic identification

Monitor

No

20

General command

Control

Yes

21

Generic command

Control

No

23

List of recorded disturbances

Monitor

No

24

Order for disturbance data transmission

Control

No

25

Acknowledgment for disturbance data transmission

Control

No

26

Ready for transmission of disturbance data

Monitor

No

27

Ready for transmission of a channel

Monitor

No

28

Ready for transmission of tags

Monitor

No

29

Transmission of tags

Monitor

No

30

Transmission of disturbance values

Monitor

No

31

End of transmission

Monitor

No

Cause of transmission

Standard IEC 60870-5-103 cause of transmission [0-255]

  • [0] - not used
  • [1-63] - standard definition
  • [64-255] - for special use

Dec

Description

1

Spontaneous

2

Cyclic

3

Reset frame count bit ( FCB )

4

Reset communication unit ( CU )

5

Start/ restart

6

Power ON

7

Test mode

8

Time synchronization

9

General interrogation

10

End of general interrogation

11

Return information caused by a remote command

12

Return information caused by a local command

20

Command "ACK positive"

21

Command "ACK negative"

31

Transmission disturbance data

40

Generic write command with ACK positive

41

Generic write command with ACK negative

42

Generic read command data valid

43

Generic read command data invalid

44

Generic write conformation

 Settings

Timeouts (ms)

 

image-1643031621517.png

 

Monitor

Master

Slave

Reading data

Waiting data in serial port buffer

Waiting data in serial port buffer

Waiting data in serial port buffer

Pause before send

Not used

Pause before send data

Pause before send data

Address

 

image-1643031767819.png

 

Monitor

Master

Slave

Link

Not used

Remote device address

Own system address

ASDU

Not used

Remote device address

Own system address

Commands ack.

 

image-1643031811132.png

 

Monitor

Master

Slave

Auto ack. system commands

Not used

Not used

Auto acknowledge system commands

Auto ack. control commands

Not used

Not used

Auto acknowledge commands

 

System

For all system functions user can set custom address:

image-1643102984838.png

General Interrogation

This function will send telegram Type-identification = 7

image-1643103033727.png

Clock synchronization

This function will send telegram Type-identification = 103 (C_CS_NA_1)

image-1643036000740.png

If "PC time" checkbox is checked, then the PC time will be sent. If it's not checked user can set time manually.

Time tag status bits:

  • IV - invalid time
  • SM - Summer/Winter
  • SB - Substitute

General Command

This function allows user to send command to slave device.

image-1643103076282.png

Tags

This function allows user to created named points. After points created user can send it manually or set reply checkbox to automatic reply.

  • To export Tags to csv file: Tags -> Export -> Save file dialog appear
  • To import Tags from csv file: Tags -> Import -> Open file dialog appear

There are two ways of creating tags:

  1. Create tag button.
  2. Double click a signal with the left mouse button in the statistic tab.

Main parameters:

  • Name - user-friendly tag name
  • Type - the type of value.
  • Asdu - Identifier of the device
  • Fun - function number
  • Info- Identifier of values from the device.

Here is an example image of the tag window with the TimeTaggedMessage(1) type selected.  Each type has different options that can be configured when sending data. For example this type depicted in the picture below can send a value Off or On and it also is time-tagged. The user in this case can either select a specific time that they have in mind or just mark the PC checkbox and The Vinci software will automatically send the current PC time. As you can see the Value box in this example is greyed out that is because this tag is created on a master simulation, and this type doesn't support writing to slave.

image-1643104823051.png

Setup

To setup an IEC 60870-5-103 simulation it is fairly straightforward. 

1. Select IEC 60870-5-103 and the mode.

image-1643104888959.png

2. Select Serial Port settings according to your device specification.

image-1643100262054.png

3. Select settings in the settings tab according to your device and preference.

image-1643104918264.png

4. Press the green START button and the simulation should start. If everything was done correctly The Vinci software should establish communication with the IEC 60870-5-103 device which you can monitor in the console tab.

image-1643104955874.png