IEC 62439-3 redundancy protocol testing

To support utilities in selecting the correct equipment DNV has set up a functional and performance testing program to verify that the equipment under test meets the typical process bus-based protection requirements.

IEC 61850 introduced process bus-based substation communication that can be used for critical real time applications such as protection and circuit breaker tripping. These applications require 100% availability and seamless recovery of the local area network (LAN) even during a single fault! This can only be achieved using dedicated LAN redundancy technologies. The new Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) and High-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR) protocols (IEC 62439-3) fulfil these requirements.

HSR and PRP have specific requirements for the IEDs and also the Ethernet switches. To support utilities in selecting the correct equipment DNV has set up a functional and performance testing program to verify that the equipment under test meets the typical process bus-based protection requirements.

We recommend that utilities and system integrators only use equipment that has passed these PRP and/or HSR tests. From the vendor’s point of view passing such tests gives a broader market visibility and proof of quality of their product.

Testing approach 
DNV executes the tests accordingly to its internally developed test procedures and supported by highly specific software tools, all aligned to the need of the critical (protection) applications implemented by an IEC 61850 process bus.

Tests can be executed on both Ethernet switches or IEDs. The verified aspects are: network recovery performances, validity of emitted frames (conformity-related), and reception of PRP/HSR double frames. The application data used during testing are GOOSE and Sampled Values messages.

The phases of the test are:

• Preparation and configuration:
  DNV requests the devices to be configured in advance, unless the test is executed together with the manufacturer.
• Test execution:
  A DNV test engineer executes the test procedure in our laboratories, or at the manufacturer’s site.
• Test report:
  The deliverable is a report stating the measured test results of the PRP/HSR device and if the device passed/failed the applicable test procedures.