Section 2 SPA application
2.1 SPA communication protocol
IP14614-1 v1
2.1.1 Application
IP14785-1 v1
SEMOD115767-5 v7
SPA communication protocol is an alternative to IEC 60870-5-103, and they use the same rear
communication port.
When communicating with a PC connected to the utility substation LAN via WAN and the utility
office LAN (see Figure 2), and when using the rear optical Ethernet port, the only hardware
required for a station monitoring system is:
• Optical fibers from the IED to the utility substation LAN
• PC connected to the utility office LAN
IED IEDIED
Substation LAN
IEC05000715-4-en.vsd
Remote
monitoring
Utility LAN
WAN
IEC05000715 V4 EN-US
Figure 2: SPA communication structure for a remote monitoring system via a
substation LAN, WAN and utility LAN
SPA communication is mainly used for the Station Monitoring System. It can include different
IEDs with remote communication possibilities. Connection to a PC can be made directly (if the
PC is located in the substation), via a telephone modem through a telephone network with ITU
(former CCITT) characteristics or via a LAN/WAN connection.
glass <1000 m according to optical budget
plastic <25 m (inside cubicle) according to optical budget
Functionality
SEMOD115767-25 v3
The SPA protocol V2.5 is an ASCII-based protocol for serial communication. The
communication is based on a master-slave principle, where the IED is a slave and the PC is the
master. Only one master can be applied on each fiber optic loop. A program is required in the
master computer for interpretation of the SPA-bus codes and for translation of the data that
should be sent to the IED.
For the specification of the SPA protocol V2.5, refer to SPA-bus Communication Protocol V2.5.
1MRK 511 396-UEN E Section 2
SPA application
SPA, 670 series 9
Communication protocol manual
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