Standards Focus

Ensuring That Substation Components Speak the Same Language Worldwide

"If three manufacturers each make something they call a refrigerator, what this does is help the utility identify a refrigerator, so that you understand what this equipment does, and your other equipment does too," says William Ash of IEEE about IEEE P2030.100™, Recommended Practices For Implementing an IEC 61850 Based Substation Communications, Protection, Monitoring and Control System. (IEC 61850 established communications and control systems for substation automation, monitoring the intake of power and monitoring and controlling that energy as it flows through equipment; IEEE P2030.100 is being developed to lay out the practices for building and implementing the systems specified in IEC 61850.)

But why is there confusion like this in the first place? Ash says it's because similar products develop differently in different parts of the world. "In Europe, it's basically a top-down system. It's all based on what a company like Siemens decides. But in the U.S. we have a requirement for multiple vendors in a system, so that redundancy won’t be from the same manufacturer. And so on around the world."

"Manufacturers claim to comply with the standards, but you integrate pieces of equipment into a substation and you find that they won't talk with each other because the interpretation of that standard varies between vendors," Ash explains. "IEEE P2030.100 helps utilities spec equipment better, so they achieve interoperability. It gives them a common reference point and a base model to work from."

Learn more about IEEE P2030.100™

How the "Smart Grid" Helps Renewable Energy Become a Full Partner in the Grid

Renewable energy sources used to be such a minor part of the overall energy picture that in the case of voltage disturbances, they were required to jump off the grid within two seconds—in effect, to get out of the way and let the big boys sort it out. It's a different story today, with solar and wind becoming significant-sized projects for utilities. As IEEE's William Ash explains, "Not long ago these renewable sources represented less than 5% of the power grid. But California alone has mandated that by 2020, 33% of the total power has to be renewable. Not only is their load a factor in terms of the system, it's also an issue for these power sources themselves, whose load has to go somewhere."

IEEE P1547a™, Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources With Electric Power Systems—Amendment 1, establishes criteria and requirements for the interconnection of distributed resources with electric power systems in this new era where renewable sources under 10 megawatts are a common part of many grids. "Essential to making it all work," says Ash, "is the smart grid."

"We need the smart grid to help with communication and monitoring. We need the flexibility and control it offers to help with integration. That's why we're putting more intelligence into the system and modernizing the grid," Ash says. That level of integration for renewable sources "allows them to become their own microgrid. If the transformer blows, they'll be able to operate in that little area until the grid comes back on."

The draft of P1547a is being completed, and it is expected to go to sponsor ballot shortly.

Learn more about IEEE P1547a™

Adapting Home Networks For the Next Generation of Intensive Data Applications

"You can walk around your house looking for the best WiFi® spot, but why should you have to?" asks Purva Rajkotia of Qualcomm. That's the fundamental issue that IEEE 1905.1™-2013 is meant to address: networking technologies work well enough that we can adapt fairly easily to their minor failings, but ideally they should be adapting to us to provide a truly seamless experience that works all of the time.

IEEE 1905.1 defines an abstraction layer that provides a common interface for the most commonly deployed home networking technologies— Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11™), Powerline (IEEE 1901™), Ethernet (IEEE 802.3™) and Multimedia Over Coax (MoCA). The system itself will choose the technology to route data to as conditions change, ensuring coverage throughout the home and increasing the capacity for delivering data. While the user doesn't see any difference in his or her experience—all he or she sees is that it works.

Rajkotia explains why hybrid networking technology is better than any single technology: "Conditions are different in different parts of the world. In Europe, for instance, Wi-Fi has problems because of the way houses are built—they're very dense. Powerline technology is better there." But hybrid technology also utilizes existing technologies in a way that augments rather than replaces them, while at the same time opening networks to newer, more data-intensive applications such as streaming video in the home.

"It's going to have a huge impact on consumers, in terms of how they use data and where they can use it, at a very low cost," Rajkotia says. "It’s just a software protocol—a few cents of software into any device provides guaranteed throughput. There's a lot of acceptance and very good traction for these products. Major companies are already shipping products. There's a lot of excitement that this is going to drive new revenues and new applications."

Learn more about IEEE 1905.1™-2013

The Smart Grid and the Coming Data Flood

The smart grid will provide utility companies, researchers, regulators and others with unprecedented amounts of data—so much data, in fact, that no one is quite sure how it will all be processed and understood. Devising the algorithms, techniques and policies to make use of this data is a major project now, but there's a hitch—to figure out what you'll do with a large amount of data in the future, you need... a large amount of data now, to experiment with.

As Jinjun Xiong of IBM observes, "The industry is seeing the pain, and there are numerous efforts in the industry trying to address that issue, such as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)'s Energy Data Access Workshop, DOE's Smart Grid Data Access Program, and the White House's Energy Data Initiative. There is, however, a lack of coherence in these efforts to build a common smart energy data repository based on a neutral ground, addressing issues ranging from architecture, security, semantics, categories, and sustainability of such a platform."

The IEEE Standards Association Industry Connections Smart Energy Data Repository project, chaired by Dr. Xiong, will determine the necessary elements and technologies to build a sizable repository of data from active smart grid systems from many different parties, including utilities, academia, vendors, customers, non-profit organizations, and regulatory bodies. Participants will use such a resource to identify standard formats for accessing and transferring data; to develop and test algorithms; and to establish rules and governance structures for making data anonymous to protect consumer privacy and sensitive utility information. What they find out now will be the blueprint for the future of data collection and analysis on the smart grid.

Learn more about the Industry Connections Program

Bringing the IEEE Standards Process to a Globalized Industrial Economy

Development of new technologies is now something happening 24/7 around the globe. IEEE is working to bring its model of collaborative progress to countries with very different industrial histories and modes of organization. Central to that effort is a network of regional support teams, led by individuals who joined IEEE from major players in their home countries. Here are two examples of how the regional support team is making inroads in fast-rising parts of the world, China and India.

Meng Zhao joined IEEE in China at the beginning of 2013 after working with the organization on wireless communications standards at Huawei. She sees obvious advantages to participation personally: "I can work with experts who will give me new ideas and thinking and motivation." China presents a lot of opportunities for growth, with some areas like the smart grid and companies like Huawei very familiar with the advantages of a communal development process, while other areas are not familiar with it at all and are used to working in a top down fashion.

Meng sees three levels to her efforts: strategizing sectors to focus on, inviting and organizing individual participation in standards-related activities, and guidance training for working groups and meetings, to help them utilize the process fully. "The possibilities in China are very big," Meng says. "It’s an exciting part of the world to develop, and this is just the beginning."

Sri Chandra joined IEEE in mid-2012 after a decade of involvement in standards activity at the semiconductor company Freescale. He says this is a key moment for IEEE to make inroads in India. "Traditionally, industry in India has been top down, driven by government or from elsewhere and outsourced to India," he says. "But in the last five or six years there's been a distinct shift to more indigenous R&D along with manufacturing. If our R&D wants to play in the global marketplace, standards are essential. Once you understand how standards work, you can build not just for that region, but for the global market."

He recognizes some major challenges, including concerns about intellectual property between rival firms and the fact that real-world conditions can be very different in India than in, say, western countries. "We have to take into account local conditions, for instance, in the utility field, heat and dust and power quality are serious issues in a way they aren't elsewhere," Sri says. It can also be hard to get Indian offices to join local standardization efforts when the same company may have counterparts in the U.S. or other countries who are already involved. Sri is advocating community workshops to bring companies together even if they're not directly involved in standards development—for now.

Learn more about how you can get involved in IEEE-SA

IEEE Internet of Things (IoT) Workshop to Provide Cross-Industry Collaboration Opportunities and Identify Standardization Gaps

The IEEE Standards Association will host an Internet of Things (IoT) Workshop, 12 April 2013 in Shenzhen, China. The workshop will provide attendees with a means to identify collaboration opportunities and standardization gaps related to IoT. In addition, the workshop will help industry foster continued growth in IoT markets, leverage IEEE's value and platform for IoT industry-wide consensus development and assist with the creation of a vibrant IoT ecosystem.

"From the hand to the home to the office, computing and networking technologies are playing an ever-increasing role as our connected devices become an integral part of our daily lives," said Wael William Diab, vice chair of the IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory Group (CAG), member of IEEE Standards Association Standards Board (SASB), vice chair of the IEEE 802.3™ Ethernet Working Group and senior technical director at Broadcom Corporation. "The IEEE-SA focuses on fostering cross-industry innovation and recognition of IoT technology's value and benefit to industry and humanity, as well as developing essential networking standards such as the IEEE 802® family."

With the expectation that 50 to 100 billion things will be electronically connected by the year 2020, the IEEE-SA has published dozens of standards related to IoT and has several development projects that focus on its future. The IoT will support the means for machine-to-machine communication by electronically connecting the billions of "things" and objects that appear in everyday, globally recognized networks.

Read more about the IEEE-SA Internet of Things Workshop

Register for the IEEE-SA Internet of Things Workshop in Shenzhen, China

Call for Candidates - 2014/2015 IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory Group (CAG)

The Nominations and Appointments Committee (N&A) of the IEEE-SA Board of Governors is soliciting the names of candidates to serve on the 2014/2015 IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory Group (CAG).

CAG Responsibilities:

• Represents corporate member insight and guidance on needs, interest, vision, products, and services provided by the IEEE
• Establish the CAG as the recognized conduit for corporate perspectives
• Serves as advocate for IEEE
• Promotes and advocates new work in the IEEE-SA in all areas of the standards life cycle
• Promotes corporate representation, membership, and entity-based activities
• Facilitates industry feedback on present and proposed methods and tools provided for development of standards and related products
• Provides sponsorship, as appropriate, and sponsorship liaison for entity-based projects
• Advises on direction of IEEE-SA Corporate Program, including budget

Candidates must be interested in managing the development of industry standards and must hold strategic positions at corporations that are at least Basic Entity Members of the IEEE-SA (or that are willing to join).

Learn more about the Corporate Program

View Policies and Procedures related to the CAG

Please contact Mary Lynne Nielsen if you have any questions.