Besides SCADA data communication, distribution control

centers have additional requirements. It might be necessary to

provide a telephony system for operational purpose or chan

nels for Renewable Energy (e.g. wind farms).

Since MV networks might be restricted to city areas or larger

rural areas, the network design needs to be adapted as per

actual requirements. Accordingly communication networks

providing L2 Ethernet switching or L3 IP routing might be

required. For installation in MV substations extended tempera

ture range and immunity against EMC/EMI is required.

Distances to be overcome are typically in the range of a few

kilometers.

Today’s In-plant applications require enhanced Ethernet

communication functionality. Various services such as CCTV,

public address or access control systems require communica

tion with a central server or operator console.

In-plant communication refers to applications dealing with

security of the infrastructure and recovery to normal operation

after an incident. Therefore high availability of the communica

tion network and high performance features are required.

Some of the In-Plant applications require significant band

width (e.g. CCTV), therefore a proper planning of the network

for the initial and future expansion is needed.

To allow supervision and historical analysis it is necessary to

synchronize end devices (e.g. cameras) from a central time

server.