7 DATA PROTOCOLS
The products supports a wide range of protocols to make them applicable to many industries and applications.
The exact data pr
otocols supported by a particular product depend on its chosen application, but the following
table gives a list of the data protocols that are typically available.
SCADA data protocols
Data Protocol Layer 1 protocol Description
Courier K-Bus, RS232, RS485, Ethernet Standard for SCADA communications developed by General Electric.
MODBUS RS485 Standard for SCADA communications developed by Modicon.
IEC 60870-5-103 RS485 IEC standard for SCADA communications
DNP 3.0 RS485, Ethernet
Standard for SCADA communications developed by Harris. Used mainly in
Nor
th America.
IEC 61850 Ethernet IEC standard for substation automation. Facilitates interoperability.
The relationship of these protocols to the lower level physical layer protocols are as follows:
Data Protocols
IEC 60870-5-103
MODBUS
IEC 61850
DNP3.0 DNP3.0
Courier Courier
Courier Courier
Data Link Layer EIA(RS)485 Ethernet EIA(RS)232 K-Bus
Physical Layer Copper or Optical Fibre
7.1 COURIER
This section should provide sufficient detail to enable understanding of the Courier protocol at a level required by
most user
s. For situations where the level of information contained in this manual is insufficient, further
publications (R6511 and R6512) containing in-depth details about the protocol and its use, are available on
request.
Courier is an General Electric proprietary communication protocol. Courier uses a standard set of commands to
access a database of settings and data in the IED. This allows a master to communicate with a number of slave
devices. The application-specific elements are contained in the database rather than in the commands used to
interrogate it, meaning that the master station does not need to be preconfigured. Courier also provides a
sequence of event (SOE) and disturbance record extraction mechanism.
7.1.1 PHYSICAL CONNECTION AND LINK LAYER
Courier can be used with three physical layer protocols: K-Bus, EIA(RS)232 or EIA(RS)485.
Sev
eral connection options are available for Courier
● The front serial RS232 port (for connection to Settings application software on, for example, a laptop
● Rear Port 1 (RP1) - for permanent SCADA connection via RS485 or K-Bus
● Optional fibre port (RP1 in slot A) - for permanent SCADA connection via optical fibre
● Optional Rear Port 2 (RP2) - for permanent SCADA connection via RS485, K-Bus, or RS232
For either of the rear ports, both the IED address and baud rate can be selected using the front panel menu or by
the settings application software.
P54A/B/C/E Chapter 17 - Communications
P54xMED-TM-EN-1 379
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