Overview
ISO/IEC 30144:2020 - "Internet of things (IoT) - Wireless sensor network system supporting electrical power substation" defines an intelligent wireless sensor network (iWSN) framework for making electrical substations smarter. The standard specifies the iWSN system infrastructure, internal and external communications, and technical requirements needed to reliably acquire, aggregate and process sensor data in substations while enabling interoperability with existing substation systems.
Key topics and technical requirements
- System and communications views: architecture descriptions for subsystems, sensor nodes, gateways and communication interfaces to support iWSN deployment in substations.
- System functional requirements: information acquisition and collection, device management, data analysis, data presentation, alarm/warning and response, network communication, privilege management, and collaborative information processing (decision support).
- Performance requirements: minimum performance considerations for sensor nodes, gateways, and the control subsystem (e.g., reliability, connectivity and QoS-related behaviours as relevant to substation monitoring).
- Compatibility and interfaces: guidance to ensure compatibility with substation automation standards (notably IEC 61850) and use of iWSN interfaces as adaptors for sensors not natively supporting IEC 61850.
- Resilience and deployment considerations: emphasis on scalability, interoperability, and avoiding single points of failure (discusses concepts such as redundancy and architectural choices to improve packet loss and timing behaviour).
- Informative annexes: includes a sensor network reference architecture (linked to ISO/IEC 29182-3) and mapping to IEC 61850 sensor models.
Note: the standard highlights that certain mission‑critical functions (for example, sampled measured values or breaker trip signals) are generally not suitable for wireless transmission due to potential electromagnetic interference; wireless usage is targeted primarily at monitoring, diagnostics and non‑time‑critical control.
Practical applications
- Substation condition monitoring (temperature, vibration, acoustic, partial discharge, environment).
- Distributed asset health diagnostics and predictive maintenance.
- Remote and hard-to-wire sensor deployments where cabling is impractical or costly.
- Data aggregation and edge analytics that feed substation automation and SCADA systems.
- Rapid deployment pilots/supplemental monitoring to extend IEC 61850-based systems.
Who should use this standard
- Substation designers and utilities planning wireless sensing solutions.
- System integrators and OEMs building iWSN sensor nodes, gateways and gateway-to-substation interfaces.
- Standards and compliance teams ensuring IEC 61850 interoperability and secure substation monitoring.
- Grid asset managers, operations engineers, and smart‑grid solution architects.
Related standards and references
For procurement or implementation, obtain ISO/IEC 30144:2020 from the ISO/IEC or IEC webstores to review full normative details and normative references.
