Custom Product

A power infrastructure project in Saudi Arabia required the rapid deployment of additional 132/33kV substations to support expanding urban development and growing energy demand. As part of the electrical system integration, the customer needed to connect legacy substation controllers to a modern SCADA platform.

The challenge was that the existing controllers only supported IEC 60870-5-101 slave communication, while the SCADA system was built around IEC 60870-5-104 over IP networks. To bridge this compatibility gap, we developed a customized IEC101-to-IEC104 protocol conversion solution directly integrated into the NR500 4G industrial router.

The solution enabled seamless data exchange between legacy field devices and the centralized SCADA infrastructure without requiring hardware replacement of the installed controllers. By leveraging the router as both a secure communication gateway and protocol conversion platform, the customer significantly reduced deployment complexity and infrastructure costs.

Development Challenges

Power utility communication systems require extremely high reliability, deterministic behavior, and protocol accuracy. Compared with conventional protocol forwarding applications, this project involved several technical challenges:

• Real-Time Protocol Translation
  IEC101 operates on serial communication mechanisms, while IEC104 is TCP/IP-based. The gateway needed to perform low-latency bidirectional mapping between serial polling and IP packet communication without affecting SCADA response timing.

• Legacy Device Compatibility
  Different controller vendors often implement protocol variations and non-standard parameter behaviors. Extensive interoperability testing and adaptive protocol handling were required to ensure stable operation.

• High Reliability Under Harsh Conditions
  Substation environments demand continuous operation under unstable power conditions, electromagnetic interference, and remote outdoor installations. The software architecture was optimized for fault tolerance and long-term stability.

• Data Integrity and Event Synchronization
  Maintaining accurate timestamp synchronization, event sequencing, and alarm consistency between IEC101 and IEC104 communication layers was critical for SCADA monitoring accuracy.

• Remote Deployment Flexibility
  Integrating the protocol engine into the industrial 4G router allowed secure remote maintenance, configuration updates, and diagnostics without requiring onsite engineering intervention.

Extensive Experience in Power Utility Protocol Conversion

Beyond IEC101-to-IEC104 conversion, we have extensive experience developing customized protocol conversion and interoperability solutions for the power and industrial automation sectors, including:

• Modbus to DNP3

• Modbus to IEC104

• DNP3 to IEC104

• IEC-61850 Client to DNP3 Server

• IEC-60870-101 / 103 / 104 to IEC-61850

• IEC-60870-101 / 103 / 104 to Modbus

• DLMS to IEC104

• DLMS Master Development

Our expertise covers both legacy serial-based industrial protocols and modern Ethernet-based utility communication systems, enabling utilities and system integrators to modernize infrastructure while preserving existing field equipment investments.