IEC61850 and designs for future relays

Increasingly, communications has become a significant component in modern power systems. The recently introduced standard IEC61850, describes the concepts for sub-station communications covering protection, control and metering functions. Not only is this is going to have a major impact on the power systems communications but it will also influence the design of future protection systems. The concepts in the specification will provide guidelines for future developments in the move from traditional systems to the next generations of ´computer´ relays. The big question is; how are relays going to develop in light of IEC61850 and what characteristics will dominate the structure of future protection systems?