ipRoute Use Cases

ipRoute is widely used for coupling IEC 60870-5-101 substations to one or more superordinate control stations with the IEC 60870-5-104 protocol.
Control station and substations are connected via TCP/IP and Ethernet, which means that costly leased lines are no longer necessary for coupling IEC 60870-5-101 substations. And a TCP/IP connection can serve several services and devices at the same time.

ipRoute offers remote configuration and diagnosis from the control station, substantially reducing  the number of journeys to the substation.

ipRoute is capable of delivering data to several control stations simultaneously, numerous projects have proven the advantages of this features (for instance Pfalzwerke).

ipRoute is also used to connect IEC 60870-5-101 based control stations to IEC 60870-5-104 based substations.
This use offers a solution for cases where an obsolete control station needs to communicate with new substation technologies.

Even without the appropriate infrastructure (i.e. control station and substations are connected only via slow leased lines), this combination has proven an effective and efficient solution.

As the different protocols may be combined in any way, even complex architectures can be realized. For a reference see the Iran Gas Project project.

ipRoute can be operated in redundant mode together with a second device. You can use either a serial interface or Ethernet to connect the two devices.
There is always one device which is active, while the other one remains passive. Should the active device fail, the passive one takes over the communication tasks. Which device is to be active can also be specified at the control station.

A CS device is used to connect serial interfaces to both devices.

The combination of ipRoute and ipConvOPC offers a smart solution for connecting visualization systems to IEC 60870-5-101 substations.
With ipRoute, the usually redundant servers can still be simultaneously supplied with data, should there be only one line for each substation.

Communication between server and ipRoute is implemented via IEC 60870-5-104 (TCP/IP). This means your server needs no extra upgrade with serial interfaces (which again might reduce server availability).

Of course,  ipRoute can also be operated in redundant mode, meeting even the highest demands on availability.

ipRoute offers yet another useful function when connecting isolated IEC 60870-5-104 networks.

By using a second ipRoute device, control stations connected via IEC 60870-5-104 can - by means of a media break - be coupled to substations that are also interconnected through IEC 60870-5-104.

The media break is realized over the serial RS232 interface with the protocol IEC 60870-5-101.

This enables the specific and secured transfer of process information between such decoupled networks, avoiding security risks that arise from a direct TCP/IP connection.