This part of IEC 61850, which is a Technical Report, is intended for an audience familiar with network communication and/or IEC 61850-based systems and particularly for substation protection and control equipment vendors, network equipment vendors and system integrators.

This document focuses on engineering a local area network limited to the requirements of IEC 61850-based substation automation. It outlines the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to network topology, redundancy, clock synchronization, etc. so that the network designer can make educated decisions. In addition, this document outlines possible improvements to both substation automation and networking equipment.