Patent ID: 8433451

Claim:
A Substation Automation system comprising: first and second protection Intelligent Electronic Devices that interact with sensors and actuators of a respective first and second bay of a substation of an electric power system, and perform protection functions for the respective first or second bay; a first process interface connected to sensors and actuators of the first bay; a substation automation communication network communicatively connecting the first and second protection IEDs and the first process interface; a third protection IED that interacts with sensors and actuators of a third bay of the substation, and performs a protection function for the third bay; and a second process interface connected to sensors and actuators of the second bay, wherein the first process interface transmits, over the communication network, sensor network messages that include sampled values of process quantities measured by the sensors of the first bay and receives, over the communication network, actuator network messages that include commands directed to the actuators of the first bay, wherein the second protection IED performs a protection function based on a sensor network message transmitted by, and resulting in an actuator network message destined to the first process interface, wherein the second process interface and the third protection IED are communicatively connected to the communication network, and wherein the third IED performs a protection function based on network message transmitted by and destined to the second process interface.