I. What Is Power Protocol Conversion?

Many people encounter this puzzle: all equipment in power distribution rooms, substations and station areas — including sensors, electricity meters and protection relays — operate normally and generate data, yet the monitoring platform cannot view, read or control any of the information.
In power systems, hardware performs physical operations, while communication protocols enable data exchange.
Power equipment from different eras and manufacturers uses unique communication languages, which are collectively defined as power protocols. Power protocol conversion acts as a professional translator for power systems: it translates the incompatible “dialects” of disparate power equipment into a unified “standard language” understandable by dispatch master stations, operation & maintenance platforms and monitoring systems, realizing full-station data interconnection, unified data upload and precise remote control.
To put it simply: the power equipment itself functions properly, but different devices cannot communicate with each other. Protocol conversion bridges this communication gap.
With the advancement of new power system construction, legacy equipment and new intelligent devices operate side by side, supported by dozens of parallel protocols including IEC101, IEC104, IEC61850, DL/T645, Modbus, and proprietary protocols of NARI and Inner Mongolia Power. Without professional protocol conversion devices, power data will be locked within individual devices, forming massive data silos and blocking the implementation of grid intelligence, automation and remote operation & maintenance.

II. Why Power Industry Heavily Relies on Protocol Conversion (Core Industry Pain Points)

80% of data docking issues in power renovation, distribution automation, new energy grid connection and power informatization projects stem from inconsistent communication protocols. The industry faces four prevalent challenges:

  1. Large generation gap between legacy and new equipment leading to incompatible protocols

    Traditional station equipment adopts legacy protocols such as IEC101, DL/T645 and Modbus, while new intelligent substations, protection devices, energy storage and photovoltaic equipment adopt the new IEC61850 standard. These two categories of protocols differ completely in message structure, data points and transmission logic, making direct interconnection impossible and resulting in a common dilemma: equipment is online, but data remains inaccessible.

  2. Chaotic protocols across multi-brand equipment drive high docking costs

    A single power distribution system integrates equipment from dozens of manufacturers, including electricity meters, FTUs, DTUs, protection relays, environmental sensors, inverters and UPS units, each with its exclusive communication protocol. The traditional solution of deploying one converter per device leads to excessive hardware stacking, messy wiring, long debugging cycles and inflated project and operation costs.

  3. Inaccurate data mapping causes frequent false and missing alarms

    Power systems demand high precision in data, point correspondence and message timing. Generic protocol converters only perform simple transparent transmission, which triggers issues including misaligned data points, incorrect data scaling, lost remote signal status changes and missing protection event uploads. These defects distort master station data analysis, lead to faulty fault diagnosis and remote control failures, and severely threaten the safe and stable operation of power grids.

  4. Strict power cybersecurity standards make generic devices non-compliant

    The power industry enforces mandatory specifications for communication encryption, message tamper resistance and vertical security isolation. Ordinary industrial gateways only support basic VPN encryption and fail to adapt to power-specific encryption protocols adopted by State Grid, NARI and Inner Mongolia Power. Such devices cannot pass power monitoring system security acceptance tests, leading to project rectification, rework and delivery delays.

III. Core Functions of Mainstream Power Protocols

To fully understand protocol conversion, we first clarify the roles of widely adopted power protocols for different scenarios:
  • IEC101 / IEC104: Core dispatch protocols for communication between substations, power distribution rooms and municipal/county dispatch master stations. They transmit four remote data categories (remote measurement, remote signal, remote control and remote adjustment) and deliver downlink control commands, serving as the foundational standard for distribution automation.
  • IEC61850: Universal communication standard for new digital substations, supporting multi-services including GOOSE, SV and MMS. It delivers high transmission speed and comprehensive data dimensions, primarily deployed in newly built intelligent substations and digital distribution renovation projects.
  • DL/T645: Exclusive protocol for electricity meters, dedicated to collecting metering data such as voltage, current, power, electricity consumption and line loss, widely used in residential and industrial & commercial metering scenarios.
  • Modbus RTU / TCP: Universal industrial protocol extensively adopted by sensors, environmental monitoring equipment, energy storage, photovoltaic inverters and small industrial controllers for data collection.
  • Proprietary Encryption Protocols: NARI NRSEC3000, Inner Mongolia Power encryption, State Grid hardware encryption and other standards for high-standard provincial and municipal power projects to guarantee secure and compliant data transmission.
The core value of power protocol conversion lies in enabling bidirectional interconnection of all above protocols, supporting conversion between legacy and new protocols, generic and power-specific protocols, as well as private and standard power protocols. One single device meets all full-station interconnection demands.

IV. Core Capabilities of Professional Power Protocol Converters

  1. Bidirectional multi-protocol interconnection for one-stop protocol translation

    Supports bidirectional conversion between mainstream power protocols, including Modbus to IEC104, DL/T645 to IEC104, IEC101 to IEC104, and conversion from all types of private protocols to standard power protocols. It simultaneously accesses multi-brand and multi-type power equipment, unifies data formats and data point models, and completely eliminates data silos across devices.

  2. Precise data point mapping to ensure zero distortion of power data

    Unlike generic gateways with simple transparent transmission, professional protocol converters support customized point mapping, data scaling, threshold calibration and status change filtering. They accurately match the four-remote data logic of power systems to guarantee precise remote measurement values, real-time remote signal status, complete protection event records and reliable remote control commands, eliminating data misalignment, missing reports and false alarms.

  3. Edge-side data preprocessing to reduce master station load

    During protocol conversion, edge computing performs data filtering, abnormal value elimination, data aggregation and event sorting. Only valid power data and fault events are uploaded, reducing invalid message flooding and significantly lowering computing power and bandwidth pressure on dispatch master stations, thus improving overall system stability.

  4. Power-grade encrypted transmission to meet industry acceptance standards

    Supports standard VPN encryption plus power-specific hardware encryption, compatible with encryption systems of State Grid, NARI and Inner Mongolia Power. It implements bidirectional message authentication, anti-tampering and anti-eavesdropping functions, complies with power monitoring system security zoning and vertical encrypted transmission requirements, and facilitates smooth project compliance acceptance.

  5. Open and customizable to adapt to personalized project demands

    Power projects feature diverse scenarios and customized requirements. Professional protocol conversion devices are equipped with open operating systems, supporting secondary development, custom scripting and private protocol parsing adaptation. They can be flexibly adjusted to align with grid standards of different provinces and customized protocol requirements of individual projects, suitable for non-standard and customized power renovation projects.

V. Core Application Scenarios of Power Protocol Conversion

  1. Distribution Automation Renovation

    In reconstruction of 10kV switching stations, ring main units and low-voltage station areas, the system uniformly connects FTUs, DTUs, smart electricity meters and environmental monitoring equipment, converts multiple protocols into the standard IEC104 protocol for dispatch master stations, enabling full-station online monitoring of four-remote data, automatic fault reporting and remote control operations.

  2. Digital Upgrade of Legacy Substations

    Resolves compatibility issues between legacy protocols of old substations and the IEC61850 protocol of newly installed intelligent devices, enabling seamless interconnection between old and new systems without full equipment replacement, drastically cutting substation digital renovation costs.

  3. Grid Connection of Distributed Photovoltaic & Energy Storage Systems

    Photovoltaic and energy storage inverters mostly adopt private Modbus protocols. Protocol conversion unifies these signals into standard grid dispatch protocols, enabling observable and measurable generation data, energy storage status and power load, complying with new energy grid connection specifications and dispatch data upload requirements.

    Corresponding architecture: Solar inverters, electricity meters, PLCs and power devices connect to the gateway via RJ45, RS232 or RS485 ports. Downlink protocols including Modbus, DL/T645 and IEC101 are uniformly converted to IEC104, then transmitted back to the power central dispatch platform via 5G/4G or private wired networks.

  4. Environmental Monitoring of Power Equipment Rooms

    Integrates data from temperature & humidity sensors, water leakage detectors, smoke sensors, access control systems, UPS and air conditioning units, and uploads unified protocol data to power operation & maintenance platforms to realize comprehensive integrated monitoring of power distribution environments.

  5. Power Data Upload for Hydropower, Industrial and Mining Self-owned Power Plants

    Self-owned power plants of factories and hydropower stations feature fragmented device protocols. Protocol conversion enables standardized data reporting to satisfy digital requirements for power supervision, energy consumption statistics and safety operation & maintenance.

VI. Implementation Solutions & Summary of Industry Value

The core of power intelligence is not full equipment replacement, but unified data communication, interconnected systems and integrated control.
As a fundamental capability of power IoT, power protocol conversion undertakes key functions including cross-device protocol interconnection, data standardization, secure transmission and precise control. It addresses core pain points such as generation gaps between legacy and new equipment, fragmented multi-brand protocols, distorted data and compliance deficiencies, and connects scattered power devices into a single grid with integrated monitoring, data analysis, dispatch and self-healing capabilities.
To address industry pain points including multi-protocol interconnection, secure encryption, outdoor multi-network transmission and installation in compact cabinet spaces, Alotcer delivers mature integrated power protocol conversion solutions centered on the AR7091F IO industrial gateway as the core edge collection and conversion unit. The gateway fully supports downlink data collection from photovoltaic inverters, smart electricity meters, PLCs and various power terminals, with one-click conversion to the standard IEC104 protocol for master stations. Remote data backhaul is realized via dual-card 5G/4G or backup private wired networks.
The device embeds a full library of power protocols, equipped with multi-channel DI/DO serial ports, Ethernet ports and integrated POE interfaces, eliminating the need for additional collection modules or protocol converters. It also integrates power-specific security mechanisms including State Grid hardware encryption, NARI NRSEC3000 and Inner Mongolia Power encryption systems, paired with an open Linux system supporting Python/C custom protocol parsing scripts. The all-in-one hardware architecture delivers one-stop solutions for protocol conversion, data encryption and remote operation & maintenance across full scenarios including distribution renovation, new energy grid connection and substation environmental monitoring, simplifying on-site deployment and cutting overall project hardware and operation costs.
Against the backdrop of new power system construction, carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, and comprehensive digital transformation of power distribution networks, stable, precise, secure and customizable power protocol conversion has become a mandatory standard for all power informatization projects. Edge gateway-based integrated conversion solutions serve as an indispensable underlying cornerstone for the digital and intelligent upgrade of power grids.
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