A New IEEE 1588 Based Technology for Realizing the Sampled Values Synchronization on the Substation Process Bus

The IEEE 1588 standard used for the accurate clock synchronization protocol for networked measurement and control systems is discussed. Compared with the currently widely used network time protocol (NTP), the particularity of the accurate clock synchronization protocol is pointed out. According to the requirement for highly accurate synchronization of the sampled values on the process bus defined in IEC 61850, a novel scheme based on the merging unit synchronization of IEEE 1588 is proposed. In this scheme, the field programmable gate array is used for the accurate determination of the timestamp generating point of the IEEE 1588 synchronous message with the microcontroller used to realize the IEEE 1588 synchronization protocol.