1985   declaration of enumerated types (byte), types are not declared as in the standard

Created: 25 Jul 2025

Status: Triage

Part: Part 90-11 (2020)

Links:

Page: 48

Clause: Table 26 - Mapping of common data classes from IEC

Paragraph: Direction protection activation information (ACD).

Issue

We have identified inconsistencies in the declaration of enumerated types (byte) between IEC 61850-90-11 and the base standard. Specifically, in the context of ACD (Activation Condition Detection), the enumeration used in IEC 61850-90-11 is named direction, whereas the standard IEC 61850 defines it as dir. According to the normative structure, enumerated types should follow the naming and definition conventions set in the base standard to ensure interoperability and semantic alignment. The example from 90-11 shows:
<EnumType id="dir">
<EnumVal ord="0">unknown</EnumVal>
<EnumVal ord="1">forward</EnumVal>
<EnumVal ord="2">backward</EnumVal>
<EnumVal ord="3">both</EnumVal>
</EnumType>

This contradicts the expected use in the standard, where the identifier and structure may differ. Such inconsistencies may lead to implementation issues or misinterpretation across systems and tools.

Proposal

we propose aligning the enumerated type declarations in IEC 61850-90-11 with the definitions used in the base IEC 61850 standard. Specifically:

The enumeration identifier direction used in IEC 61850-90-11 should be renamed to dir, consistent with the base standard definition.

All associated EnumVal values and their ord attributes should also match the standard's structure, ensuring semantic and syntactic consistency.

By adopting the exact naming and definition from the base standard, this will maintain compatibility across implementations, avoid confusion, and ensure that tools and systems relying on these definitions interpret the data correctly. The correction should be applied throughout the document wherever this inconsistency occurs.