IEEE Utility Communications Architecture (UCA) applies mainstream standard Ethernet

Abstract

The Utility Communications Architecture (UCA™) is a standardsbased approach to utility communications which provides for wide scale integration at reduced costs, and which solves many of the most pressing communications problems for today’s utilities. The UCA is designed to apply across all of the functional areas within the electric, gas, and water utilities. These functional areas include customer interface, distribution, transmission power plant, control center, and corporate information systems. The UCA includes detailed object models, which defines the tag, format, representation, and the meaning of utility data. This modeling effort goes far beyond the scope of any other utility communications approach, and provides for an unprecedented level of multi-vendor interoperability applicable in most industries.