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Innovative Technology for Reliable and Secure OT Communications

 

Our Mission

We actively develop and support measures to improve interoperability and cybersecurity in DNP systems by developing technologies and standards, implementing a conformance program, and providing education to the industry.

 

Activities of the Users Group

DNP3 has grown to be the most widely used protocol for electric transmission and distribution communications in North America and other regions of the world, and is a named standard for DER communications. DNP3 is also broadly adopted in adjacent industries such as water / wastewater, transportation and the oil and gas industry. 

The DNP Users Group (DNP-UG) owns and maintains DNP3 and supports our user community and the industry by enhancing and promoting DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol), also known as IEEE Std. 1815TM. Our members include utilities, suppliers, consultants, and individuals (including students). Many of our initiatives support greater interoperability between supplier’s products and systems and/or enhance cyber security. On-going refinements also add new features and time-saving capabilities which are then included in the next update of IEEE 1815. Our growing library of Standards, Application Notes, Guides, Security Notices, and Technical Bulletins provide essential information for our members. The leadership team and technical team members provide periodic educational opportunities including tutorials, white papers, and conference presentations. Our Conformance Certification Program manages the Conformance Test Review process and publishes conformance certificates which are publicly posted. The DNP-UG is governed by our Board of Directors in accordance with our bylaws. The technical teams are involved with four different groups as follows:

  • Technical Committee
  • Cybersecurity Task Force
  • Test Management Committee
  • Test Procedure Committee.

 

Recent and current developments include new:

  • Update to the IEEE Std. 1815TM standard.
  • DER communications standard – IEEE 1815.2TM (draft) – joint effort with MESA.
  • Secure Authentication v6 (SAv6).
  • Authorization Management Protocol (AMP).
  • Test procedures.
  • Device profile guide.
  • Expanded Conformance Certification Program (CCP).

 

Membership in the Users Group

Join us! To participate and receive DNP-UG member benefits and services including the latest documents and updates, utilities and vendors are required to join and remain members. For more information go to dnp.org or email our team at admin@dnp.org  

 

DNP Users Group content including, postings, documents and presentations that refer to IEEE or IEEE standards, solely represent the views of the DNP-UG and do not necessarily represent a position of either IEEE, IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA), the IEEE Power System Communications and Cybersecurity Standards Committee, or the applicable IEEE Working Groups.

 

The DNP Users Group is a California nonprofit mutual benefit Corporation, operating pursuant to United States IRS code 501(c)(6).

Announcements

Approval and Release of DNP3 (IEEE Std 1815TM) IED Certification Procedures Version 3.1

The DNP Users Group (DNP-UG) is pleased to announce the official release of Version 3.1 of our IED Certification Procedures.  For a bit of history, Version 2.8 was released in 2016. Version 3.0 (2021) was a significant update from our previous Version 2.8 and was made available to members on our website.  The Users Group voted to approve Version 3.0 in March 2022.  However, the leadership decided to wait for Version 3.1 to announce the official release that includes scheduled deprecation of the previous version(s).

Both documents represent a very large effort by our dedicated teams on the Test Procedures Committee (TPC) and the Technical Committee (TC). The directors of the DNP-UG would like to sincerely thank all those involved in these developments.

Version 3.0

On March 27, 2022, the UG completed a vote approving adoption of the Version 3.0 procedures. The UG vote was held due to the impact on previously tested devices.  UG bylaws require an all-member vote in cases where reverse compatibility is impacted.  The outcome of the vote was unanimous on all but the 3rd question (one negative vote).  The document explaining the changes and outlining the vote questions is available to members here.

Version 3.0 is a major update that adds testing for Subset Level 3; adds new tests for Subset Level 1 and 2; modifies, clarifies and simplifies existing tests for Subset Levels 1 and 2, and adds the requirement for the XML device profile.

The Version 3.0 procedures are for the use of current members of the UG and are available at this link. Note however the Version 3.0 will be deprecated according to the policy stated below.

Version 3.1

On May 11, 2022, the UG Technical Committee voted to approve the Version 3.1 procedures.  No UG vote will be held as there is no impact to previously tested devices. Version 3.1 builds on Version 3.0 and adds new tests for IP connections and output events.

The Version 3.1 procedures are for the use of current members of the UG and are available at this link.

Technical Committee Policy on Test Procedures Expiry

The DNP-UG has defined a policy guiding the use and deprecation of previous versions of our test procedures.  The “Conformance Test Review Policy for Test Procedure versions” states the following: “Any test procedures that were retracted by the DNP Technical Committee, or that have been superseded by a more recent version of the same procedure for more than six (6) months, or twelve (12) months if it’s the last version preceding a major update, will not be usable for conformance test review.”  The full policy is available here.

Following this policy, 12 months after this official notice, all versions of the IED Certification Procedures prior to Version 3.1 will be retracted and no longer valid.

DNP-UG IP Protection

The Test Procedures and all documents and specifications developed by the DNP-UG are owned and copyright protected by the DNP-UG (all rights reserved).  Many of these documents, including all test procedures are only for the use of current members of the DNP-UG.

DNP-UG Conformance Certification Program

The Directors of the DNP-UG highly recommend that vendors periodically submit a product to our Conformance Certification Program.  This should occur at least once every five years, when new products are developed and/or when new test procedures are adopted, whichever is occur first. Successful completion on our Conformance Test Review (CTR) process results in a Conformance Certificate being issued to the vendor and posted on our website.  For more information please contact: conformancetesting@dnp.org

 

Note:

This announcement includes links to four different documents.  If you have trouble accessing the documents and require assistance, please reach out to admin@dnp.org

 

 

DNP Users Group at DistribuTECH 2022 DNP Users Group at DistribuTECH 2023
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