MultiSpeak is a specification that defines standardized interfaces among software applications commonly used by electric utilities, defining details of data that must be exchanged between software applications to support common utility processes. It is funded by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (

NRECA The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) represents the interests of over 900 electric cooperatives in the United States. Cooperatives are not-for-profit and are owned by their membership. Founded in 1942, NRECA unites the cou ...

). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (

NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

) has developed a Smart Grid Conceptual Reference Model as part of its Smart Grid Standards Framework and Roadmap, and has identified 42 standards to support this vision. NIST chose MultiSpeak as a key standard in the Operations area of the NIST Conceptual Model.National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0, NIST Special Publication 1108, January, 2010. The MultiSpeak specification is the most widely applied integration standard in North American distribution utilities. It is currently used in the daily operations of more than 600 electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, municipals, and public power districts in at least 15 countries.MultiSpeak Webpage
accessdate=2021-04-22. Over 80 software vendors have joined the MultiSpeak initiative and contribute their experience to refining the standard. The MultiSpeak standard utilizes three components: * ''Definitions of common data semantics:'' Details of data that is exchanged, documented in

XML schema An XML schema is a description of a type of Extensible Markup Language, XML document, typically expressed in terms of constraints on the structure and content of documents of that type, above and beyond the basic syntactical constraints imposed ...

. * ''Definitions of message structure:'' Message structures supporting data interchanges. Web services calls with specific structures are used for real-time exchanges. * ''Definition of messages required to support specific business process steps:'' Details of the business process steps to accomplish the data.

Comparison between CIM and MultiSpeak

* CIM covers

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

generation A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and gr ...

and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

whereas MultiSpeak is distribution focused. * MultiSpeak is focused to meet the needs of electric cooperatives in the US, while

IEC 61968 IEC 61968 is a series of standards under development that will define standards for information exchanges between electrical distribution systems. These standards are being developed by Working Group 14 of Technical Committee 57 of the IEC (IEC TC ...

/ CIM is focused towards all utilities in the international marketplace. * IEC 61968 is transport independent while MultiSpeak is transport specific.

SOAP Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

messages using

HTTP The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...

sockets connections directly between applications, and file-based transfers are used for transferring data in MultiSpeak. * Both standards use

XML Schema An XML schema is a description of a type of Extensible Markup Language, XML document, typically expressed in terms of constraints on the structure and content of documents of that type, above and beyond the basic syntactical constraints imposed ...

for definition of messages and focus on interfaces between applications, as opposed to data structures internal to applications. * Message headers can be readily mapped between MultiSpeak and IEC 61968 but mapping of message content between the two is more complex.

Harmonization between MultiSpeak and 61968

In June 2008 MultiSpeak and WG14 announced an initiative to establish two sets of standards that will lead towards harmonization of their respective specifications. After completion of the same, this will provide a mapping between MultiSpeak Version 4.0,

IEC 61970 The IEC 61970 series of standards by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) deals with the application program interfaces for energy management systems (EMS). The series provides a set of guidelines and standards to facilitate: * The i ...

Version 13, and

Version 10. Two sets of standard work planned for the same are listed below: * IEC 61968-14-1-3 to 14-1-10 https://www.xtensible.net/wp-content/uploads/CIM-and-MultiSpeak-Interoperability.pdf — Proposed IEC Standards to Map IEC61968 and MultiSpeak Standards. * IEC 61968-14-2-3 to 14-2-10 — Proposed IEC Standards to Create a CIM Profile to Implement MultiSpeak Functionality.

MultiSpeak Versions

* MultiSpeak version 5.0 was first released 2/18/2015. * MultiSpeak version 4.1 was first released 6/30/2010. * MultiSpeak version 3.0 was first released 10/20/2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Multispeak Electric power Smart grid Communications protocols

Comparison between CIM and MultiSpeak

Harmonization between MultiSpeak and 61968

MultiSpeak Versions

See also

References