The BMWk “i‑Autonomous” project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, set out to create a fully standardized protection and automation system for medium‑ and low‑voltage local network stations. The goal was to combine protection functions and automation functions in a single, cost‑effective hardware platform, thereby reducing the high costs that currently hinder widespread deployment of remote‑controlled substations. Existing projects such as i‑Protect, i‑Automate, i3S and iNES had demonstrated the feasibility of integrated solutions, but none had focused on a fully standardized integration of protection and automation for local stations. The i‑Autonomous effort therefore aimed to fill this gap by developing a modular architecture that could be adopted by utilities and equipment manufacturers alike.

At the technical level, the team designed a modular architecture that supports the essential protection functions—over‑current, over‑voltage, under‑voltage, and fault detection—alongside key automation tasks such as remote switching, status monitoring, and communication with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. The hardware was engineered to meet the stringent reliability and safety requirements of the German grid, while the software stack was built around open standards and a clear interface specification. The design process included extensive use of a real‑time simulation environment and a dedicated SCADE‑based model‑in‑the‑loop workflow. This allowed the developers to validate the logic of protection and automation functions under a wide range of fault and operating scenarios before any hardware was produced.

A critical part of the project was the validation of the integrated system. The team performed a series of laboratory tests that covered all relevant fault conditions, including short‑circuit, phase loss, and over‑voltage events. The tests demonstrated that the combined system could detect and isolate faults within the required time limits, while the automation logic could still execute its control sequences without interference. In addition, the system’s communication stack was verified against the IEC 61850 standard, ensuring that the substation could exchange data with the wider grid management system. The validation also included a full functional test of the remote‑control interface, confirming that operators could safely and reliably command switching operations from a central control room.

The project’s final deliverable was a prototype that was installed in a real substation operated by the German utility Westnetz. The prototype was subjected to a full commissioning cycle, during which the protection and automation functions were exercised under live grid conditions. The commissioning confirmed that the system met all performance and safety requirements, and that the standardized interface simplified the integration of the hardware into the existing substation infrastructure. The prototype’s success was a key milestone, demonstrating that a standardized, integrated protection and automation solution is feasible for medium‑ and low‑voltage stations.

The i‑Autonomous effort was carried out by a consortium of three partners. The University of Stuttgart, represented by the Institute of Electrical Engineering, was responsible for the overall system architecture, the development of the protection and automation logic, and the creation of the SCADE‑based model‑in‑the‑loop environment. The University of Kassel, through its Institute of Electrical Engineering, focused on the hardware design and the integration of the protection and automation functions into a single platform. Westnetz, the German utility, provided the real‑world test environment, supplied the necessary grid data, and performed the final commissioning and validation of the prototype. The collaboration between academia and industry ensured that the system was both technically robust and practically deployable, paving the way for future standardization of local network stations across Germany and beyond.