About SCADA Protocols
Practical SCADA protocol guides and free online tools for DNP3, IEC 60870, Modbus, and IEC 61850.
SCADA Protocols was built to answer a simple question: “Where do I find a clear, no-BS reference for this frame format I just captured?” After years of digging through 300-page IEC PDFs, chasing vendor conformance docs, and debugging 3 a.m. comms faults in substations, it was time to collect everything in one place.
The site is written and maintained by Zakaria El Intissar, a senior power systems / industrial automation engineer specializing in substation control, teleprotection, and OT cybersecurity (IEC 62443, NERC CIP). Content is updated regularly as new protocol conformance tests are run and new tools are required in the field.
Engineer-to-engineer
Every article is written by a working power systems engineer with 12+ years of hands-on substation automation, RTU configuration, and protocol conformance testing experience.
No-fluff references
No listicles, no clickbait. Just message structures, ASDU tables, port numbers, troubleshooting checklists, and production-ready decoder tools.
Field-validated
Guides are tested against real RTUs, PLCs, and SCADA masters — from Siemens SICAM and ABB MicroSCADA to open-source stacks like OpenDNP3 and lib60870.
What’s covered
- Telecontrol / SCADA protocols: DNP3 (IEEE 1815), IEC 60870-5-101, IEC 60870-5-104, ICCP/TASE.2
- Substation automation: IEC 61850 (GOOSE, Sampled Values, MMS, SCL), IEC 61158 (Fieldbus)
- Industrial / process protocols: Modbus (RTU, TCP, ASCII), Ethernet/IP (CIP), Profibus DP/PA, Profinet, EtherCAT
- OT/IIoT protocols: OPC UA, MQTT (including MQTT 5, Sparkplug B)
- Industrial cybersecurity: IEC 62443 (SL, FRs, CSMS), ISO 27001, NERC CIP, MITRE ATT&CK for ICS, network segmentation, defense-in-depth
- Network reliability: PRP, HSR, MRP, DLR, BRP (Beacon Redundancy Protocol), PTP (IEEE 1588 / IEC 61850-9-3)
For corrections, guest post proposals, or to request a new protocol guide or decoder tool, reach out via the contact links in the site footer.
© 2026 SCADA Protocols. All references are based on publicly available standard documents and field experience. Vendor product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
Start exploring
Browse 300+ technical articles or open a free online frame decoder.