Open-source IEC 61850 Process Bus engineering lab
Generate real Sampled Values (SV) traffic, explore PTP synchronization, and experiment with digital-substation signals using ARStack Studio and an ESP32-P4 Ethernet board.
Download the latest stable release · Getting started · Product website · Get help
| Explore | With ARStack |
|---|---|
| Generate Sampled Values | Publish 4 current + 4 voltage channels over real Ethernet at 4,000 SV frames/s. |
| Experiment with PTP | Run an internal laboratory grandmaster emulator with hardware-assisted phase synchronization. |
| Control waveforms | Set current, voltage and phase values in the ARStack Studio desktop interface. |
| Inspect live traffic | Capture SV and PTP using Studio, Wireshark, ARSAS or DigSubAnalyzer. |
| Learn with engineering files | Open SCL files and deploy supported 4I+4V publisher profiles. |
M3.H stable lab release (24 October 2026): an independent capture measured 163,048 consecutive SV frames at 3,999.884 frames/s, with no missing, duplicate or malformed SV packets and smpSynch=2 throughout the recorded interval. View the full measurements.
Screenshot captured directly from the Windows Qt application by the native GUI test.
- Download ARStack Studio for Windows x64 (Setup EXE or Portable ZIP).
- Open Studio and try the built-in 4I+4V Quick Start profile. You can explore the interface before connecting hardware.
- To transmit real Ethernet frames, connect a compatible ESP32-P4 Ethernet board over USB and Ethernet. Use Configuration → Firmware to install the firmware bundled with the same release.
- Choose PTP SOURCE, set SMPSYNCH AUTO, configure voltage/current waveforms, and press Start.
- View the output using Studio capture or Wireshark (
0x88BAfor SV,0x88F7for PTP).
Full first-run guide → · Installation on Windows and Linux
For active SV/PTP transmission, use an isolated laboratory Ethernet network, not an operating substation process bus.
| Package | Availability |
|---|---|
| Windows Setup EXE | Available in the latest release |
| Windows Portable ZIP | Available in the latest release |
| Matched ESP32-P4 firmware | Available with the same release |
| Linux AppImage | Shown in the latest release when a tested package is published |
Every published Windows release includes the application dependencies and a matched firmware package; no C++ build environment is required for ordinary installation.
ARStack is built to make IEC 61850 experiments more accessible to engineers, students and automation enthusiasts around the world.
- Ask a question or report a problem — share what you tried and what happened.
- Share an interoperability experiment — independent lab experiences help improve the project; browse community reports.
- SCL import help — a practical path when imported SV fields do not appear.
- Contribute — improvements to documentation, software, tests and examples are welcome.
ARStack uses the GPL-3.0 license. It is a laboratory simulation and engineering tool, not a certified primary measurement or UTC reference device.
Want to explore the protocol engine or build from source? Start with the developer documentation index.
The source tree includes a portable C++20 IEC 61850 protocol engine, SCL/COMTRADE tooling, MMS and GOOSE foundations, ESP32-P4 firmware and reproducible tests. Capabilities vary by application and release; the feature matrix separates released tools from libraries and development features.