(1) The required communication interfaces shall be provided at both sending and receiving ends.
(2) All the interfaces shall be provided with audio-visual status indication to indicate its normal operation as per relevant standards.
(3) The standards for interfacing to communication system shall be as specified in Schedule II.
7. Reliability. (1) Total outage period shall be less than sixteen hours on monthly basis each for interface node, wideband node and communication network.
(2) The total outages in a rolling twelve months assessment period shall be less than forty-eight hours.
(3) The communication system shall be designed to ensure adequate redundancy.
8. Design and planning. (1) Communication system shall be planned up to the interface points of the user and the respective control centre including the interfacing communication equipment at the respective location.
(2) Cellular and radio frequency based communication technology shall not be considered for control and protection functions.
(3) Communication system shall be designed as per communication planning criteria for development of reliable communication system for the power system.
(4) Central Transmission Utility or State Transmission Utility while planning shall consider design of the intervening communication system for seamless integration to have wideband network.
(5) User shall ensure centralised monitoring or management of its communication network and shall provide necessary facilities for configuration, identification of fault and generation of various reports on availability of the communication system.
(6) User shall be responsible for planning, design, implementation, secured operation and maintenance of its own communication infrastructure to be interfaced with the communication system.
(7) User, whose system is proposed to be interfaced with the communication system, shall furnish the requisite interface information to the appropriate control centre as specified by them.
(8) Communication equipment installed shall be interoperable, so as to allow seamless integration between different vendors.
(9) Every interfacing with the intervening communication system shall be covered by interface agreement between the parties sharing the communication which shall contain general and specific technical conditions supported by interfacing details and layout drawings for the interfacing.
(10) Network equipment shall be synchronized through provision of global positioning system clock to achieve the desired functionality.
(11) Communication equipment for all the nodes shall be provided with at least ten hours battery backup and extended backup shall be provided depending upon the requirement.
(12) Supply voltage shall be 220/48V Direct Current +15%, 10%. (positive pole earthed).
(13) The minimum guaranteed life for all the wideband communication equipment shall be ten years.
9. Site responsibility schedule. (1) A site responsibility schedule for every interface point shall be prepared by the owner of the communication interface equipment at the interfacing location.
(2) Site responsibility schedule shall include -
(a) schedule of telecommunication interface equipment, their responsibility for access, maintenance and operation;
(b) schedule of auxiliary power supply catering communication equipment;
(c) schedule of patching details (like Synchronous Transport Module (STM) level, E-1 level, 20 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA : EXTRAORDINARY [PART III SEC. 4] Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP level) for channel routing, and numbers of fiber connectivity;
(d) type of connectors required for making the connection through;
(e) specific information provided by the original equipment manufacturer;
(f) site or node common drawings for each interface point; and
(g) responsible person for the site.
(3) If packet technology is used in backhaul network, following additional information shall be included, namely:-
(a) mode of connectivity;
(b) protocol used (Level 2 or Level 3); and
(c) bandwidth provisioning.