Sometimes automation and control needs exceed the standard boilerplate programming available in automation devices such as the SEL-2030 series and similar devices. An industrial
computer based system can be directly programmed in C++ or Visual Basic to do almost anything. I was the first to use an industrial PC with 16 port serial card to gather data from
SEL-251 relays and translate that data into Landis and Gyr 8979 protocol. Special programming was also used to match fault magnitudes and angles with known places on the system as a
much more intelligent fault locating system. A simple fault locator in a relay has no capability of determining which branch a fault is on in a distribution system, especially complex
ones.