Formats and drivers
What ProtectionAI reads, writesand talks to
Files and formats first, because that is what actually moves between tools today. The driver layer and the AI provider link are described honestly, including what does not exist.
The premise
Integration by file format, not by promise
Protection data already moves as files. ProtectionAI is built to accept those files and hand back files you can use elsewhere.
There is no ProtectionAI server, no connector catalogue and no middleware. Interoperability means the application reads the formats your existing tools produce, and writes formats other tools and people can consume. That is a smaller claim than an integration platform and a considerably more reliable one.
The table below is the whole picture. If a format is not in it, ProtectionAI does not handle it today.
The whole list
Formats, direction, status
Direction is stated from ProtectionAI's point of view: in means imported, out means exported.
| Format or path | Direction | Status |
|---|---|---|
| OMICRON XRIO parameter file | In | Implemented — imported into the normalised settings model |
| OMICRON RIO parameter file | In | Implemented — imported into the normalised settings model |
| IEC 61850 SCL (SCD, ICD, CID) | In | Implemented — IEDs, datasets and control blocks read |
| COMTRADE (IEEE C37.111) | In and out | Implemented — read, plotted, played back to the simulator; written for simulator captures |
| JSON test templates and test plans | In and out | Implemented — open, readable, diffable, executed by the test runner |
| CSV results | Out | Implemented |
| Word (.docx) report | Out | Implemented — branded with your logo |
| Excel (.xlsx) report | Out | Implemented — branded with your logo |
| PDF report | Out | Implemented — branded with your logo |
| PDF relay manuals for copilot retrieval | In | Implemented — ingested and searched locally |
| Document attachments against an asset | In | Implemented — stored in the local database |
| Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI/Grok or Google/Gemini API | Out (optional) | Implemented — only if you configure a key, only to the provider you chose |
| Vendor test-set control | Out | Bounded OMICRON CM Engine adapter (discovery, lock, static phasors, output control, software ramps) with no physical-CMC HIL qualification; a generic SCPI-1999 source with no trip sensing; other vendors are stubs that refuse to connect |
| IEC 61850 GOOSE and Sampled Values on a physical network interface | In and out | Implemented — named-NIC SharpPcap/Npcap transport with no silent fallback; separately installed licensed Npcap and live-site qualification required |
| Native vendor settings files (SEL ASCII, DIGSI 5 XML, CSV/TXT) | In | Implemented — chosen by content sniff, previewed as mapped or unmapped; GE, ABB PCM600, MiCOM S1, Beckwith and Basler remain roadmap |
| PL4 (ATP and EMTP) and CSV waveform playback | In | Roadmap |
| SCADA, EAM or historian systems | Out | File hand-off only — .ics calendar, CMMS-import CSV (generic, Maximo, SAP PM layouts) and a mailto draft; no vendor API connections, no stored credentials |
Settings and templates
Getting your relay data in
- One settings model
- XRIO and RIO imports both resolve into the same normalised settings model, which is what every test module reads. A curve type imported from a parameter file and one typed by hand are indistinguishable to the modules downstream.
- Open JSON templates
- Test plans and templates are plain JSON. You can read them, review them in a pull request, keep them in your own version control and diff two revisions without the application. Nothing is locked in an opaque container.
- Template generation
- The copilot can draft a first template from an imported settings file or an ingested relay manual, and a deterministic Plan Generator builds a draft plan from the active settings model, writing a note for anything it cannot express. The 87T and quadrilateral-distance modules derive expected values from imported settings; extending that binding to every module is roadmap.
- Native settings files
- Native SEL ASCII, DIGSI 5 XML and generic name/value CSV/TXT importers ship, chosen by sniffing the file content rather than trusting its extension; proprietary binary containers are refused rather than misread. GE, ABB PCM600, MiCOM S1, Beckwith and Basler importers are on the roadmap.
IEC 61850
Configuration in, explicit loopback or physical transport
- SCL import
- Import an SCD, ICD or CID file to read the substation's declared IEDs, datasets and control blocks. This is the reference the GOOSE and Sampled Values tooling works against.
- GOOSE and Sampled Values
- Encode, publish and monitor GOOSE, and publish IEC 61850-9-2LE streams, on deterministic loopback or a selected SharpPcap/Npcap interface. Live use remains conditional on the packet runtime, permissions and site validation.
- The hard limit
- Physical-interface capture and injection are implemented, but that transport result is not live IED, process-bus or timing qualification. Merging-unit system testing, subscription-bound virtual binary I/O, and Sim and Test-flag virtual isolation remain roadmap work.
The driver layer
A hardware abstraction with one qualified driver
The interesting part of this section is what it does not yet do.
ProtectionAI has a driver abstraction between the test modules and whatever produces the signals: a channel model, contracts for ramps and multi-state sequences, and a playback contract for COMTRADE records. Modules are written against that interface, not against an instrument. That is the architecture required to drive more than one vendor's test set from one application, and it is built and exercised.
The built-in simulator is the only fully qualified implementation. The shipping build adds a bounded, late-bound OMICRON CM Engine path for discovery, locking, static phasors, output control and software-paced ramps; it drives the customer's own installed and licensed CM Engine software and still lacks physical-CMC HIL qualification. A generic SCPI-1999 source driver speaks to a programmable AC source over TCP — analogue sourcing only, with no binary sensing and therefore no trip detection, and every operation that would depend on one refuses with a stated reason. Doble, Megger, ISA/Altanova and EuroSMC remain documented stubs that refuse to connect. If your evaluation depends on a physical instrument, require a witnessed hardware acceptance test.
The practical consequence is that the simulator is the production-qualified execution path. The bounded OMICRON adapter is an evaluation path that requires a witnessed hardware acceptance test before field reliance; it is not yet a replacement for the vendor's qualified test-set software.
Not yet shipping
Integration roadmap
Listed because it explains where the architecture is pointed, not because it can be relied upon.
On the roadmap
The items below are planned and in active development. They are not shipping today, and nothing on this site should be read as claiming otherwise.
-
Vendor qualification and additional drivers
Physical-CMC qualification plus native segment/synchronized sequencing, waveform playback and measurement readback for the implemented bounded OMICRON CM Engine adapter, followed by Doble F6-series, Megger SMRT and FREJA, ISA and Altanova DRTS, and SMC and EuroSMC integrations.
-
Live-network IEC 61850 qualification
Qualify the implemented SharpPcap/Npcap capture-and-injection path against isolated NIC/IED hardware, then add subscription-based virtual binary I/O and Sim and Test-flag aware workflows.
-
External waveform sources
PL4 (ATP and EMTP) and generic CSV waveform import. Network-model-driven testing itself ships, against ProtectionAI's own network model; what is missing is the route in from a third-party EMT study.
-
Native settings importers
Direct import of the remaining manufacturer settings formats — GE, ABB PCM600, MiCOM S1, Beckwith and Basler. SEL ASCII, DIGSI 5 XML and generic CSV/TXT import already ship.
-
Enterprise systems
Live EAM or maintenance-system connectivity is acknowledged as a direction but is not a near-term commitment. What ships is file-based hand-off — an .ics calendar, CMMS-import CSV and a mailto draft — with no vendor API connection and no stored credentials.
AI provider
You bring the key; the software brings the tools
The copilot is not a GridAPM-hosted service. You configure an API key for Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI/Grok or Google/Gemini, whichever provider your organisation has already assessed and contracted, and ProtectionAI calls that provider directly from your machine. The key is encrypted at rest with Windows DPAPI, and it is used only against the provider you configured.
This is deliberate. It means the commercial relationship, the data-processing terms and the model choice stay yours; there is no GridAPM inference endpoint in the path, and there is no second processor to add to your review. It also means the copilot has a prerequisite: no key, no copilot. Everything the copilot does is available manually, so an installation with no AI configured is a complete relay-testing installation.
Details of what is sent, and when, are on the security page.
Be clear about absence
What does not integrate
There is no live integration with SCADA, with an EAM or maintenance-management system such as Maximo or SAP, with a historian, or with short-circuit study tools. An Integrations module hands work off as files — an .ics calendar, CMMS-import CSV in generic, Maximo or SAP PM column layouts, and a pre-filled mailto draft — but nothing subscribes to a real-time data source, nothing pushes work orders anywhere, and no credentials are stored. Live connectivity is not on the near-term roadmap, and we would rather say so than leave it implied by a diagram.
There is also no cloud or web component: no portal, no shared workspace, no server-side database. The data lives in a local SQLite file on the machine that ran the test, and it moves by the exported formats listed in the table above.
Related
Where to look next
The other GridAPM product
GridAPM also builds AgenticGrid Pro
AgenticGrid Pro
A local-first transformer APM workbench: diagnostic evidence in, an engineer-signed work package out.
Try it for seven days and check the claims yourself
Install ProtectionAI on a Windows machine, import your own XRIO or RIO settings, run the plans you would really run against the built-in simulator and export a report on your own letterhead. No key is needed for the trial, and no internet connection is needed to run it. When you want a per-computer licence, email sales@gridapm.com.