intelligent electronic device (IED)

Any of the remote controller units that function as part of the utility network and which can be managed in the smart grid. Capacitor banks, reclosers, and switches are types of IEDs. Transformers are typically not IEDs because they are not intelligent devices.

Itron smart grid infrastructure devices, such as Bridges, communicate with IEDs.

Utility companies also refer to IEDs as devices, Field Device Controller (FDC), programmable communicating thermostat (PCT), Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) device, or remote terminal unit (RTU), which, unlike an IED, is not typically an intelligent device.