IEC Client and Server Simulator

Transcription

1 Smart grid management software, ready for the digital utility IEC Client and Server Simulator Introduction The Xelas Energy Client and Server simulators are very popular and powerful tools for the development, testing and validation of IEC applications. The general architecture of the Xelas Energy products allows for almost immediate interconnectivity with existing systems (network equipment and management applications). The Xelas Energy portfolio includes the most important components necessary to build full management solutions: a client development toolkit, an embedded development toolkit, client and server simulators, a compliance test suite and network data integration framework (for a more detailed overview, see page 09). These products implement all standards-defined features of the IEC protocols. They include tools and methodologies that allow engineers and developers to rapidly build reliable and powerful applications, by hiding many of the IEC protocol and information model knowledge details. Table of contents Introduction... 1 Xelas Energy IEC Simulators... 2 Generic simulator capabilities... 2 Scripting environment... 4 ACSI layer implementation... 4 Web GUI... 5 SCL support... 5 Simulator functions for GOOSE and SV... 6 Simulating device behavior... 7 pag. 1

2 Xelas Energy IEC Simulators The Xelas Energy portfolio includes dedicated Client and Server simulators. They provide comprehensive simulation of IEC systems and include mechanisms to simulate actual behavior. The Xelas Energy simulators can be used to test/simulate any commercial compliant product. The Xelas Energy Simulators are closely integrated with the Xelas Energy development environments. In particular they share a common GUI interface. This results in many productivity advantages for developers. The simulators demonstrate the flexibility and possibilities of the Xelas Energy Development environments. The Xelas Energy Client Simulator is a lean implementation of the Xelas Energy client toolkit. The Xelas Energy client toolkit is an out of the box generic client system that is customizable through configuration, scripting or API development. Details are available in the Xelas Energy client toolkit datasheet. The Xelas Energy Server Simulator is based on the Xelas Energy embedded development toolkit, ported to Windows and Linux platforms, with the capability of fully simulating server IEDs. The flexible distributed system architecture and scalability of the toolkits are exploited in both simulator implementations. Generic simulator capabilities The simulators communicate using all IEC protocols. The majority of development test cases involve client/server communication over MMS. However there are also GOOSE and SV developments and equipment tests that require GOOSE and SV simulated messages. (GOOSE and SV are mainly used server-to-server, but Xelas Energy client systems can act in the subscriber role for these messages). Multiple client and server simulators can be started on a single system. Each simulator is identified using unique selectors but has the same NSAP (IP Address). Each simulator instance can be configured to use a different SCL file (or IED-specific parts of a large SCL file), and starts in its own self-contained directory structure. The simulators are integrated with the overall Xelas Energy process management and multi-platform configuration support features. 2

3 This means that a single system may be used to simulate multiple IEDs (for example a complete substation) using multiple client and server simulator process instances - one process instance per IED. Importing SCL files. o Most of the configuration of the simulator is achieved by simply loading the SCL files of the system (one or multiple IEDs) that needs to be simulated. The SCL files are translated into database schemas in the RDBM for client simulators or loaded dynamically to build a memory database for server simulators. (This is explained in more detail in our client toolkit and embedded development toolkit datasheets). Various models can be defined in the SCL file. Examples include: o IEC /3/4 (Substation Automation) o IEC (Wind Power energy) o IEC61850-Part Hydroelectric power plants (HYDRO) o IEC61850-Part Distributed Energy Resources (DER) The simulator automatically captures changes to the data (simulation is near to real time) The simulator can issue and respond to all IEC requests (configured by the user using commands or scripts). The simulator can receive and submit reports and update logs as configured in the SCL file. The simulator acts completely like a real device. Device behavior can be described specifically (see below). 3

4 Figure 1. High Level Architecture of a Client Simulator Scripting environment The Xelas Energy Simulators can be operated in a command mode and also in an elegant, interactive, script driven mode. Various operations are provided as sample scripts built into the product. These scripts can be edited and modified by end users. A script can be used to perform a specific set of protocol commands/interactions. This makes it less necessary for developers/engineers/users to know the precise details of the commands. This is also described in more detail in the Xelas Energy client toolkit datasheet. Xelas Energy has developed a full IEC compliance test suite that allows for highly automated testing of the IEC standard defined functions. This test suite is available as a separate product (refer to dedicated data sheet) and includes the complete set of tests needed for product certification. ACSI layer implementation Xelas Energy has developed a rich ACSI layer that is exploited in all products, to encapsulate the protocols and make the development and use of communication easier and less error-prone. ACSI commands can also be grouped and bundled, to create standard building 4

5 blocks for interaction. This feature may also be used for precise configuration of the simulators. Web GUI The simulators include the advanced Xelas Energy Web GUI. This GUI can manage all other Xelas Energy system components (development toolkits, conformance test suite etc.,) through a single interface. This Client Web GUI provides additional value for developers and end users. Complex data structures and large quantities of data can be understood, overseen and managed more easily via this graphical interface. A number of valuable system functions are made available by the GUI e.g. role-based access and password-based authentication. The Xelas Energy simulators can model complex behaviors, including interactions with databases and prototyping GUIs. In this way they can approximate complete implementations of real IEC servers or clients, removing the need for expensive equipment onsite in development projects. The user simply selects the PICS items that are to be supported (described in user guide) without the need for a development API. SCL support The Xelas Energy simulators are delivered with a sample SCL file (IEDSIM.scl) which also works with the Xelas Energy toolkits and test suite. This sample SCL contains all IEC elements such as: Logical Devices Logical Nodes Data objects and attributes Datasets Setting Group Control Block GOOSE Control Blocks Sampled Values Control Block Reporting Control block Log Control block The last two features (Reporting Control Block and Log Control Block) enable the easy selection and grouping of the required test operations and simulation scenarios. Scenarios may be crafted and captured for repeatable formal testing. 5

6 Figure 2. High Level Architecture of the Server Simulator The dynamic update feature of the server simulator uses the following steps: When a file IEDSIM.scl.dyn is detected (for example by IEC file upload), the presence of this file triggers a reload of the SCL information model into memory. The ACSI Server Simulator binary reads the file and uses it to specify: o Which data values are simulated o Any corresponding values o The format for the data reference - must be ACSI-compliant as described in IEC standard. o The services which are configured to be rejected Triggered changes are propagated to the SCL object model (and may cause reports, logs or GOOSE events depending on the configuration of the SCL model) Simulator functions for GOOSE and SV The Xelas Energy simulators are built to simulate all IEC functions. Settings for SV and GOOSE can be configured by MMS commands and also by back-end (local set-on- simulator) methods. The simulators can send/receive GOOSE and SV messages and also act upon them. Messages with changing values can be sent at high speeds. Value ranges and message speeds can be configured according to customer requirements. To correctly act on a GOOSE message, servers (and server simulators) need to understand the information model of relevant peer systems. This implies that they have to be loaded with this SCL information beforehand. 6

7 GOOSE and SV communication between servers runs over ethernet. The IEC standards require this to be an external ethernet switch. Although many Xelas Energy simulator instances can be run on the same system, proper simulation of GOOSE and SV functions requires multiple hardware systems. Simulating device behavior Xelas Energy server simulators provide additional features to describe the actual behavior of devices (IEDs), and make the simulator behave accordingly. This is achieved by using a rules engine and set of rules, describing IED behavior as it is defined in the IEC standards. These rules can be adapted or extended by the user. Xelas Energy Software Headquarters Europe Mindanao Way, Suite 252 Kleine Loo 284 Marina Del Rey, CA CK Den Haag Web: Netherlands Phone: info@xelasenergy.com All trademarks are the property of their respective trademark owners Copyright Xelas Energy-. All Rights Reserved 7