...
Control data are received from the control center SCADA which acts as a OPC UA client and are sent to the IED which acts as a 61850 server. Each incoming message from the control center SCADA comes as an OPC UA object. The north service plugin applies a first translation process which consists of (1) reading and checking the OPC UA object using the OPC UA data model and (2) mapping each data attribute to the corresponding pivot format data attribute. Once the message is converted to a pivot format object, it can then be stored or consumed by the south or any other service. The south service plugin can then apply a second translation process which consists of (3) reading and checking the pivot format object using the pivot format data model and (4) mapping each data attribute to the corresponding 61850 MMS data attribute. The resulting 61850 MMS object can then be exposed to the 61850 client by the south service plugin.
Benefits and challenges of a pivot format
Benefits
The main benefit of the pivot format is it allows decoupling the protocols data model from each other. Each south or north plugin deals with the complexity and the specifics of a given protocol without interfering with the core of the gateway or with another south/north plugin. Adding new protocol plugins or maintaining existing ones is then made much easier. This contributes in maintaining the whole gateway system at a low level of complexity thus minimizing the costs of new developments or maintenance.
Challenges
In order to reach the goal of simplicity we want to achieve, the main challenge is to be able to