JPWO2012056551A1 - Monitoring control system communication method and monitoring control system - Google Patents

Abstract

Even if the system configuration fluctuates, monitoring data with high priority can be monitored and controlled. The device management apparatus 10 determines a request attribute including the type of measurement data acquired from the device 30 and the real-time attribute of the device management software 100. The device management apparatus 10 calculates a communication attribute of a communication path with the communication apparatus 20 and transmits a request attribute and a communication attribute to the communication apparatus 20. The communication device 20 calculates the priority of the measurement data based on the request attribute, and based on the priority and the communication attribute, the high-priority measurement data is sent to the device management device 10 via the reliable communication path. Send it.

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring control system communication method and a monitoring control system.

  The monitoring and control device is connected to a number of control target devices at the end via a communication path, and remotely monitors and controls each control target device. For example, when the generation and consumption of electric energy in a region are monitored and controlled, the monitoring control device controls the distribution voltage by communicating with each device on the distribution system and each device of each consumer. Examples of equipment on the distribution system include pole transformers, switches, voltage regulators, and the like. Examples of equipment owned by consumers include a solar power generator, a heat pump, and an air conditioner.

  The result of measuring the state of each device is sent to the monitoring control device via the communication path. The monitoring control device calculates a control signal to each device based on the measurement result. The monitoring and control apparatus transmits a control signal to each device through the communication path.

  In order for the monitoring control device to control each device, measurement results from each device are provided to the monitoring control device at a time interval (control cycle) required by the monitoring control application program executed on the monitoring control device. It is necessary to

  For this purpose, it is necessary that the measurement result from each device is transmitted to the monitoring control device without causing delay or congestion in the communication path between the monitoring control device and each device. As a technique for guaranteeing real-time communication, there is a method of controlling the order of transmission / reception or selecting a communication path according to the priority of data to be transmitted / received.

  In one prior art (Patent Document 1), priorities are set in advance according to the type of communication protocol or the like of each packet (data). In the prior art, each packet for which priority is set is distributed to each priority queue, and is transmitted in order from the first packet in each priority queue.

  Further, in the prior art, the correspondence relationship between each priority queue and a plurality of communication lines having different communication bands is set in advance. In the prior art, a packet is output from each priority queue to a corresponding communication line based on the correspondence. In the prior art, a packet having a high priority can be transmitted using a high-speed communication path, so that a communication delay can be suppressed from occurring in a communication having a high priority.

Japanese Patent No. 4279281

  However, in the prior art, the priority of each packet is fixedly set in advance according to the communication type such as the communication protocol. Therefore, in the prior art, when the priority changes variously depending on the data usage environment, it is difficult to cope with the change.

  For example, the priority of the measurement data changes depending on the contents of the monitoring control application program or the control cycle. Therefore, when the processing content of the monitoring control application program is frequently changed, the monitoring control cannot be appropriately performed with the fixed priority set in advance. This is because priority according to the situation is required.

  If the priority setting is inappropriate, there is a possibility that the measurement data used in the soft real-time control is transmitted with a higher priority than the measurement data used in the hard real-time control. Hard real-time control is control in which a control cycle is short and maintenance of the control cycle is strongly required from the viewpoint of safety such as accident prevention. Therefore, data used in hard real-time control needs to be transmitted with high priority. Soft real-time control is control in which an emergency situation does not occur even if the control cycle is long and the control cycle is not maintained. Therefore, in soft real-time control, no inconvenience occurs even if the priority of data is low.

  By the way, when the number of devices to be controlled increases, the communication path becomes congested, and there is a possibility that communication delay occurs in data with high priority. There is no problem if the configuration of the supervisory control system hardly changes from the initial configuration, but in reality, the number of controlled devices varies, and it is difficult to accurately predict changes in the number of controlled devices in advance. . When the number of control target devices increases, the total amount of data transmitted from each control target device to the monitoring control device may exceed the capacity of the communication path. When a large amount of data is transmitted in this way, it becomes difficult to preferentially transmit high priority data.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication method for a monitoring control system that can acquire measurement data from each control target device with high reliability in response to environmental changes, and It is to provide a supervisory control system.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the present invention, it is determined as one of the request attributes of the measurement data, at what timing the monitoring control process executed on the monitoring control device requires the measurement data, Send the request attribute to the control target device in advance. The request attribute can include at least a control period and a real-time attribute. The control cycle is a time interval at which the monitoring control process needs to receive measurement data. The real-time attribute indicates the strength of influence when the control cycle cannot be observed.

Based on the notified request attribute, the control target device outputs measurement data having a strict real-time attribute to a high-speed communication path or a highly reliable communication path. In addition, measurement data having a shorter control cycle in the monitoring control process is output to a high-speed communication path or a highly reliable communication path.
Here, the real-time attribute is a symbol or an index indicating how much influence is exerted on the entire system when a failure to keep the control cycle (deadline miss) occurs.

  When a deadline mistake occurs, for example, when the device is damaged and the system is stopped or the user's health is adversely affected, the real time attribute is set to “hard real time”. If a deadline mistake occurs and there is any subsequent processing or output that does not cause any disadvantage to the user, the real-time attribute is set to “farm real-time”. The real time attribute is set to “soft real time” if the user benefit gained from the system decreases after making a deadline miss. Therefore, measurement data having a hard real-time attribute is transmitted with priority.

If the communication path is congested due to an increase in the number of devices to be controlled and the desired communication performance cannot be obtained, for example, measurement data can be thinned out to suppress congestion of the communication path.
When measurement data output from a plurality of control target devices are similar to each other, one measurement data may be selected from the similar measurement data as a representative value and transmitted to the monitoring control device. When the measurement data of other controlled devices can be estimated or interpolated based on the measured data of some controlled devices, select the measured data of some controlled devices as representative values, What is necessary is just to transmit to the monitoring control apparatus. The monitoring control device performs estimation processing or interpolation processing based on the measurement data of the representative value, and uses it for the monitoring control processing. By thinning out such measurement data, congestion of the communication path can be suppressed.

A monitoring control system communication method according to one aspect of the present invention includes a monitoring control device that monitors and controls a device to be controlled, a communication device that connects one or more controlled devices and mediates monitoring control, and the communication device and the monitoring device A monitoring control system communication method including two or more communication paths connecting a control device, wherein the monitoring control device monitors a control target device based on measurement data acquired from the control target device. Monitoring control process to control, determine the request attribute including the type of measurement data and the real-time attribute of the monitoring control process, calculate the reliability of the communication path as the communication attribute in each communication path,
The request attribute and the communication attribute are transmitted to the communication device, and the communication device calculates the priority of the measurement data acquired from the control target device based on the request attribute received from the monitoring control device, and the priority and the communication Based on the attribute, high-priority measurement data is transmitted to the monitoring control device via a highly reliable communication path.

  The monitoring control apparatus determines the request attribute so that the control attribute of the monitoring control process and the real-time attribute indicating the degree of influence when the control period cannot be observed are included in the request attribute. The priority may be calculated based on the type of real-time attribute.

  The monitoring control device determines the value of the communication bandwidth that can be used by the communication device based on the number of communication devices connected to the communication path, the communication bandwidth between the monitoring control device and the communication device, and the request attribute. The calculated communication band is included in the communication attribute and transmitted to the communication device, and the communication device performs reliable communication in order from the measurement data with the highest priority until the value of the usable communication band is reached. It may be assigned to a route.

  The present invention can be understood as a supervisory control system or as a supervisory control device. Furthermore, at least a part of the configuration of the present invention can be realized as a computer program. The computer program can be distributed, for example, via a communication medium such as the Internet or a recording medium such as a flash memory device.

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a monitoring control system. FIG. 2 is a software configuration diagram of the monitoring control system. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram when the supervisory control system is applied to a power management system. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a table for managing request attributes. FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a table for managing communication attributes. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the monitoring control apparatus. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the communication apparatus. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing for determining a request attribute. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating processing for determining a request attribute by performing a pseudo execution of the monitoring control processing. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process for extracting and transmitting a part of measurement data from a plurality of measurement data. FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram in the case of creating a request attribute related to the voltage of the power system. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing processing for determining a communication attribute. FIG. 13 is a flowchart of processing for transmitting measurement data. FIG. 14 is a flowchart of processing for determining priority. FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating processing for determining a communication path. FIG. 16 relates to the second embodiment and shows a request attribute management table when applied to a railway equipment monitoring control system.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a power-related device will be described as an example of a device that is monitored and controlled by the monitoring control device. Devices related to power include devices that consume power, devices that supply power, devices for adjusting supply voltage, and the like. For example, power distribution equipment such as voltage regulators or switches, demand equipment such as air conditioners or chargers for electric vehicles, and power generation equipment such as solar power generators.

  As will be described later, the monitoring control system according to the present embodiment includes one or more devices to be controlled (hereinafter referred to as “devices”) 30 and 30A-30D, and “monitoring control devices” that remotely monitor and control each device. One or more devices provided between the device management devices 10 and 10A, one or more communication devices 20 and 20A-20D that mediate communication between each device and the device management device, and the device management device and the communication device. Communication paths CN10A and CN10B. Unless otherwise distinguished, they are called communication paths 10.

  The communication device is connected to one or more devices. The communication device can also manage a plurality of devices in groups. The communication device transmits data measured by each device to the device management device using a predetermined communication path determined from an attribute required for the data. The device management software 100 that operates on the device management apparatus generates a control signal based on the measurement data and transmits the control signal to the communication apparatus. The communication device delivers the control signal received from the device management device to the device. The device operates based on the control signal.

  Note that the transmission path when the measurement data is transmitted from the communication device to the device management apparatus is the same as the reception path when the communication device receives a control signal created based on the measurement data from the device management apparatus. It may be different or different.

  In the present embodiment, the control period, real-time property, and the like are transmitted to the communication device and the device in advance as attributes (hereinafter referred to as request attributes) required for the measurement data. The control cycle is a time interval from when the device management apparatus (specifically, device management software) receives measurement data until it outputs a control signal. The real-time property is information related to the real-time property of control in the device management process.

  Based on the request attribute, the communication device transmits measurement data having a high request for real time using a communication path with a high communication speed or a highly reliable communication path. The communication apparatus determines the priority based on the request attribute, and sends measurement data to a high-speed or high-quality communication path in order until a certain bandwidth usage rate is reached according to the priority. For example, high-priority measurement data is sequentially sent out until high-priority measurement data occupies a predetermined amount of the communication band of a high-speed or high-quality communication path.

  When there are a plurality of measurement data with the same priority, priority is given to measurement data having a shorter control cycle. This is because measurement data with a short control cycle can be considered to be immediately required by the device management apparatus. Therefore, the communication device outputs the measurement data having the same priority to the high-speed or high-quality communication path in order until reaching a certain bandwidth utilization rate according to the short control period.

  Here, two types of device management software used in the power management system are taken as an example. One software is information distribution software, and the other software is power distribution control software.

  The information distribution software, for example, measures the power usage status of each consumer from the distribution board or wattmeter of each consumer. Based on the measured data, the information distribution software creates a message requesting power saving or advice to help save electric energy, and sends it to each consumer several times a day. .

  The distribution control software measures the distribution voltage using a voltage sensor built in the distribution board or wattmeter of each consumer. The distribution control software compares the measured distribution voltage with the target value, and outputs a control signal to a distribution device such as a pole transformer or a power generation device. As a result, the distribution control software maintains the distribution voltage fluctuation within a certain range.

  It is assumed that the type of measurement data, the control cycle, and the real-time attribute of each software are transmitted in advance to each consumer as request attributes from the information distribution software and the power distribution control software. A distribution voltage with a short control cycle is preferentially transmitted from the customer side. This is because the distribution voltage may fluctuate greatly if the timing at which the distribution control software receives the distribution voltage is delayed. On the other hand, there is no particular inconvenience even if the time when the message or advice regarding power saving is delivered to each consumer is somewhat delayed.

  As a communication path, it is possible to select either a WWW (World Wide Web: hereinafter referred to as Web) line without bandwidth guarantee or a dedicated line capable of guaranteeing bandwidth. Since the distribution voltage is greatly affected when a communication delay occurs, the distribution voltage is transmitted to the device management apparatus using a dedicated line that can guarantee the bandwidth. On the other hand, the power usage status is transmitted to the device management apparatus using a communication line without bandwidth guarantee.

  As the number of consumers or devices increases and more high-priority measurement data is transmitted, the communication capacity of the dedicated line becomes tight. In this case, it is determined whether measurement data can be thinned out. When thinning is possible, only a part of the measurement data is transmitted to the device management apparatus, and the communication congestion of the dedicated line is alleviated. Whether the measurement data can be thinned out can be determined from, for example, the similarity of the measurement data output from each device, the power characteristics, the processing method in the device management apparatus, and the like.

  For example, it is assumed that distribution voltages obtained from neighboring consumers are similar from analysis of past measurement data or power characteristics. In this case, the measurement data of a specific customer at a geographically intermediate point among a plurality of consumers is transmitted in a normal cycle, and the measurement data of each other customer is transmitted in a cycle lower than the normal cycle. . Thereby, communication traffic can be suppressed and communication congestion can be eased.

  With the above method, in the present embodiment, the communication device connected to the control target device adjusts the measurement data transmission method according to the severity of the real-time attribute and the control cycle. Thereby, the device management apparatus can receive measurement data at a necessary control cycle.

  FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of the device management system. FIG. 2 is a software configuration diagram.

  The device management system as the “monitoring control system” includes, for example, a device management device 10, a control target device 30, and a communication device 20 that communicates with one or more devices 30.

  The device management apparatus 10 includes, for example, a microprocessor (CPU: Central Processing Unit in the figure) 11, a main storage device 12, an auxiliary storage device 13, a user interface (UI in the figure) unit 14, and a communication interface ( In the figure, the interface is abbreviated as I / F.

  The device management software 100 (see FIG. 2) stored in the auxiliary storage device 13 is loaded into the main storage device 12 and executed by the microprocessor 11. The microprocessor 11 communicates with each communication device 20 via the communication interface 15.

  The user interface unit 14 is used by a user who is a system administrator to give an instruction to the device management apparatus 10 and to display various information. The user can input new device management software 100 to the device management apparatus 10 via the user interface unit 14, and can adjust parameters and the like of the input device management software 100.

  The communication device 20 includes, for example, a microprocessor 21, a main storage device 22, an auxiliary storage device 23, and a user interface unit 24. An external communication interface 25 and an internal communication interface 26 are provided.

  The auxiliary storage device 23 stores a measurement data selection unit 200, an in-region monitoring unit 230, a request attribute database 210, and the like (see FIG. 2). The software is loaded into the main storage device 22 and executed by the microprocessor 21. The microprocessor 21 acquires measurement data from each device 30 via the internal communication interface 26 and transmits the measurement data to the device management apparatus 10 via the external communication interface 25.

  The user interface unit 24 is used, for example, for the user to change the setting of the communication device 20 or input software.

  In FIG. 1, the communication device 20 is configured as a microcomputer system, and is further connected to a plurality of control target devices 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the communication device 20 may be configured as a simpler single module and built in one device 30. That is, each device 30 may have a configuration in which the communication device 20 is incorporated.

  The communication device 20 may be any device as long as it can mediate communication between one or more devices 30 and the device management device 10. The communication device 20 may be configured as, for example, a home gateway that executes communication processing of devices provided in a general household such as an air conditioner. Alternatively, the communication device 20 may be configured as a communication slave station that executes communication processing of a power distribution device such as a switch or a transformer. Or the communication apparatus 20 may be comprised as a communication controller of the apparatus which has communication functions, such as a smart meter.

  The device 30 as the “control target device” is connected to the communication device 20 and outputs its own state to the communication device 20 as measurement data. When the device 30 receives a control instruction from the device management apparatus 10 via the communication device 20, the device 30 operates according to the control instruction (control signal or control command).

  The device 30 may be any device as long as it uses, supplies, and controls electricity. Examples of the equipment 30 include power distribution equipment such as a voltage regulator or a switch, demand equipment such as an air conditioner or a charger for an electric vehicle, and power generation equipment such as a solar power generator.

  The auxiliary storage devices 13 and 23 may be any medium that can store software and data. For example, a hard disk device, a flash memory device, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic tape, or the like can be used.

  The user interface units 14 and 24 may be any device that can exchange information with the user. For example, a keyboard switch, a pointing device, a touch panel, a printer, a display device, a device that gives a voice instruction, and a device that outputs a voice. A device that gives an instruction using an electroencephalogram can be used.

  The communication interface 15 and the external communication interface 25 are connected via a plurality of communication paths CN10A and CN10B. Each of the communication interfaces 15 and 25 communicates with one or both of wired and wireless, such as the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a mobile phone communication network, a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), RS232C, and infrared communication. Is possible.

  For example, the plurality of communication paths CN10A and 10B may have substantially the same communication capacity (communication speed) and communication quality (reliability), or may have different communication capacities or communication qualities. Unless otherwise distinguished, it is referred to as a communication path CN10.

  FIG. 2 is a software configuration diagram of the device management system. The device management apparatus 10 includes, for example, device management software 100 (1), (n), an attribute creation unit 110, an attribute database 120, and a remote monitoring communication unit 130.

  The device management apparatus 10 can be provided with a plurality of device management software 100 (1), (n). When there is no need to distinguish between them, the device management software 100 is called. The device management software 100 acquires measurement data from each device 30 using the remote monitoring communication unit 130 and the like, and gives a control instruction corresponding to the measurement data to each device 30. Thereby, the device management software 100 adjusts the power consumption or power generation of each device 30.

  In FIG. 2, the device management software 100 is shown as a single software, but a function as the device management software 100 may be realized by a plurality of software operating in cooperation.

  The attribute creation unit 110 creates a request attribute (real time attribute, communication attribute, etc.) indicating a condition when the device management software 100 uses measurement data acquired from the device 30. The created request attribute is stored in the attribute database 120. The creation of request attributes will be described later.

  The remote monitoring communication unit 130 is a function for communicating with the remote monitoring communication unit 220 in the communication device 20. Each communication unit 130 and 220 allows the communication device 20 to transmit the state of the device 30 as measurement data to the device management device 10, and the device management device 10 transmits a control instruction calculated by the device management software 100 to the communication device 20. Can be sent to.

  The communication device 20 includes, for example, a measurement data selection unit 200, a request attribute database 210, a remote monitoring communication unit 220, and an in-region monitoring unit 230.

  The measurement data selection unit 200 acquires measurement data from each device 30 via the intra-area monitoring unit 230. The measurement data selection unit 200 calculates the priority of each measurement data based on the request attributes stored in the request attribute database 210, and further determines a communication method for transmitting each measurement data. Details will be described later.

  The intra-area monitoring unit 230 transmits the control instruction received from the device management apparatus 10 to the device 30, and controls the device 30 based on the control instruction.

  The device 30 includes a measurement control unit 300. The measurement control unit 300 measures data related to the device 30 and transmits the data to the in-region monitoring unit 230.

  Here, a case where the device management system is applied to the power management system will be described. As described above, a plurality of device management software 100 can be provided in the device management apparatus 10. New device management software includes those with only modified parameters. As a parameter, there is a control cycle for determining the transmission / reception timing of measurement data. In other words, it can be determined that the new device management software 100 is provided even when the version is upgraded only by changing the value of the control cycle. In S10 described in FIG. 6, it can be determined that the new device management software 100 has been added even when only the parameters are changed.

  Such a configuration is particularly effective when the device management apparatus 10 and a home energy management system (HEMS) are linked. HEMS is a system for automatically controlling home appliances or hot water heaters and other energy consuming devices such as solar power generators in a network.

FIG. 3 shows a relationship between a device management apparatus (CEMS) and an X-EMS such as HEMS. X-EMS means FEMS (Factory Energy Management System), BEMS (Building and Energy Management)
System: registered trademark) and EV-EMS (Electric Vehicle-Energy Management System).

  The device management apparatus 10A corresponds to CEMS (Community Energy Management System), and the communication apparatuses 20A, 20B, 20C, and 20D (hereinafter referred to as 20A-20D) correspond to X-EMS such as HEMS. Devices 30A, 30B, 30C, and 30D (hereinafter, 30A-30D) are, for example, a solar power generator, an air conditioner, an electric vehicle charger, a hot water heater, a pole transformer, a distribution board, and the like.

  In HEMS, due to external factors, the contents of measurement remain unchanged, and only the importance of the measurement may change. For example, the type of “carbon dioxide visualization” illustrated in FIG. 4 will be described. Due to external factors such as heightened environmental awareness, it may be required to shorten the control cycle for carbon dioxide visualization. In such a case, as described above, the type of measurement data and the like are left unchanged, and only the control cycle is changed short. The device management software 100 whose control cycle has been changed is recognized as new software in S10 of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 6 will be further described later.

  In S13 of FIG. 6 to be described later, it is determined whether there is a change in either the communication configuration or the device configuration. S13 is also particularly important when the device management apparatus 10A cooperates with HEMS or the like, or when a smart meter installed at home or the like is considered. A smart meter is a high-performance power meter that automatically transmits power consumption to a power company or the like.

  HEMS20A, BEMS20B, FEMS20C, EV-EMS20D, and smart meters are widely used as environmental awareness increases. However, since it depends on the human psychology of environmental awareness, it is difficult to accurately predict the number of HEMS or the like and smart meters added to the device management system. These HEMS etc. may spread rapidly or may spread gradually.

  For example, when the number of HEMS, smart meters, etc. increases, it is necessary to adjust the priority of each measurement data. Therefore, in S13 of FIG. 6, a configuration change is detected.

  FIG. 4 shows a table T10 for managing request attributes. The request attribute management table T10 is created in S11 of FIG. 6, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG.

  The request attribute management table T10 includes, for example, a management number (abbreviated as # in the figure) C10, a management type C11, a device type C12, measurement data C13, a data type C14, a control cycle C15, and real time. The attribute C16 and the representative value C17 are managed. A configuration for managing items other than those shown in FIG.

  The management type C11 stores the management type of the device 30. Examples of the management type C11 include “supply plan”, “carbon dioxide visualization”, and “power failure monitoring”. The “supply plan” is management for creating a plan for supplying power from a power generation device or a substation device. “Carbon dioxide visualization” is management in which the power consumption of the device 30 is converted into carbon dioxide emissions and digitized. “Power failure monitoring” is management for monitoring the occurrence of a power failure and identifying the location of the power failure.

  The device type C12 stores the type of the device 30. Examples of the device type include “photovoltaic generator”, “post-pole transformer”, “air conditioner”, “distribution panel”, and the like.

  The measurement data C13 stores the type of measurement data. Examples of the measurement data type C13 include “power generation amount”, “voltage”, “power consumption (power consumption)”, and the like.

  The data type C14 stores an expression method for handling measurement data. An example of the data type C14 is “FLOAT (floating point arithmetic)”.

  The control cycle C15 stores a control cycle associated with the measurement data. The control cycle indicates a cycle of control using the measurement data in the device management software 100 that uses the measurement data.

  The real time attribute C16 stores the value of the real time attribute associated with the measurement data. Real-time attributes include “hard real-time”, “soft real-time”, and “farm real-time”.

  The representative value C17 stores which measurement data is used as a representative value when there are a plurality of measurement data of the same type. When solar power generators are installed on the roofs of multiple buildings, for example, the power generation amount of the solar power generator of one of the buildings is used as a representative value of the power generation amount of each of the other solar power generators. . This is because conditions such as sunshine hours are considered to be approximately the same for neighboring buildings. Only one representative value may be set or a plurality of representative values may be set. It is not necessary to set a representative value for all measurement data in advance, and there may be measurement data for which no representative value is set.

  FIG. 5 shows a table T20 for managing communication attributes. The communication attribute management table T20 is created according to the flowchart of FIG.

  The communication attribute management table T20 manages, for example, a management number C20, a communication path type C21, a communication capacity C22, a recommended margin rate C23, and an average loss rate C24. The communication attribute management table T20 is created for each communication device 20. The table T20 of FIG. 5 stores attributes relating to a plurality of communication paths possessed by a certain communication device 20.

  The communication path type C21 stores the type of communication path that the communication device 20 has. Examples of the communication path type include PHS, Internet, LAN, infrared communication, and PLC (Power Line Communication).

  The communication capacity C22 indicates a capacity that can be transmitted through a communication path, that is, a communication speed. The recommended margin ratio C23 stores a value indicating how much margin should be used for the communication capacity. The average loss rate C24 indicates the probability that packet data is lost, that is, the quality of the communication path.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 12 to be described later, the communication capacity is calculated by acquiring the route information of the communication route in advance. If the communication capacity cannot be acquired in advance, the capacity of the communication path may be estimated from data storing past communication performance.

  When the number of communication devices 20 that may be used in the communication path section is unknown as in wireless communication, the effective communication capacity is calculated from the maximum communication capacity in the specification and the communication performance data during past communication. It may be estimated.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 12, the total amount of measurement data transmitted from each communication device 20 to the device management device 10 does not exceed the total value of the communication capacities of all communication paths connecting each communication device 20 and the device management device 10. Assuming that.

  Accordingly, the maximum communication capacity that can be used by each communication device 20 is calculated based on the communication attribute management table T20. It is determined whether the total amount of measurement data transmitted from each communication device 20 exceeds the total value of the communication capacities of all communication paths. When the total amount of measurement data exceeds the total communication capacity, measurement data must be thinned out. In this case, a flag indicating that the measurement data needs to be thinned out can be stored in the communication attribute management table T20. When the thinning flag is set, one or more representative measurement data may be selected from a plurality of measurement data, as will be described later with reference to FIGS.

  Next, a processing procedure of the communication method in the software configuration shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the device management apparatus 10. The processing shown in FIG. 6 is executed in cooperation with the device management software 100, the attribute creation unit 110, and the remote monitoring communication unit 130. Hereinafter, the step is abbreviated as “S”.

  First, the device management apparatus 10 causes the attribute determination unit 110 to determine whether there is new device management software 100 (S10). The attribute determination unit 110 checks whether or not new device management software 100 is installed in the device management apparatus 10. If there is a new device management software 100 (S10: YES), what measurement data the device management software 100 requires is extracted and a request attribute is created (S11). If there is no new device management software (S10: NO), the process proceeds to S13 described later.

  In S <b> 11, the attribute creation unit 110 determines an attribute required for the measurement data. In S11, the data type and the real-time attribute are extracted for the measurement data required by the newly installed device management software 100.

  The type of measurement data is information that can identify the device 30 that is the measurement data output source and the type of data. For example, a data identifier indicating the type of the device 30 that outputs measurement data, the amount of measurement data, and / or the interpretation method may be included.

  The real-time attribute is information indicating the severity of the processing time requirement in the device management software 100. The real-time attribute may include, for example, a measurement data acquisition cycle (control cycle) and tolerance when processing fails due to missing measurement data.

  There are various methods for extracting the real-time attribute or the control cycle as described later. For example, attributes and the like may be extracted from a design document describing the functional requirements of the device management software 100 by natural language processing.

  The operation of the device management software 100 may be estimated from a mathematical formula or a control model. For example, based on a mathematical formula or a control model, by summing the time required to acquire measurement data, the time required to create a control instruction, and the waiting time between measurement data acquisition and control instruction creation, A control cycle can be obtained. The control model is preferably described in a strict model language such as UML (Unified Modeling Language).

  The device management software 100 is simulated on the simulator, and based on the operation result, the time required for acquiring measurement data, the time required for generating a control instruction, and the period from acquisition of measurement data to generation of a control instruction The waiting time may be measured. S11 will be described later with reference to FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG.

  The device management apparatus 10 transmits the determined request attribute from the remote monitoring communication unit 130 to the communication apparatus 20 (S12). Only the predetermined communication device 20 connected to the device 30 included in the request attribute may be extracted in advance, and the request attribute may be transmitted only to the predetermined communication terminal 20. Alternatively, the request attribute may be transmitted to all the communication devices 20.

  The device management apparatus 10 determines whether or not a change has occurred in either the communication configuration or the device configuration of the device management system (S13). Here, the change in the communication configuration means a change in the communication capacity of the communication path between the device management device management apparatus 10 and the communication apparatus 20, an addition of the communication path, and a deletion of the communication path. The change in the device configuration means that the communication device 20 is added or deleted, or that the device 30 is added or deleted.

  If there is a change in either the communication configuration or the device configuration (S13: YES), the device management apparatus 10 determines a communication attribute (S14). If there is no change in either the communication configuration or the device configuration (S13: NO), the process proceeds to S16 described later.

  The device management apparatus 10 causes the attribute creation unit 110 to determine a communication attribute (S14). The communication attribute is information regarding an available communication path from the communication device 20 to the device management device 10. The communication attributes may include, for example, speed information such as transmission path capacity and reliability information such as loss probability.

  The device management apparatus 10 transmits the determined communication attribute from the remote monitoring communication unit 130 to the communication apparatus 20 (S15).

  Thereafter, the device management apparatus 10 receives the measurement data of the device 30 from the communication device 20 via the remote monitoring communication unit 130 or the like (S16). The device management apparatus 10 monitors the state of the device 30 based on the measurement data from the device 30. The state of the device 30 includes, for example, the amount of power generated by a solar power generator or a gas turbine generator, and the amount of power consumed by an air conditioner or a charger for an electric vehicle.

  The device management apparatus 10 causes the device management software 100 to be executed (S17). The device management software 100 creates information (control instruction) for controlling the device 30 based on the measurement data.

  The device management apparatus 10 transmits the created control instruction to the device 30 via the communication device 20 (S18), and controls the device 30 from a remote location.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the communication device 20. The processing shown in FIG. 7 is executed in cooperation with the remote monitoring communication unit 220, the measurement data selection unit 200, and the in-region monitoring unit 230.

  The communication apparatus determines whether or not the remote monitoring communication unit 220 has received the attributes (request attribute, communication attribute) transmitted from the device management apparatus 10 (S20). If the attribute is received (S20: YES), the communication device 20 causes the measurement data selection unit 200 to store the received attribute in the request attribute database 210 (S21). If no attribute is received (S20: NO), the process proceeds to S22.

  The communication device 20 acquires measurement data from the device 30 connected to the communication device 20 (S22). The intra-area monitoring unit 230 acquires data measured by the device 30 by communicating with the measurement control unit 300 in the device 30. The measurement data includes data indicating the current state of the device 30, data indicating the past state of the device 30, and data indicating the current and past states of the device 30.

  There are a plurality of methods by which the communication device 20 acquires measurement data from the device 30. For example, push-type communication in which measurement data is transmitted from the device 30 to the communication device 20 may be used. Alternatively, pull-type communication in which the communication device 20 inquires of the device 30 about the presence or absence of measurement data and acquires the measurement data from the device 30 may be used.

  In addition, when the apparatus 30 is one or few, the structure which integrates the apparatus 30 and the communication apparatus 20 may be sufficient. In that case, the current state of the device may be realized as a memory-mapped IO mapped to the memory space of the main storage device 22 included in the communication device 20.

  The communication device 20 causes the measurement data selection unit 200 to determine the priority of each measurement data (S23). The communication device 20 selects one or more transmittable measurement data from the types of measurement data included in the request attributes recorded in the request attribute database 210. Further, the communication device 20 determines one or more measurement data to be transmitted with priority from the control period and the real-time attribute included in the request attribute.

  For example, the communication device 20 determines whether or not the degree of urgency regarding the use of the measurement data in the device management software 100 is high based on the real-time attribute. High priority can be set for measurement data with high urgency. Low priority can be set for measurement data with low urgency.

  The priority may be any information as long as it can determine which measurement data is preferentially output in the process of determining the measurement data transmission method described later. The priority may be, for example, a priority order for all measurement data that can be transmitted, or may be a numerical value indicating the priority. S23 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The communication device 20 causes the remote monitoring communication unit 220 and the measurement data selection unit 200 to determine a method for transmitting measurement data to the device management apparatus 10 (S24). The communication device 20 determines a method for outputting the measurement data to the communication path CN10 based on the priority calculated in S23 and the communication attribute received in S20.

  The transmission method is determined so that the measurement data with higher priority can reach the device management apparatus 10 faster and more reliably. For example, consider a case where a plurality of communication paths can be used, and speed information such as communication capacity and reliability information such as a loss rate are included as communication attributes of each communication path. In this case, for example, the process of assigning to a highly reliable communication path in order from the measurement data with higher priority until reaching a certain ratio of the communication capacity is repeatedly executed for all measurement data to be transmitted.

  Consider a case where the communication device 20 can use only a single communication path. In this case, a priority-specific output queue is prepared, and measurement data is distributed to the output queue according to the priority. The number of times measurement data is output from the output queue with a high priority is set to be larger than the number of outputs of the output queue with a low priority.

  The communication device 20 transmits measurement data from the remote monitoring communication unit 220 to the device management device 10 according to the method determined in S24 (S25).

  The communication device 20 determines whether or not the remote monitoring communication unit 220 has received a control instruction from the device management device 10 (S26). When the control instruction has not been received (S26: NO), the process returns to S20.

  When the control instruction is received (S26: YES), the communication device 20 transmits the control instruction to the device 30 using the intra-area monitoring unit 230, and controls the device 30 (S27).

  S25, S26, and S27 are examples of remote monitoring control processing on the control target device side, and are not limited to the above processing methods. Any method may be used as long as measurement data can be transmitted to the remote device management apparatus 10, a control instruction can be received from the device management apparatus 10, and control of the device 30 can be executed based on the control instruction.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing for creating a request attribute. In this process, the contents of the control specification of the device management software 100 are analyzed, and the control period and real-time attribute of the request attribute are automatically extracted.

  First, the device management apparatus 10 acquires a control specification of the device management software 100 (S30). As long as the contents of the control processing of the device management software 100 can be acquired, the description format of the control specification is not limited. For example, a design document that shows the processing contents in a natural language, a control model that describes the input / output relationship of control with a model such as a mathematical formula, a state transition diagram that shows the processing flow, a source program that describes implementation on a computer, etc. Either can be used.

  The device management apparatus 10 extracts time constraints when moving from the measurement data acquisition process to the control instruction creation process (S31). The device management apparatus 10 determines at least a process for acquiring measurement data from the communication apparatus 20 (input process) and a process for creating a control instruction to the communication apparatus 20 (output process) from the control specification. The device management apparatus 10 extracts a time constraint for transition from a process of acquiring measurement data to a process of creating a control instruction.

  Here, the time constraint is the maximum processing time required to normally execute the measurement data acquisition process. If the measurement data acquisition process is not completed even if the time constraint is exceeded, the process forcibly transitions to a process for creating a control instruction. The time constraint can also be called a communication timeout time or a processing timeout time.

  There are multiple methods for extracting time constraints. For example, when the control specification is a state transition diagram, a state corresponding to a process of acquiring measurement data and a state corresponding to a process of creating a control instruction are extracted. From the transition conditions between the extracted states, a time-related condition can be extracted as a time constraint.

  When the control specification is a source program, the processing time may be estimated by extracting the number of lines of the source program and the pause processing time corresponding to the process of acquiring measurement data and the process of creating a control instruction. That is, it is possible to estimate the time constraint by extracting the number of lines and the pause processing time of the source program corresponding to the measurement data acquisition process and the number of lines and the pause processing time of the source program corresponding to the control instruction creation process, respectively. it can.

  Next, the device management apparatus 10 determines whether there is a recovery process (S32). If the control specification does not satisfy the time constraint, the process proceeds to the recovery process (S32: YES), and the process proceeds to S33. When the recovery process is not set (S32: NO), the process proceeds to S34 described later.

  The device management apparatus 10 extracts a time constraint between the measurement data acquisition process and the recovery process (S33). The device management apparatus 10 extracts a time constraint for causing a transition from the measurement data acquisition process to the recovery process in substantially the same manner as described in S31.

  The device management apparatus 10 calculates a control cycle (S34). The device management apparatus 10 calculates a time interval for acquiring measurement data as a control cycle from the first time constraint extracted in S31 and the second time constraint extracted in S33. The first time constraint is a time constraint between the measurement data acquisition process and the control instruction creation process. The second time constraint is a time constraint between the measurement data acquisition process and the recovery process.

  For example, the shorter one of the first time constraint and the second time constraint may be extracted as the control period.

  In S35, S36, S37, and S38, the type of recovery process is acquired. When there is a recovery process (S35: YES), the device management apparatus 10 acquires the execution priority set in the recovery process (S36).

  The execution priority is information indicating how preferentially the recovery process is executed. For example, the task priority indicating the CPU allocation order of the recovery process may be used as the execution priority, or the execution authority order when the recovery process acquires computer resources may be used as the execution priority.

  The device management apparatus 10 acquires the output of the recovery process (S37). The device management apparatus 10 acquires how the result of the recovery process is used. The information acquired in S37 may be information that can determine how the result of the recovery process is used. For example, the information may be the output destination of the recovery process or the content of the output data of the recovery process. good.

  The device management apparatus 10 determines real-time attributes (S38). For example, the device management apparatus 10 determines the urgency of the recovery process from the execution priority of the recovery process and the content of the output of the recovery process. The device management apparatus 10 estimates real-time attributes based on the degree of urgency.

  For example, when the urgency level is higher than that of the normal process, it can be determined that the process should be executed more urgently than the normal process. If the degree of urgency is the same value as that in the normal process, it can be determined that the degree of urgency is similar to that in the normal process.

  Furthermore, for example, when the output of the recovery process is an input of the control instruction creation process, it is determined that the data recovery process is a normal data recovery process in which the measurement data is corrected and pseudo measurement data having a defect or abnormality is generated. it can.

  When the output of the recovery process is used as alert information, it can be determined that the process is an emergency process for urgently stopping the device management apparatus 10 or shifting the device management apparatus 10 to the emergency mode. For example, the output of the recovery process is output to the OS (operating system) of the device management apparatus 10 or another device management software 100 as alert information.

  In S <b> 38, it is only necessary to determine the urgency level of the device management software 100 according to the type of the recovery process, and any method is acceptable. For example, the urgency level may be expressed as a numerical value based on the execution priority of the recovery process or the output type.

  Like the real-time attribute described above with reference to FIG. 3 and the like, the urgency level of the device management software 100 is expressed by symbols indicating real-time properties such as “hard real-time”, “soft real-time”, and “farm real-time” from the contents of the restoration process May be.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another example of creating a request attribute. In this process, the control period and the real-time attribute are extracted as request attributes from the result of pseudo execution of the device management software 100.

  The device management apparatus 10 sets an initial value for the measurement data input cycle Td (S40). The measurement data input cycle Td indicates a time interval at which measurement data is input to the device management software 100. The initial value is set to a sufficiently short value that does not cause a timeout error or the like in the device management software 100.

  In S41, S42, S43, and S44, the execution of the device management software 100 is repeated while adding the measurement data input cycle Td for each predetermined time.

  The device management apparatus 10 adds the measurement data input cycle Td by a value sufficiently smaller than the previous value (S41).

  The device management apparatus 10 causes the device management software 100 to be simulated (S42). The device management software 100 is executed while simulating the behavior of the device 30 and the communication path CN10 in an environment where the control target device 30 and the communication path CN10 do not exist.

  Next, the device management apparatus 10 inputs measurement data to the device management software 100 (S43). The device management apparatus 10 creates measurement data in a pseudo manner, and inputs the measurement data to the device management software 100 that is executed in a simulated manner according to the time interval of the input cycle Td.

  The pseudo execution of the device management software 100 in S41, S42, and S43 is performed until either the operation state of the device management software 100 is changed or the value of the input period Td reaches the maximum value Tdmax. Continue (S44). The case where the operation state of the device management software 100 changes is, for example, a case where the device management software 100 is abnormally stopped due to an increase in the measurement data input cycle Td.

  The device management apparatus 10 determines the final measurement data input cycle Td as the control cycle Tc (S45). The control cycle Tc can be calculated by taking into account the processing time of the device management software 100 to the measurement data input cycle Td of the last execution time when an operation change such as an abnormal stop has occurred in the device management software 100.

  That is, a value obtained by adding the average value of the processing time in the device management software 100 to the measurement data input cycle Td of the last execution time may be used as the control cycle Tc (Tc = Td + average value of the software processing time).

  A predicted value or approximate value of a time constraint related to the device management software 100 such as a timeout time may be used.

  In S46 to S53, the type of the recovery process is extracted from the operation contents in the last execution time when the operation change such as abnormal stop occurred in the device management software 100.

  The device management apparatus 10 acquires the operation content in the last execution time of the device management software 100 (S46). The device management apparatus 10 determines whether or not the final execution result is normal termination (S47).

  If the final execution result is normal termination (S47: YES), the device management apparatus 10 sets the real-time attribute RA of the device management software 100 to “soft real-time (SRT)” (S48). When the final execution result of the device management software 100 ends normally, the recovery processing related to communication timeout is not defined, and it can be determined that the degree of urgency is low.

  The device management apparatus 10 determines whether the final execution result of the device management software 100 has not been executed (S49). When normal processing such as output of a control signal is not performed in the final execution result (S49: YES), when the device management software 100 does not input measurement data beyond the control period, The software is determined not to be executed. The device management apparatus 10 sets the real time attribute RA of the device management software 100 to “farm real time (FRT)” (S50).

  When the final execution result is not unexecuted (S49: NO), the device management apparatus 10 determines whether or not the final execution result is a stop (S51). When the final state of the device management software 100 is stopped (S51: YES), the device management software 100 is determined to be software that stops subsequent software execution if measurement data is not input beyond the control period. . The device management apparatus 10 sets the real time attribute RA of the device management software 100 to “farm real time” (S50).

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the real time attribute is set to “farm real time” in both cases where YES is determined in S49 and where YES is determined in S51 (S50). Instead, when it is determined YES in S51, it is considered to have stronger real-time characteristics than in the case where YES is determined in S49. This is because the device management software 100 is stopped. Therefore, if YES is determined in S51, another value such as “weak hard real time” may be set.

  The device management apparatus 10 determines whether or not another process having a high execution priority is called in the final execution result (S52). When another process (high execution priority) other than the normal process is called as the final execution result (S52: YES), the device management software 100 does not input any measurement data beyond the control cycle. It is determined that the software executes a typical recovery process. The device management apparatus 10 sets the real time attribute RA of the device management software 100 to “hard real time (HRT)” (S53).

  Thus, by acquiring the real-time attribute of the device management software 100, it is possible to determine the severity of the real-time property in the device management software 100. For example, when the real-time attribute is “soft real-time” or “farm real-time”, it can be estimated that even if the measurement data does not reach the device management software 100 beyond the control period, an urgent situation does not occur.

  On the other hand, for example, when the real-time attribute is “hard real-time”, if the measurement data does not reach the device management software 100 beyond the control cycle, the device management system may be relatively strongly affected. Can be estimated. Therefore, for the device management software 100 in which the real-time attribute is set to “hard real-time”, it is necessary to give priority to the measurement data regardless of the length of the control cycle.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing still another example for creating a request attribute. In this process, in addition to the request attribute described above, a representative value attribute for thinning out the transmission of measurement data when the communication capacity is insufficient is created.

  The representative value attribute is used to select and transmit representative measurement data from a plurality of measurement data when the amount of measurement data to be transmitted is large and the communication capacity of the communication path CN10 is insufficient. . For example, when the measurement data handled by each of the plurality of communication devices 20 has the same or similar properties, only the measurement data of the communication device 20 having the representative value attribute is transmitted. Thereby, the amount of communication is suppressed and communication congestion is alleviated. Therefore, measurement data with higher priority can be sent to the device management apparatus 10.

  By executing this processing in addition to FIG. 6 and FIG. 9, it is possible to create request attributes and determine a communication method more precisely.

  The device management apparatus 10 acquires the relationship between the devices 30 (S60). The device management apparatus 10 acquires a relationship between two or more devices 30 that output measurement data described in the request attribute.

  Here, the relationship between devices may be any data that can be used to determine the similarity of the measurement data of each device 30. For example, when the device 30 is a power distribution device for measuring the distribution voltage, the distance and / or positional relationship between the devices on the distribution line can be used as data indicating the relationship between the devices. For example, when the device is a power generation device using natural energy such as a solar power generator, the distance and / or positional relationship on the map between the devices can be used as data indicating the relationship between the devices.

  The device management apparatus 10 classifies the devices 30 (S61). The device management apparatus 10 predicts the similarity of the measurement data output from each device based on the relationship between the devices acquired in S50. The device management apparatus 10 classifies the devices 30 into several classes based on the predicted similarity.

  As an example, consider a case where the device is a power distribution device on a power distribution line and the measurement data is a power distribution voltage. In this case, it can be predicted from the voltage characteristics that a similar distribution voltage is measured along the distribution line. Accordingly, the devices can be classified according to the distance along the distribution line.

  As another example, consider a case where the devices are solar power generators distributed on the rooftop of each household, and the measurement data is the amount of power generation. In this case, since the geographically close solar power generators are in substantially similar weather, the power generation amount measured by each solar power generator can be predicted to be substantially similar. Accordingly, the devices can be classified according to geographical distance.

  The device management apparatus 10 extracts a device that outputs measurement data serving as a representative value from the devices 30 (S62). The device management apparatus 10 extracts at least one device in each class from the classification result in S61, and uses measurement data from the device as a representative value.

When only the representative value is output as measurement data, the representative value is extracted so that it can be used to predict each other measurement data in the class.
For example, a device that is predicted to be most easily measured may be extracted as a representative value based on a relationship such as a distance between devices and an average value in the class. The representative value is not limited to one, and a plurality of representative values can be set. For example, a device indicating the maximum value and the minimum value may be added to the representative value based on a relationship such as a distance between the devices. Furthermore, the structure which adds the apparatus which shows one or several intermediate values to a representative value may be sufficient. By extracting a plurality of representative values, other measurement data in the class can be accurately interpolated.

  The device management apparatus 10 changes the request attribute (S63). The device management apparatus 10 describes the information of the device that is a representative value in the request attribute. For example, for a device extracted as a representative value, a flag indicating that it is a representative value is recorded in its request attribute. On the other hand, in the case of a device that has not been extracted as a representative value, a flag indicating that it is not a representative value is recorded in its request attribute.

  In this way, by extracting the devices that are representative values in advance, when the capacity of the communication path is insufficient, only the measurement data from the device 30 that is described as the representative value in the request attribute is communicated. Output to the route. Thereby, congestion of the communication path is alleviated. The device management software 100 can grasp the statistical tendency of other measurement data in the class based on the measurement data of the representative value, or calculate the predicted value by interpolation.

  In S62, a device as a representative value is selected in consideration of only device information such as the positional relationship between the devices. Instead of this, taking into account the measurement data processing method in the device management software 100, a device to be a representative value may be determined.

  From the control specifications such as the data flow diagram of the device management software 100, the relationship between the measurement data as input and the control instruction as the output, or the relationship between the measurement data and intermediate data described in the control specification can be extracted.

  It is possible to calculate the degree of influence indicating how much fluctuation or loss of measurement data output from each device changes output data or intermediate data. The representative value may be determined according to the degree of influence and the measurement data processing method.

  For example, let us consider a case where measurement data output from a plurality of devices is averaged as intermediate data, and the intermediate data is used to calculate a control instruction. In this case, the fluctuation or loss that occurs in one piece of measurement data has a small influence and there is often no problem even if it is replaced with data close to the average value. Therefore, in this case, a device that outputs measurement data close to the average value is extracted as a representative value.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the concept of representative value extraction processing. In FIG. 11, a transformer, a voltage sensor, or the like installed on a utility pole is assumed as the device 30. Take the distribution voltage as an example of the measurement data.

  FIG. 11A shows a distribution system diagram. FIG. 11A shows a power distribution system including a substation 500. Points 501 to 507 in the figure indicate voltage measurement points on the distribution system. The substation 500 collects each voltage value from the measurement point 501 to the measurement point 507 using power line communication (PLC) or the like, and transmits it to the device management apparatus 10 (specifically, 10A, the same applies hereinafter).

  Measurement points 501 to 504 correspond to voltage sensors provided on the utility poles at points PA, PB, PC, and PD shown in FIG. FIG. 11C is a graph of voltage values measured at each point PA, PB, PC, PD. The distribution voltage on the utility pole has the property of continuously changing along the distribution system line. Therefore, it is expected that the voltage value measured from the nearby voltage sensor takes a close value.

  FIG. 11D shows a state in which the measurement data VPA at the point PA and the measurement data VPD at the point PD are selected as representative values based on the voltage characteristics. The measurement data VPB and VPC at other points PB and PC between the point PA and the point PD can be estimated by linear interpolation processing or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 11, measurement data transmitted from the communication device 20 (20A-20D) to the device management device 10 by determining a voltage sensor as a representative value by using a voltage change characteristic depending on a distance between points. The amount of can be reduced.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing details of the processing for determining the communication attribute described in S14 of FIG. In this process, the communication capacity in each communication path is calculated as a communication attribute.

  The device management apparatus 10 acquires route information of all communication routes (S14A). The device management apparatus 10 acquires the capacity of path information when the communication device 20 communicates with the device management apparatus 10 using the communication path for all communication paths from the device management apparatus 10 to the communication device 20.

  The route information may include information indicating the nature of the communication route in addition to the communication capacity. For example, the path information may include a loss probability of a communication packet in a communication path, a performance degradation rate at the time of communication congestion, a margin band recommended for preventing communication congestion, and the like.

  Next, the device management apparatus 10 acquires information on the communication apparatus 20 connected to each communication path (S14B). The device management apparatus 10 acquires at least the number of communication apparatuses 20 that may use the communication path.

  The device management apparatus 10 may transmit measurement data to the device management apparatus 10 from the type of measurement data acquired from the device 30 connected to the communication device 20 and the request attribute related to the measurement data. Are all extracted. The device management apparatus 10 acquires a communication path that can be used by the extracted communication apparatus 20, and may transmit measurement data from the communication apparatuses 20 connected to the acquired communication path. Get the number of 20.

  The device management apparatus 10 calculates the communication capacity of each communication apparatus 20 (S14C). The device management apparatus 10 uses each communication device 20 in each communication route based on the communication capacity and route information of the communication route acquired in S14A and the number of communication devices 20 that use each communication route acquired in S14B. Calculate an estimate of possible communication capacity.

  The communication capacity per communication apparatus may be a value indicating the communication capacity that can be used when the communication apparatus communicates using a certain communication path. For example, consider a case where a plurality of communication devices 20 use a certain section in one communication path. In this case, a value obtained by dividing the communication capacity of the section by the number of communication devices 20 is set as the communication capacity for each section per communication apparatus. The communication capacity for each section is calculated for all sections in the communication path. The minimum value among the communication capacities for each section of one communication apparatus is obtained as the communication capacity that the communication apparatus can use on the communication path.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process of transmitting measurement data from the communication device 20 to the device management apparatus 10. This process is a detailed example of S22 and S25 described in FIG. This process shows a transmission method when the control cycle Tc included in the request attribute does not match the measurement cycle Tm in which the device 30 can acquire measurement data.

  S70 to S73 are processes when the measurement cycle Tm that can be performed by the device 30 is shorter than the control cycle Tc. The communication device 20 acquires the control cycle Tc and the measurement cycle Tm (S70). The communication device 20 determines whether or not the measurement cycle Tm is shorter than the control cycle Tc (Tc> Tm) (S71).

  When the measurement cycle Tm is shorter than the control cycle Tc (S71: YES), the communication device 20 averages each measurement data measured every fixed measurement cycle Tm from the previous measurement data transmission (S72). ). Since the communication device 20 holds at least the measurement data history from the previous measurement data transmission time to the present time, it can calculate the average value. The communication device 20 transmits the average value of the measurement data to the device management apparatus 10 at the control cycle Tc set in the measurement data (S73).

  When the measurement cycle Tm is not shorter than the control cycle Tc (S71: NO), the communication device 20 determines whether the measurement cycle Tm is longer than the control cycle Tc (Tc <Tm) (S74). When the measurement cycle Tm is longer than the control cycle Tc (S74: YES), the communication device 20 cannot acquire measurement data in the cycle Tc indicated by the request attribute. For this reason, the communication apparatus 20 cannot transmit measurement data to the equipment management apparatus 10 with the requested period Tc.

  Therefore, the communication device 20 determines whether or not the real-time attribute set in the measurement data to be processed is hard real-time (HRT) in order to issue a warning corresponding to the real-time attribute (S75).

  When the real-time attribute is hard real-time (S75: YES), the communication device 20 transmits a warning to the device management apparatus 10 with priority over all measurement data (S76). Processing related to hard real-time (processing by the device management software 100) is often so-called mission-critical processing such as processing for handling power outages. Therefore, even if measurement data can be estimated by interpolation processing or the like, measurement data that cannot guarantee such accuracy is not transmitted to the device management apparatus 10. This is to prevent erroneous processing from being executed based on measurement data for which certainty cannot be guaranteed.

  When the real time attribute is not hard real time (S75: NO), the communication device 20 determines whether or not the real time attribute is set to farm real time (FRT) (S77).

  When the real-time attribute is the farm real-time (S77: YES), the communication device 20 transmits a warning to the device management apparatus 10 with the highest priority in the measurement data group having the farm real-time attribute (S78).

  In the process using the real-time measurement data of the farm, the process can often be continued effectively even if the measurement data is old. Therefore, the communication device 20 transmits the latest measurement data together with the warning to the device management device 10 (S79).

  When the real time attribute is not firm real time (S77: NO), the communication device 20 determines whether or not the real time attribute is soft real time (SRT) (S80). When the real-time attribute is soft real-time (S80: YES), the communication device 20 predicts the current measurement data from the past measurement data history using a prediction method such as linear prediction, and manages the predicted measurement data as a device. It transmits to the apparatus 10 (S81). Subsequently, the communication apparatus 20 transmits a warning that the measurement data is a predicted value to the device management apparatus 10 with the same priority as the measurement data transmitted in S81 (S82). The warning may be transmitted simultaneously with the predicted measurement data. Alternatively, a configuration may be adopted in which a warning is transmitted first, and predicted measurement data is transmitted immediately thereafter.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing processing for determining the priority of measurement data. This process is a detailed example of S23 described in FIG.

  The communication device 20 determines whether or not there is measurement data whose priority order group has not been determined for all measurement data that can be transmitted (S90). When there is undetermined measurement data (S90: YES), the communication device 20 determines whether measurement data whose priority group is undetermined is requested in the request attribute received from the device management apparatus 10 (S91). .

  When the measurement data is requested by the request attribute (S91: YES), the communication device 20 determines whether or not the real-time attribute set in the measurement data is hard real-time (S92). When the real-time attribute is hard real-time (S92: YES), the communication device 20 sets the priority group to which the measurement data belongs to the first group (S93).

  When the real-time attribute set in the measurement data for which the priority group is undetermined is not hard real-time (S92: NO), the communication device 20 determines whether or not the real-time attribute of the measurement data is farm real-time ( S94). When the real-time attribute is firm real-time (S94: YES), the communication device 20 sets the priority group to which the measurement data belongs to the second group (S95).

  When the real time attribute is not firm real time (S92: NO), the communication device 20 determines whether or not the real time attribute is soft real time (S96). When the real time attribute of the measurement data is soft real time (S96: YES), the communication device 20 sets the priority group to which the measurement data belongs to the third group (S97).

  In this way, when all the measurement data belongs to one of the priority groups (S90: NO), the communication device 20 assigns each measurement data belonging to the priority group for each priority group to the control cycle. Rearrange in short order (S98). Finally, the communication device 20 connects the results of rearrangement of the priority groups, and sets the connected order as the priority of the measurement data (S99).

  In FIG. 14, the case where the real-time attribute and the control cycle are available as the request attribute has been described. When only the control cycle is available, the priority may be determined in the order of shorter control cycle.

  Further, for example, when the real-time attribute is not explicitly given, the real-time attribute may be estimated from the content of the recovery process at the time of data loss in the device management software 100.

  For example, when both the control cycle and the real-time attribute can be used, the real-time attribute is scored, and a coefficient for normalizing the control cycle to the score is set. Then, the priority may be determined from an index obtained by adding the control process coefficient normalized by the contents of the restoration process and the coefficient.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating processing for determining a communication path. This process is a detailed example of S24 in FIG.
In this process, based on the priority of the measurement data determined in S23 of FIG. 7 and the process of FIG. 14 and the loss rate in the communication attribute, important measurement data is assigned to a highly reliable communication path with few defects. .

  First, the communication device 20 rearranges all communication paths included in the communication attribute by the loss rate (S110). The communication device 20 rearranges communication paths in descending order of reliability.

  Note that the communication paths are rearranged only by the communication attribute loss rate. Instead of this, the configuration may be such that each communication path is evaluated based on the device management apparatus 10 or the characteristics of the communication path, or based on other items in the communication attribute. For example, when the communication speed is important, the communication speed may be rearranged according to the communication capacity in the communication attribute.

  Next, the communication device 20 determines whether there is measurement data whose communication path has not been determined (S111). When there is measurement data whose communication path has not been determined (S111: YES), the communication device 20 determines whether or not there is a margin band BS in the highest communication path (S112).

  When there is a surplus bandwidth BS in the highest communication path (S112: YES), the communication device 20 assigns the measurement data to the highest communication path (S113). The communication device 20 reduces the value of the margin band BS of the highest communication path by the data amount DS allocated in S113 (BS = BS-DS: S114).

  When there is no margin band BS in the highest communication path (S112: NO), the communication device 20 acquires information on the next communication path among the communication paths arranged by the loss rate, and determines that communication path is the highest. Treated as an upper communication path (S115). By executing S111-S114 again, the communication path used for transmission of each measurement data is determined.

  In the present embodiment configured as described above, measurement data from each device 30 is obtained even when the control target devices 30 included in the device management system increase or decrease or the configuration of the communication device 20 or the communication path changes. It is possible to monitor and control each device 30 remotely.

  In the present embodiment, even when the system configuration varies, measurement data with high priority can be transmitted to the device management apparatus 10 using a highly reliable communication path. Therefore, the reliability of the device management system is improved.

  In this embodiment, the device management software 100 that uses measurement data employs a characteristic index called a real-time attribute that indicates the degree of influence when measurement data cannot be acquired within a predetermined control cycle. Since the priority of the measurement data is determined based on the real-time attribute, the device management software 100 can be operated as normally as possible.

  In the present embodiment, when the amount of measurement data increases, measurement data that is a representative value is selected from each measurement data, and the measurement data of the representative value is preferentially transmitted to the device management apparatus 10. Therefore, it is possible to reduce communication congestion by suppressing the communication amount. Thereby, even when a large number of control target devices 30 are provided in the system, important measurement data with high priority can be transmitted to the device management apparatus 10 with high reliability.

  In this embodiment, real-time attributes and control cycles associated with measurement data can be automatically extracted by analyzing the specifications of the device management software 100 or by executing the device management software 100 in a pseudo manner. Therefore, it is not necessary for the system administrator to individually set the real-time attribute and control cycle for each measurement data, and convenience is improved.

  A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Since the present embodiment corresponds to a modification of the first embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to the railway field.

  In the present embodiment, the control target device 30 is exemplified by a device (railway device) used in a railroad. Examples of railway equipment include ticket gates, train position sensors, weighted sensors that indicate the amount of passenger cargo for each vehicle.

  In the present embodiment, “equipment management apparatus”, “equipment”, and “equipment management software” described in the first embodiment are “railway management apparatus”, “railway equipment”, and “railway management software”, respectively. It can be read.

  FIG. 16 shows a request attribute management table T10A according to this embodiment. As described in the first embodiment, the request attribute is created by S11 in FIG. 6, the process in FIG. 8, the process in FIG. 9, and the process in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the communication attribute is determined using the processing of FIG. Here, with respect to S10 in FIG. 6, a specific example in which new railway management software is added will be described taking equipment in the railway field as an example.

  In the railway field, the movement of people in a station, that is, the flow of people, is sometimes converted into data as human flow data. Human flow data is used to confirm the consistency of entry and exit. Human flow data may be applied to other fields, for example, an advertising business using human flow data. As described above, the data management method differs depending on the use destination of the data.

  When the human flow data is used only for confirming the entry / exit consistency, an attendant may manually extract the human flow data from the dedicated device once a day. However, when human flow data is also used in an advertising business, it is necessary to automatically collect human flow data every predetermined time (for example, one hour) and transmit it to the railway management device.

  Therefore, it is necessary to add new railway management software to the railway management apparatus. As described above, there is a case where software is added when a certain data is diverted to a new use. In such a case, S10 of FIG. 6 is effective. Configuring this embodiment like this also achieves the same effects as the first embodiment.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the Example mentioned above. A person skilled in the art can make various additions and changes within the scope of the present invention. For example, the present invention can be widely applied not only to a power management system or a railroad management system but also to other systems such as a system for managing manufacturing apparatuses in a factory.

In addition, you may express this invention as follows, for example.
“The monitoring and control device
Based on the result of pseudo execution of the monitoring control process,
A reception step for receiving the operating state of the control target device;
A first instruction step for creating a first control instruction for outputting to the control target device based on the operating state;
A second instruction step for executing a second control instruction when the operating state cannot be received from the device to be controlled;
Furthermore, the supervisory control device
Extract control processing flow specifications including time constraints in transition between steps,
Adding the time constraint of the first instruction step and the time constraint of the second instruction step and recording as a control period;
The communication method of the monitoring control system according to claim 5. "

  10, 10A: Device management device, 20, 20A-20D: Communication device, 30, 30A-30D: Control target device, CN10A, CN10B: Communication path

Claims (16)

A monitoring control device that monitors and controls the control target device; a communication device that connects one or more of the control target devices to mediate monitoring control; and two or more communication paths that connect the communication device and the monitoring control device. A communication method for a supervisory control system including
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the measurement data acquired from the control target device, the monitoring control process to monitor and control the control target device,
Determining a request attribute including a type of the measurement data and a real-time attribute of the monitoring control process;
As a communication attribute in each communication path, the reliability of the communication path is calculated,
Transmitting the request attribute and the communication attribute to the communication device;
The communication device
Based on the request attribute received from the monitoring control device, calculate the priority of the measurement data acquired from the control target device,
Based on the priority and the communication attribute, the high priority measurement data is transmitted to the monitoring control device via the reliable communication path.
A communication method of the supervisory control system.
The monitoring and control device includes:
The request attribute is determined so that the control attribute of the monitoring control process and a real-time attribute indicating a degree of influence when the control period cannot be observed are included in the request attribute,
The communication device calculates the priority based on the control period and the type of the real-time attribute;
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 1.
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the number of the communication devices connected to the communication path, the communication bandwidth between the monitoring control device and the communication device, and the request attribute, the value of the communication bandwidth that can be used by the communication device To calculate
The calculated communication band is included in the communication attribute and transmitted to the communication device,
The communication device
Assign to the highly reliable communication path in order from the high-priority measurement data until the available communication bandwidth value is reached.
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 1.
The monitoring and control device includes:
From the control specification of the monitoring control process, extract a state transition specification indicating a transition relationship between each state of the waiting state, the execution state, and the abnormal state,
The monitoring control process acquires a time interval for receiving the measurement data from the state transition specification, and includes the acquired time interval as the control period in the request attribute,
The behavior when the monitoring control process cannot receive the measurement data within the control cycle is a recovery process type for stopping the process or a recovery process type for continuing the process based on the state transition specification. Determine if there is
Based on the determined recovery process, the real-time attribute is estimated, and the estimated real-time attribute is included in the request attribute.
The communication method of the monitoring control system according to claim 2.
The monitoring and control device includes:
The monitoring control process is executed in a pseudo manner, and the time interval at which the monitoring control process acquires the measurement data is recorded as the control period,
Performing the monitoring control process in a pseudo manner, determining the recovery process type based on the operation type when the measurement data could not be received within the control cycle,
Estimating the real-time attribute based on the determined recovery process type, and including the estimated real-time attribute in the request attribute;
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 4.
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the physical characteristics of the measurement data, determine a control target device that requests the measurement data and a control target device that does not request the measurement data;
For the control target device determined not to request the measurement data, change the request attribute,
The communication device
Based on the changed request attribute, suppress transmission of measurement data related to the control target device determined not to request the measurement data,
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 1.
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the control specifications including the data flow specification indicating the calculation content to the measurement data in the monitoring control process, to calculate the degree of influence on the monitoring control process when the measurement data is missing,
Based on the degree of influence, a control target device that requests the measurement data and a control target device that does not request the measurement data are determined,
Suppressing transmission of measurement data related to the control target device determined not to request the measurement data,
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 1.
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the control specifications of the supervisory control process,
An accepting step for accepting an operating state of the device to be controlled;
A first instruction step for creating a first control instruction for outputting to the control target device based on the operating state;
A second instruction step of creating a second control instruction when the operating state cannot be received from the device to be controlled;
Each extracted
Furthermore, the monitoring control device includes:
Extract control processing flow specifications including transition relationships between the steps,
If the transition to the second instruction step is not set, the recovery process type is recorded as the recovery process type for continuing the process,
When the transition from the second instruction step to the step of performing another process is not set, the recovery process type is recorded as the recovery process type for stopping the process,
Recording a time constraint from the accepting step to the transition to either the first instruction step or the second instruction step as a control period;
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 4.
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the result of pseudo execution of the monitoring control process,
An accepting step for accepting an operating state of the device to be controlled;
A first instruction step for creating a first control instruction for outputting to the control target device based on the operating state;
A second instruction step for executing a second control instruction when the operating state cannot be received from the device to be controlled;
Furthermore, the monitoring control device includes:
Extract control processing flow specifications including time constraints in transition between the steps,
Adding the time constraint when transitioning from the accepting step to the second indicating step and the time constraint of the first indicating step, and recording as a control cycle;
The communication method of the monitoring control system according to claim 5.
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the electrical characteristics as the physical characteristics of the measurement data and the physical positional relationship between the plurality of control target devices, the similarity between the measurement data respectively acquired from the control target devices is measured by the measurement data. Calculated for each
Select measurement data close to the average value from the measurement data with high similarity,
The communication device
Only the selected measurement data is transmitted to the monitoring control device via the communication path,
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 6.
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the control specifications, calculate the degree of influence of the change in timing of receiving the measurement data on the processing result of the monitoring control process,
From a plurality of measurement data determined to have a low influence degree, one measurement data is selected as a representative value,
The communication device
For each measurement data having a low influence degree, only the selected measurement data is transmitted to the monitoring control device via the communication path.
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 7.
The monitoring and control device includes:
If the recovery process does not exist, determine the real-time attribute as soft real-time,
If the recovery process is to stop the process, the real-time attribute is determined as farm real-time,
If the recovery process is to execute another process with a high execution priority, the real-time attribute is determined as hard real-time.
The communication method of the supervisory control system of Claim 4.
The communication method of the monitoring control system according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the reliability of the communication path is speed information such as a transmission path capacity or a loss probability.
A monitoring control system comprising: a communication device connected to a control target device; and a monitoring control device connected to the communication device via at least one communication path to monitor and control the control target device;
The monitoring and control device includes:
Based on the measurement data acquired from the control target device, a monitoring control processing unit for monitoring and controlling the control target device;
An attribute creation unit for creating an attribute set in the measurement data, the attribute creation unit for creating a request attribute required for the measurement data and a communication attribute related to reliability of the communication path When,
With
The attribute creating unit creates the request attribute including the type of the measurement data and the real-time attribute indicating the degree to which the monitoring control processing unit needs the measurement data as the request attribute,
The monitoring control device transmits the request attribute and the communication attribute created by the attribute creation unit to the communication device,
The communication device
Based on the request attribute received from the monitoring control device, determine the priority of the measurement data acquired from the control target device,
Based on the priority and the communication attribute received from the monitoring control device, the measurement data acquired from the control target device is transmitted to the communication path.
Supervisory control system.
The request attribute further includes a control period of the monitoring control process and a type of recovery process executed when the control period is not maintained,
The communication device determines a priority when transmitting the measurement data to the communication path according to the control cycle and the type of the restoration process.
The monitoring control system according to claim 14.
The communication method of the monitoring control system according to claim 14, wherein the reliability of the communication path is speed information such as a transmission path capacity or a loss probability.

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