Abstract

In order to derive real-world model problems for the breath of research challenges in the area of predictable assembly of certifiable software components, this paper introduces the substation automation domain, as a representative for the wide spectrum of data acquisition and process control systems. Special emphasis in the paper is put on those aspects of the application area, which make its employment as a model problem provider attractive. First, the compositions are required to meet several well defined quality requirements besides functionality and must therefore allow for the prediction of these qualities before the final system is assembled and is undergoing a potentially costly factory and/or onsite acceptance test. Second, the upcoming IEC61850 standard defines agreed upon domain models and quality attribute requirements on system operations. In order to make this problem domain attractive to research in the area of compositional reasoning of component assemblies, this paper provides the needed step of relating the domain models and the domain’s quality attribute requirements to software components and assembly properties.

Article Outline

1. Introduction

2. The application domain

3. The IEC61850 standard

3.1. The relevant IEC61850 concepts

4. Substation automation software components and system properties

4.1. Relevant quality attributes

4.2. A sample composition and its requirements

4.2.1. A sample prediction problem: latency

5. Assessment of SAS as model problem provider

5.1. Criteria for a good model problem

5.2. Research challenges

6. Summary and discussion

6.1. Future work

Acknowledgements

References

Vitae