MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.

5
External OPC Data Access Client
 Document ID: 1MRK 511 640-UEN
Issued: February 2023
Revision: A
Product version: 10.5

© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.

1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Table of contents

Table of contents

Section 1 Copyrights......................................................................................................3

Section 2 About this manual......................................................................................... 5

2.1 General..................................................................................................................................5
2.2 Use of symbols......................................................................................................................5
2.3 Intended audience.................................................................................................................6
2.4 Related documents............................................................................................................... 6
2.5 Document conventions..........................................................................................................6
2.6 Document revisions...............................................................................................................7

Section 3 Instructions.................................................................................................... 9
3.1 Configuration......................................................................................................................... 9
3.1.1 Base system configuration.................................................................................................. 9
3.1.1.1 Configuring the base system with System Configuration Tool ...................................... 9
3.1.1.2 Configuring the SYS_BASCON.COM file...................................................................... 9
3.1.2 External OPC Data Access Client configuration............................................................... 10
3.1.3 Starting from the command line........................................................................................ 10
3.1.4 Configuration attributes..................................................................................................... 11
3.1.4.1 Node Attributes.............................................................................................................11
3.1.5 Creating configuration....................................................................................................... 11
3.1.5.1 Changing External OPC Data Access Client settings.................................................. 19
3.1.5.2 OPC item configuration................................................................................................ 21
3.1.5.3 Manual mapping of process objects or custom station attributes................................ 23
3.1.5.4 Adding device connection status item for system self supervision.............................. 33
3.1.5.5 Importing process objects from an external file prepared with OPC PO List Tool........34
3.1.5.6 Automated External OPC Data Access Client configuration........................................39
3.1.6 Importing and Exporting OPC Items configuration............................................................ 41
3.1.7 OPC Process Object List tool............................................................................................42
3.1.7.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................. 42
3.1.7.2 Start-up........................................................................................................................ 42
3.1.7.3 Browsing Process Objects........................................................................................... 43
3.1.7.4 Setting filters................................................................................................................ 44
3.1.7.5 Setting a new station number.......................................................................................45
3.1.7.6 Including / excluding Process Objects......................................................................... 46
3.1.7.7 Changing application....................................................................................................46
3.1.7.8 Saving the Process Objects list....................................................................................47
3.1.7.9 Formats for the output file............................................................................................ 48
3.1.7.10 Viewing OPC signals....................................................................................................49
3.2 Starting External OPC Data Access Client..........................................................................50
3.2.1 Starting from the command line........................................................................................ 50
3.2.2 Starting from a SCIL program........................................................................................... 51
3.2.3 Starting from External OPC Data Access Client Control Panel ........................................53

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 1

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Table of contents 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A

3.3 Supervising DA Client......................................................................................................... 54

3.4 OPC quality flags.................................................................................................................55
3.5 Quality handling with IEC 61850 OPC Server.....................................................................58
3.6 Quality Handling, other OPC Servers..................................................................................59
3.7 Buffered events................................................................................................................... 60
3.8 OPC error codes................................................................................................................. 61
3.9 CPI Exceptions....................................................................................................................62

Section 4 Technical description.................................................................................. 63

4.1 OPC DA Client software components................................................................................. 63
4.2 Visual SCIL tools................................................................................................................. 63

Index.......................................................................................................................................65

2 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 1
Copyrights

Section 1 Copyrights GUID-03127CB5-2F5A-4099-A5DC-20E63835472E v6

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as
a commitment by Hitachi Energy. Hitachi Energy assumes no responsibility for any errors that may
appear in this document.

In no event shall Hitachi Energy be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential
damages of any nature or kind arising from the use of this document, nor shall Hitachi Energy be
liable for incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of any software or hardware
described in this document.

This document and parts thereof must not be reproduced or copied without written permission from
Hitachi Energy, and the contents thereof must not be imparted to a third party nor used for any
unauthorized purpose.

The software or hardware described in this document is furnished under a license and may be used,
copied, or disclosed only in accordance with the terms of such license.

© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.

Trademarks

ABB is a registered trademark of ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. Manufactured by/for a Hitachi Energy
company. All other brand or product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Guarantee

Please inquire about the terms of guarantee from your nearest Hitachi Energy representative.

Third Party Copyright Notices

List of Third Party Copyright notices are documented in "3rd party licenses.txt" and other locations
mentioned in the file in SYS600 and DMS600 installation packages.

This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit.
(https://www.openssl.org/). This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young
([email protected]). This product includes software written by Tim Hudson ([email protected]).

This product includes software developed by Computing Services at Carnegie Mellon University
(http://www.cmu.edu/computing/).

This product includes software developed by vbAccelerator (/index.html).

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 3

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
4
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 2
About this manual

Section 2 About this manual GUID-8E6562F8-5325-41F7-A301-F7BC69BA9B09 v1

2.1 General GUID-E55CAF82-A632-49DB-95FD-5192A46FEFEC v1

There are two OPC Data Access Clients in SYS600. One is the internal OPC Data Access Client and
the other is external. This manual describes the External OPC Data Access Client.

This manual provides thorough information on the OLE Process Control (OPC) Data Access (DA)
client in SYS600. It describes how to configure the base system and the communication system to
establish communication with slave devices managed by the OPC server. It also describes how to
configure and use the External OPC Data Access Client software in the SYS600 application.

In addition to this configuration, the SYS600 application needs to be configured for process
communication. For more information on this subject, see other manuals, for example SYS600
Application Objects and SYS600 System Objects.

The following features defined in the OPC specification are not supported by External OPC Data
Access Client in SYS600:

• Public groups
• Blobs in item definitions
• Item Access Paths

These features are optional according to the OPC documents. External OPC Data Access Client is
able to communicate with several OPC servers from different vendors, but several copies of the
External OPC Data Access Client have to be started for it.

The following features are not supported by the External OPC Data Access Client Configuration tool:

• The list of available OPC Items is not shown, if the OPC server does not support the
IOPCBrowseAddressSpace interface.
• OPC Item properties is not shown, if the OPC server does not support the IOPCItemProperties
interface.

2.2 Use of symbols GUID-C3EF6764-668D-46B2-8EC3-EC390560C7EA v1

This publication includes warning, caution and information symbols where appropriate to point out
safety-related or other important information. It also includes tips to point out useful hints to the
reader. The corresponding symbols should be interpreted as follows:

Warning icon indicates the presence of a hazard which could result in personal injury.

Caution icon indicates important information or a warning related to the concept

discussed in the text. It might indicate the presence of a hazard, which could result in
corruption of software or damage to equipment/property.

Information icon alerts the reader to relevant factors and conditions.

Tip icon indicates advice on, for example, how to design a project or how to use a certain
function.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 2 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
About this manual

Although warning hazards are related to personal injury, and caution hazards are associated with
equipment or property damage, it should be understood that operation of damaged equipment could,
under certain operational conditions, result in degraded process performance leading to personal
injury or death. Therefore, comply fully with all warnings and caution notices.

2.3 Intended audience GUID-DBCCFA1D-5FC9-425C-9FF3-2EE783A44C68 v1

This manual is intended for installation personnel, administrators and skilled operators to support
installation of the software.

2.4 Related documents GUID-D5DAC461-A728-45D7-A54B-17F646B31DDC v5

The following SYS600 manuals should be available for reference during the use of this manual:

Name of the manual Document ID

SYS600 10.5 System Configuration 1MRK 511 666-UEN
SYS600 10.5 System Objects 1MRK 511 667-UEN
SYS600 10.5 Application Objects 1MRK 511 632-UEN
SYS600 10.5 Status Codes 1MRK 511 665-UEN

The External OPC Data Access Client implementation is based on the following documents by the
IEC Technical Committee 57:

Name of the document Version

OPC Overview Version 1.0. October 27, 1998
OPC Common Definitions and Interfaces Version 1.0. October 21, 1998
OPC Data Access Custom Interface Standard Version 2.04. September 5, 2000

2.5 Document conventions GUID-46093FAD-E382-4C22-99F2-39A0F4843EF9 v1

The following conventions are used for the presentation of material:

• The words in names of screen elements (for example, the title in the title bar of a dialog, the
label for a field of a dialog box) are initially capitalized.
• Capital letters are used for file names.
• Capital letters are used for the name of a keyboard key if it is labeled on the keyboard. For
example, press the CTRL key. Although the Enter and Shift keys are not labeled they are written
in capital letters, e.g. press ENTER.
• Lowercase letters are used for the name of a keyboard key that is not labeled on the keyboard.
For example, the space bar, comma key and so on.
• Press CTRL+C indicates that the user must hold down the CTRL key while pressing the C key
(in this case, to copy a selected object).
• Press ALT E C indicates that the user presses and releases each key in sequence (in this case,
to copy a selected object).
• The names of push and toggle buttons are boldfaced. For example, click OK.
• The names of menus and menu items are boldfaced. For example, the File menu.

6 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 2
About this manual

• The following convention is used for menu operations: Menu Name/Menu Item/
Cascaded Menu Item. For example: select File/Open/New Project.
• The Start menu name always refers to the Start menu on the Windows Task Bar.
• System prompts/messages and user responses/input are shown in the Courier font. For
example, if the user enters a value that is out of range, the following message is displayed:
Entered value is not valid.
The user may be told to enter the string MIF349 in a field. The string is shown as follows in the
procedure: MIF349
• Variables are shown using lowercase letters: sequence name

2.6 Document revisions GUID-AD292EC8-364C-48D3-895A-86D0D7A970B6 v5

Revision Version number Date History

A 10.5 17.02.2023 New document for
SYS600 10.5

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External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
8
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

Section 3 Instructions GUID-1CBC3B16-3C94-4389-9A2A-A5EF588838AC v1

This section describes how to configure and start External OPC Data Access Client in SYS600.

3.1 Configuration GUID-4ABCE463-E171-4913-A7C1-8D11B15E6838 v1

3.1.1 Base system configuration GUID-FEC390A7-C81D-4004-A724-0928B2CF0835 v1

The base system objects are defined either with System Configuration Tool or manually with SCIL
commands in the SYS_BASCON.COM file. It is recommended to use the configuration tool.

After making the changes either with the tool or by manually editing the file, the base system should
be restarted to have the changes reflected in system. With a few limitations, the base system objects
can also be defined and modified at any time when SYS600 is running.

3.1.1.1 Configuring the base system with System Configuration Tool GUID-EE698A00-DFC7-494B-88E1-2771CE208605 v1

To configure with the tool:

1. In the Tool Manager, select System Configuration and double-click System Conf.
2. In the tree view, right-click the MicroSCADA Configuration object and select New.
3. Select LAN Link and click Insert
4. Enter 1 in the New Link Object Number field, and click OK.
5. Right-click Link 1 and select New/Insert.
6. Enter 2 as the IEC 61850 Node object number, and click OK.
7. Right-click Node 2, and select New/Insert.
8. Enter 2 as the new IEC 61850 Station object number, and click OK.
9. Save the configuration by selecting Configuration/Save Active.
10. Restart the base system.

3.1.1.2 Configuring the SYS_BASCON.COM file GUID-83258A3A-D89E-4164-9272-31E897ADF538 v1

To configure SYS_BASCON.COM:

1. Define a base system object (SYS:B).

2. Define a link. The link type is TCP/IP.
3. Define a node.

Each OPC client instance is represented as a separate node. If several OPC client
instances are used simultaneously, the same number of NOD objects must be defined in
the SYS_BASCON.COM file.

4. Define the SPA stations.

The definitions are made in the example below. For more information on the system objects, see
SYS600 System Objects.

Example

The following is an example of the part of the SYS_BASCON.COM file for communication via
External OPC Data Access Client.

;***************************************************************
;

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External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

; COMMUNICATION LINK
#CREATE LIN:V = LIST(-
LT = "LAN"- ; TCP/IP connection
)
#CREATE LIN2:B = %LIN

;***************************************************************
;
; COMMUNICATION NODE
#CREATE NOD:V = LIST(-
LI = 2,-
SA = 203)
#CREATE NOD2:B = %NOD

;***************************************************************
;
; STATIONS
#CREATE STA:V = LIST(-
TT = "EXTERNAL",-
ST = "SPA",-
ND = 2,-
TN = 2)
#CREATE STA2:B = %STA

;***************************************************************

3.1.2 External OPC Data Access Client configuration GUID-005489E1-A9D0-4911-A7A5-0AEFC4EACBCC v1

This section describes External OPC Data Access Client configuration in accordance with the
system, link, node and station numbers defined in SYS_BASCON.COM.

For IEC 61850 systems the automatic External OPC DA Client configuration creation function of
MicroSCADA SCL Importer tool should be used. The SCL Import tool can automatically create the
full configuration based on the IEC 61850 system configuration during the configuration import to
MicroSCADA.

OPC DA Client Configuration Tool (DAOCT) is used to create and modify the parameter file which is
used by External OPC Data Access Client (DAOPCCL).

3.1.3 Starting from the command line GUID-60E95735-D258-42C4-B9C6-25821029F968 v1

The External OPC Data Access Client configuration tool can be started from the command line using
any of the following commands.

Daoct : Opens an empty file

daoct |"conf_file_name" : Opens the specified .ini file

daoct | "conf_file_name" |-hide

-hide : Validation of the items occur without the UI and non-validated

items are captured in the trace file(.trc)

GUID-9A96E0D7-1DD1-4BEC-AB5D-EE478F44A916 V1 EN-US

Figure 1: Starting External OPC Data Access Client configuration tool from the command
line

10 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

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1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

3.1.4 Configuration attributes GUID-470DDA8A-FE83-4CDA-9E4E-1074FDA324AA v1

3.1.4.1 Node Attributes GUID-CA1BB1D3-4A67-4B45-B032-059E275F82E3 v3

RM Running mode

This attribute consists of a set of flags which control the behavior and functionality of External OPC
DA Client instance. Each flag is one bit of this attribute. The bits are the following:

Bit 0: When this bit is 0 and the used OPC Server reports that the quality of an item is bad, the
Object Status (OS) of the corresponding item behaves as described in Table 6. This is the
default behavior. When this bit is 1, and the used OPC Server reports that the quality of an
item is bad the Object Status behaves as described in Table 5. The value of the RM is read
from the configuration file, section [CPI], parameter RunningMode or it may be given as a
command line argument.
Bit 1: When this bit is 0 and the used OPC Server is not SYS600 IEC61850 OPC Server, process
object attribute QL (Qualifier) is not updated. When this bit is 1, QL (Qualifier) is updated with
the OPC Quality of the updated item when OPC Server is other than SYS600 IEC 61850.
See chapter 'Quality handling, other OPC Servers' for more details.
Data type: Integer
Value: 0..65535
Index range: no index
Default value: 0
Access: Read, Write

3.1.5 Creating configuration GUID-5215E097-C561-4D78-AE83-3BBEC7CE1F0B v2

The manual configuration steps described next in this manual are not required for IEC 61850
systems when MicroSCADA SCL Importer automatic configuration is used. However the
Configuration Tool can be used to verify and modify the automatically created configuration.

When configuring manually the following actions should be executed via the Configuration Tool to
create the configuration file:

1. Locate OPC servers installed in the system and allow the user to select the desired server,
which provides access to OPC-enabled devices. The Server Properties dialog is used for this
purpose (main menu item File/New).
2. Define the parameters for communication External OPC Data Access Client with SYS600 base
system via the CPI interface, in the CPI Node Properties dialog (main menu item File/New/
Next) and should be filled as follows:

Own Node Number Should be the same as the value of the created node attribute of the communication
NODE object (NOD: V). See the SYS-BASCON.COM file. For example:
#CREATE NOD2:B = %NOD
The communication node created is NOD2, therefore the own node number is 2.
Own Station Should be the same as the value of the SA attribute of COMMUNICATION NODE object
Number (NOD:V). See SYS_BASCON.COM.
System Messages Should be 4 in new IEC 61850 systems. In IEC 61850 systems made with MicroSCADA
Enabled (SE) 9.2SP2 or earlier, or with OPC servers other than the MicroSCADA IEC 61850 OPC
server, the value should be 1.
Running Mode Should be 1 (bit 0 = 1) in new systems. If a backward compatible quality handling is
(RM) needed in an existing system, value 0 (bit 0 = 0) for RM may be used. Section Section
3.4 describes the differences between these values.
Base Node Number Should be the same as the value of the ND attribute of BASE SYSTEM OBJECT
(SYS:B). See SYS_BASCON.COM.
Table continues on next page

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 11

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

Base Station Should be the same as the value of the SA attribute of BASE SYSTEM OBJECT
Number (SYS:B). See SYS_BASCON.COM.
Base Application Application Number in SYS600, where the connection is created.
Number
Base IP Address SYS600 TCP/IP address.

3. Define parameters for communication between External OPC Data Access Client and another
SYS600 base system (secondary), if the connection with the primary base system has been
lost. These parameters are optional. External OPC Data Access Client has to be reconnected to
the primary SYS600 base system, if the list of the secondary system parameters is not defined.
These parameters are defined in the CPI Node Properties dialog of the configuration tool and
should be used as follows:

Back Node Number Should be the same as the value of the ND attribute of BASE SYSTEM OBJECT
(SYS:B). See SYS_BASCON.COM of the secondary SYS600 base system.
Back Station Should be the same as the value of the SA attribute of BASE SYSTEM OBJECT
Number (SYS:B). See SYS_BASCON.COM of the secondary SYS600 base system.
Back Application Application Number in secondary SYS600, where connection is created.
Number
Back IP Address Secondary SYS600 TCP/IP address.
MS Max The number of reconnection attempts to the primary SYS600. After these attempts are
Reconnections expired, External OPC Data Access Client is connected to the secondary SYS600 base
system.

4. Define SPA stations, which are supported via External OPC Data Access Client. The SPA
station is defined in the Add STA dialog (main menu item Edit/Add STA ) and the appropriate
fields should be filled as follows:

Node Name The name of the station to be used in configuration.

Unit Number Specifies the unit number of the station. Should be the same as the value of the TN
attribute of SPA STATION OBJECT (STA:V).
Read/Write Timeout Timeout (ms) to be defined for all read/write operations to/from the OPC server for each
STA unit. When this parameter is 0, these operations never time out.
In Use Specifies whether the station is in use or not.

Special parameters

There are parameters which are not supported by the configuration tool but which can be added to
generated configuration file manually if needed. These parameters become effective when
configuration is loaded. Saving the configuration from configuration tool will overwrite the settings
made manually.

Section Parameter Description

in .ini file
[CPI] CpiTimeout If present, it defines the response timeout to data updates to MS
application in seconds. If not present, timeout is 50 seconds.
[OPC] HistoricalEventsAsBuffered If set to 'Yes', all data updates OPC will be sent to MS Application as
non-buffered and this lead to duplicate event. If set to 'No' or is not
defined, event handling is as described in chapter 'Buffered events'

Example

The following is an example of External OPC Data Access Client configuration for SYS600. Before
starting this example, the SYS600 base system should be configured according to the example in
Section 3.1.1. The Matrikon OPC Simulation server should be installed on the computer. The OPC
server can be obtained from http://www.matrikon.com/opc.

12 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

When the Matrikon OPC Simulation Server has been installed the following actions should be
executed:

1. Start the configuration tool using Windows Explorer, command line or a desktop short cut to the
executable file. The file name of the program is DAOCT.EXE.
2. To open the Server Properties dialog, select File/New from the menu.

GUID-6AC9A835-BA6E-4B79-90CC-3359EAF4B9A7 V1 EN-US

Figure 2: Server Properties dialog

3. To open the Available Servers dialog, click the Browse button.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 13

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

GUID-6734AF22-CAB6-4E52-A551-8B5D8AC2F233 V1 EN-US

Figure 3: Available Servers dialog

A filtering string (case sensitive) in the Filter dialog can be used to filter the displayed
OPC DA server ProgIDs. Enable or disable the filter using the Enabled check box. The
filter settings are stored.

4. Double-click on Matrikon.OPC.Simulation.1.
The following information is displayed in the Server Properties dialog:

14 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

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© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

GUID-8A4A2FB3-50E1-43BE-B99F-9135FB459060 V1 EN-US

Figure 4: Server properties dialog

When the Prog ID & CLSID fields are filled in, the OPC server is configured.
5. Click Next to open the CPI Node Properties dialog.
6. Fill in the dialog fields as shown in Figure 5

If the External OPC Data Access Client and the OPC server are running on the same
computer, the Base IP address of the CPI node should be 127.0.0.1.Otherwise, the
communication between SYS600 and the OPC server may not work properly.

GUID-56853174-0358-405B-B1FF-F43369121CB9 V1 EN-US

Figure 5: CPI Node Properties dialog

The SYS600 communication is now configured.
7. Click Finish to open the main window.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 15

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Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

GUID-4647B097-A97B-4106-A470-B5B820E4C19C V1 EN-US

Figure 6: OPC Configuration Tool main window

Expand the Simulated Items branch in the tree on the right side of the main window. When this
is done, the other branches and properties are shown in the tree. Expand the branch named
Random, and any OPC Item that is shown under the branch. The main window should look like
this:

16 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

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1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

GUID-74B5E961-FD3F-4E18-BA69-322B572AC496 V1 EN-US

Figure 7: OPC Configuration Tool main window after expanding the branches
Random.Int4 is an OPC Item in the window above. The OPC Items are represented on the
Available Items page by various icons. A green downward arrow means that the OPC Item has
read access right, whereas write access right is denoted by a red upward arrow. The tree leaves
under Random.Int4 are OPC Item properties. To see the values of the item properties available
at the moment, right-click the Random.Int4 item and select Properties in the pop-up menu to
open the Item Properties dialog.

GUID-9827F678-4A98-4A2E-9644-A1AB7953B30C V1 EN-US

Figure 8: Item Properties dialog

To close the dialog, click OK.
8. Select Edit/Add STA in the menu bar to open the Add STA dialog.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 17

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Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

GUID-8547D6D6-EA61-48F2-B112-E001ABC31FBB V1 EN-US

Figure 9: Add STA dialog

9. Change the Unit number value to 2 and click the In Use check box.
10. Click OK to open the main window.

GUID-E20C8F85-11A9-4CA3-A8E0-E4CF1909A615 V1 EN-US

Figure 10: OPC Configuration Tool window after adding STA

The External OPC Data Access Client has now been configured for communication with Matrikon
OPC Simulation Server and with the SYS600 base system.

Save the current configuration in the file matricon_cfg.ini (Menu File/Save). It is used in a
later example for OPC Items configuration.

The STAs are arranged according to the STA numbers after the configuration is saved.

18 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

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© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

If the filter options Show valid item and Show invalid items are chosen, the Save icon
remains disabled. The Save icon is enabled only if the Show All filter option is selected.

If Notification Window message

0020 ? TCPIP New Socket For Node (SA: 208, from IP: 10.10.10.120, to IP: 127.0.0.1)
is displayed, it indicates a configuration error. This occurs when more than one External
OPC DA Client instances with the same Node Number and Station Addresses are
connecting to the same base system or the External OPC DA Client is running in the
same host as MicroSCADA and the Node Name of the OPC DA client node is not empty.
To prevent this, make sure that the Node number and Station Address for each OPC DA
client instance are different when defining the configuration and these settings are
consistent with SYS_BASCON.COM configuration for base system.
If the OPC DA client instance is running on the same host as MicroSCADA, check that
the node name of the OPC DA Client node is empty (NOD'n':BNN = "") and the Base IP
address in the CPI node properties dialog should be the localhost address 127.0.0.1
(recommended, default) or the same as the IP address of the host computer.

3.1.5.1 Changing External OPC Data Access Client settings GUID-557015D1-83B7-460C-B923-EF159201E7D8 v1

When the OPC server and the CPI node properties have been configured, they can be changed in
the same session, or in the future sessions of the OPC DA Client Configuration Tool.

To open the pop-up menu for changing the Server and CPI properties, right-click the CPI Node (root
of the tree) on the left side of the main window.

GUID-9E25CD07-A485-41C0-85E4-434A2CD35406 V1 EN-US

Figure 11: Changing the Server and CPI properties

Here new STA objects can be added and the Server and CPI node properties can be changed by
selecting the corresponding item in the pop-up menu.

Enable Auto Refresh GUID-5244E9FB-4F3A-40C8-B9E9-3A26C88D4D65 v2

This flag is used to configure the active state of OPC items mapped to output process objects. This
setting should not be selected in IEC 61850 systems when connecting to an IEC 61850 OPC server.

If this setting is selected, the OPC items are created in an active state. When items are in the active
state, all data changes are received from the OPC server. This may cause unnecessary events in
some configurations.

If this setting is not selected, the OPC items are created in an inactive state and will not receive data
updates. This is the default configuration, as data updates to output process objects are discarded by
SYS600.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 19

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

At run-time, it is possible to force the External OPC Data Access Client to refresh items
from the OPC server by setting the UP attribute of the corresponding STA unit to 1, for
example, #SET STA2:SUP=1.

Setting UP to 1 for each STA object may be needed in HSB switch-over. If proxy is used, UP writing
is always needed. If the UP reading indicates that it is permanently staying in value 1, value 0 must
be written before writing value 1 again.

Disable Device Refresh GUID-4B7DE15B-3BDE-480A-849F-75B258387E2D v2

This flag is used to configure the OPC item data refresh functionality of the External OPC Data
Access Client.

If this setting is selected, the refresh requests from the External OPC Data Access Client to the OPC
Server are set to type 'cache'. Cache refresh should be used when the OPC Server provides up-to-
date data. With cache refresh requests (e.g. UP attribute of the station object is written) the data will
be requested from the cache of the OPC server and not from the IED. OPC server is responsible for
keeping its data up-to-date in its cache.

If this setting is not selected, the refresh requests from the External OPC Data Access Client to the
OPC Server are set to type 'device'. Device refresh should be used when the OPC Server may
provide outdated data and needs to be update from the IED. Device refresh is used to trigger the
OPC Server to refresh the item values explicitly from the IED and update the values. This causes
more processing for the IEDs and additional traffic to the IED. Depending on the IEDs this may cause
additional events as there can be changes in timestamps of IED values. Device refresh can be used
with 3rd party OPC Servers which require updating of the process values of the underlying devices.

This setting should always be selected in IEC 61850 systems when connecting to IEC
61850 OPC Server. Since the IEC 61850 OPC Server always has an up-to-date image of
the connected IEDs process values, cache refresh can be used.

GUID-8873C006-8E65-4A6D-A22F-2EBBD783A3CA V1 EN-US

Figure 12: Event Buffering settings

No Buffering GUID-BBC15D12-DC2D-4F5F-A577-047DE0BB59ED v2
When No Buffering is selected, the External OPC Data Access Client does not buffer the events.

Normal Buffering GUID-299E722D-AFB5-424E-B835-04AF0E623883 v2

When Enable Normal Buffering is selected, the External OPC Data Access Client buffers the events
so that the latest update is always stored in the buffer, independently of the process object type.
Normal buffering is the default setting.

Circular Buffering GUID-2DCC773A-4D79-4972-8150-474C47F25AA0 v2

When Enable Circular Buffering is selected, the External OPC Data Access Client buffers the events
so that changes in switching device indications are always stored into the buffer as their own entries,
which means that all the state transitions are stored.

20 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

With measurement updates, the latest update is always stored in the buffer by default, but if the
setting 'QueueUpdatesOfAllDataTypes' in the [OPC] section of the loaded configuration file exists
and is set to 'Yes', all incoming analog and pulsecounter updates are queued.

In the case of IEC 61850 HSB systems, Circular Buffering should be used with both SE=1 and SE=4
configurations. In a normal HSB switch-over, there is a short delay in base system communication,
and buffering for that time is needed. With Circular Buffering, all changes of the binary/double binary
indications (for example, switching device indications) are stored during the base system
communication break as long as the size of the buffer has not been exceeded. For more information,
see "Maximum buffering size and behavior at run-time".

Keep events (deltaT) GUID-48507D76-9CA8-4E1A-8420-9E471E4198D1 v2

This parameter determines the maximum time for keeping events in the buffer. When this time has
elapsed and the event has still not been sent to SYS600, the event is removed from the buffer. By
default, deltaT is equal to zero, which denotes infinity.

External OPC Data Access Client changes the date of all coming events from the OPC
server dated earlier than 01.01.1980 12:00:00. Such events are sent to SYS600 with
BAD_TIME status.

Maximum buffering size and behavior at run-time GUID-5F8B8955-B017-424A-A8B7-CEE7D97BB098 v2

The maximum buffer size for Normal and Circular buffering is the same. It is calculated as the
number of all indications (the number of configured process objects of the Single and Double
Indication types) multiplied by 20 plus the number of all items. The formula is the following:

(number of indications × 20) + number of items

If the number of indications * 20 is less than 1000, the default buffer size 1000 is used instead.

As soon as the connection with the OPC server is established, External OPC Data Access Client
starts buffering all coming events from the server. Circular buffering is used only for Single and
Double Indication types if setting 'QueueUpdatesOfAllDataTypes' is not used. All coming events of
these types are pushed into the tail of the buffer and when it is possible, External OPC Data Access
Client sends them to SYS600 application starting from the head of the buffer (oldest events first). An
event is not removed from the buffer until an acknowledgement is received from SYS600. When the
length of the buffer becomes greater than the maximum allowed size, the oldest event is removed
from the head of the buffer. The buffering is active even if there is no actual connection with SYS600.
For all other types of process objects, External OPC Data Access Client only keeps the latest value.

In MicroSCADA version 9.3 or newer, if the main application is in COLD state and the phase of the
shadowing is HOT_RECEIVE, the data from the External OPC DA client is buffered in the base
system. In practice, this means that in a HSB switch-over situation where the shadowing starts
quickly, the period of buffering in the OPC DA Client is short.

For more information on buffering in the HSB System, refer to SYS600 9.3 System Objects, Section
Redundancy, Subsection HSB Systems.

3.1.5.2 OPC item configuration GUID-061388BA-0529-490C-8308-1041585B457B v2

External OPC Data Access Client is able to represent OPC Items with the following SYS600 object
types depending on the OPC Item access rights:

1. Input process objects

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 21

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

Table 1: Input process objects for the OPC Items with read-only or read-write access rights

Station Object type Station Object type

SPA Single Indication IEC 61850 Single Indication
SPA Double Indication IEC 61850 Double Indication
SPA Digital Value IEC 61850 Digital Value
SPA Analog Value IEC 61850 Analog Value
SPA Pulse Counter IEC 61850 Pulse Counter
SPA Bit Stream IEC 61850 Bit Stream

When Bit Stream process objects are used to receive the OPC items of array data type from the
OPC server, additional handling in the SYS600 application is required.
The following example demonstrates how the original array of numeric values, separated
by commas, could be extracted from the value of the Bit Stream process object:
@csv_text = TYPE_CAST( 'LN':POV'IX', "TEXT" )
@text_vector = SEPARATE(%csv_text, ",")
@analog_vector = DEC_SCAN(%text_vector)

The maximum length of the Bit Stream process object updated by the External OPC DA Client is
8189 bytes.

2. Output process objects

Table 2: Output process objects for the OPC Items with write-only or read-write access rights

Station Object type

SPA Object Command
SPA Digital Setpoint
SPA Analog Setpoint
IEC 61850 Object Command
IEC 61850 Digital Setpoint
IEC 61850 Analog Setpoint

OPC servers use standard OLE data types for OPC items. There is no strict correspondence
between OPC server data types and types of process objects, because all data coming from the
OPC server is converted by External OPC Data Access Client into the data type requested by
SYS600 for a certain kind of process object. SYS600 process object types are represented by
the following OLE data types:
• Single Indication, Double Indication, Block of Indications, Digital Input and Digital Setpoint
are mapped to VT_UI2
• Analog Input and Analog Setpoint are mapped to VT_R4
• Pulse Counter is mapped to VT_UI4
• Binary Command is mapped to VT_BOOL
• Bit Stream is mapped to VT_ARRAY of the source type.
• Req. type field contains a type which is requested for the selected type of process object.
• Canonical type field contains data type of the selected OPC item.
This information can be found in the Item Editor dialog of the External OPC Data Access
Client Configuration tool. It is not necessary that Req. type is equal to Canonical type, but
it should be possible to make a conversion between these types.

3. Custom STA object attributes (STA:S) can represent the OPC Items with read-write access
rights.

22 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

The OPC data items with read-write access rights can be represented by two SYS600 objects: input
process object for reading data and output process object for writing data. Whereas, the read only
and write only OPC Items can just be mapped in one input or output SYS600 object. The
configuration tool checks for the rules when creating or updating the configuration (parameter file).

In addition, OPC data items can be used to represent alarm flags of SYS600 process objects of
Digital Input and Analog Input types, which have already been connected to OPC Items. These alarm
flags indicate that one of the alarm limits is exceeded. There are four alarm limit types in SYS600:
Low Alarm, Low Warning, High Warning and High Alarm. Separate alarm flags are used for each of
them. There is a one-to-one correspondence between OPC Items and alarm flags. OPC Items
cannot be assigned to just some alarm flags of a certain SYS600 input process object and not to
others. Only a complete set of the four alarm flags can be used.

This section describes the mechanism of mapping OPC Items to STA:S attributes and process
objects. In the configuration tool, there are two methods of mapping:

• Manual mapping of process objects or custom attributes (STA:S) on OPC Items. The OPC Item
Editor dialog should be used for this purpose (main menu item Edit/Add Item).
• Importing process objects from the list file provided by the OPC PO List tool. The Import
Process Objects dialog should be used for this purpose (main menu item File/Import Proc
List).

Before mapping SYS600 process objects or custom attributes, the appropriate OPC Groups should
be created. An OPC group is a logical unit, which provides a way for the users to organize data. An
OPC Item must be included in an OPC group before it can be accessed by the OPC clients. All
access to OPC Items occurs via groups. The Add Group dialog is used to create the OPC group
(main menu item Edit/Add group). The following fields of this dialog should be filled in:

Update Rate The minimum period of time (in ms), in which the OPC server sends the updated OPC Item
values of the items included in the group to the client. In addition, it is the maximum period of
time, in which the OPC server updates its internal cache of the item values from the process
devices. In SYS600, the process objects mapped to the items in the group cannot be
updated faster than this parameter defines. The signal changes shorter than specified value
can get lost. For the measurements (analog signals). It is typical to use an update rate of
1000 ms, but for the state indications an update rate of 0 ms should be always used. The
default value is 0 ms.
Time bias The initial time bias (in minutes) for the group. The purpose of this parameter is to indicate
the time zone, in which the data (process object changes) was collected. The time bias is the
difference between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and local time. The timestamp
parameter for SYS600 is set according to the time zone specified in this parameter, i.e.
timestamp = UTC + Time Bias.
Percent deadband Another parameter defined for each OPC group. It should be in the range from 0 to 100. This
parameter defines how sensitive the updating items process on the OPC server is to small
fluctuations of the item value. The value 0 tells the OPC server to update its catch and to
send notifications to the client when any small modification of the item value occurs. Higher
values of this parameter allow avoiding unnecessary data sending after small fluctuations of
item values. Not all OPC servers support this feature.
If an OPC server supports this feature, deadband applies only to those items in the group
that have dwEUType attribute equal to 1-"Analog". For other items, and if the OPC server
does not support this feature, the percent deadband parameter is ignored. See the "OPC DA
2.0x Specification" document on the OPC foundation Web site: http://www.opcfoundation.org.

3.1.5.3 Manual mapping of process objects or custom station attributes GUID-526D05AC-9D1A-4F11-B851-F86A903E8C0E v1

The Item Editor dialog of the configuration tool is used for mapping the SYS600 objects to the OPC
data items, see Figure 13. When the appropriate OPC groups are created, mapping of the SYS600
process objects or custom attributes to the OPC Items can be started. Select an appropriate group
on the left side of the configuration tool's main window and select Edit/Add Item in the main menu to
open the Item Editor dialog.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 23

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

GUID-3AF579E0-771D-4C40-A3FA-9EF2EBE92A22 V1 EN-US

Figure 13: Item Editor dialog

An OPC Item or item property can be mapped to SYS600 Process Objects or to an STA object
attribute.

The following fields of this dialog should be filled in before the mapping can be done:

Item The name of the OPC Item. This field may be typed in manually or selected from the OPC
server address space by the Browse button. The Browse feature is accessed, if the
appropriate OPC server supports IOPCBrowseServerAddressSpace interface.
Property The name of the OPC Items property. This field may be typed in manually or filled in
automatically by selecting an OPC Item property in the Browse dialog. This field is empty
when an OPC Item, not an OPC Item property, is being mapped.
Req.Type The requested type of appropriate SYS600 object value. The value of the requested type is
sent to SYS600. This field may only be changed for STA:S attributes, that is when radio
button "Connect to SYS600 Custom STA Attribute" is selected. For process objects Req.
type, is predefined by the dependence of the process object type (the PT attribute of the
process object).
Disable write data Option for disabling local data conversion prior to writing data over OPC DA. This option is
conversion separately configurable for all items.

24 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

When Connect to SYS600 Process Object is selected:

Enable Input This option should be checked in order to map the OPC Item to the SYS600 input process
Process Object object. This check box is dimmed for OPC Items without read-access right.
Obj. type Is the type of SYS600 input process object.
Block Should be the same as the value of an OA attribute of the SYS600 input process object.
Bit Should be the same as the value of an OB attribute of the SYS600 input process object. This
field only has a meaning for SPA/ Single Indication and SPA/ Double Indication types.
Enable Output This option should be checked in order to map an OPC Item to the SYS600 output process
Process Object object. This check box is dimmed for OPC Items without write-access right.
Block Should be the same as the value of an OA attribute of the SYS600 output process object.

When Connect to SYS600 Custom STA Attribute is selected:

Name The name of the STA:S attribute. For example, if Name = AA, the user can address this
attribute from SCIL as STA2:SAA.
Index The STA:S attribute index. For example, if Name = AA and Index = 1, the user can address
this attribute from SCIL as STA2:SAA1. The index range is 0..65535. In case the attribute is
accessed from SCIL without index value, a default index = 0 is given by the base system.

In case the OPC item name connected to a custom STA attribute contains a substring
'Attributes\Transparent XSAT', a read operation to the same attribute must be performed
before a new write operation is accepted. Otherwise a specific error code 13260
SPAP_ATTRIBUTE_IS_WAITING_FOR_READ is returned to SCIL. This feature
becomes visible with the IEC 61850 OPC Server.

SYS600 process objects can be imported from an external file produced by OPC PO List Tool by
clicking the Import button. If the process objects have never been imported before, the File Chooser
dialog opens where the appropriate file is selected and opened (click Open). Otherwise the process
objects are read from the previously used file.

GUID-2A499309-FF1F-420F-AA0D-6B2B2D1D274F V1 EN-US

Figure 14: Import Process Objects dialog

When an object to be imported is selected and OK is clicked, the appropriate fields of the Item
Editor dialog are filled in automatically. For more information on importing SYS600 process objects,
see Section 3.1.5.4

When an OPC Item is connected to a SYS600 input process object of the Analog Input or Digital
Input type, the Alarm Items button is enabled. Now, the alarm flags of this object can be mapped to
the other OPC Items or to IEC 61850 Range Item.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 25

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

Click the Alarm Items button to open the OPC Alarm Items Editor dialog, see Figure 15.

GUID-CED6964C-1570-4A3B-B00D-00796851DF3C V1 EN-US

Figure 15: OPC Alarm Items Editor dialog

To enable the mapping to IEC 61850 Range Item, the Enable IEC61850 Range Data Attribute
Mapping radio button should be enabled.

To enable the mapping of alarm flags, the Enable limit value alarms mapping radio button should be
enabled. The meaning of the dialog field is identical to the Item and Property fields of the OPC Item
Editor dialog, and they can be selected from the OPC server address space by clicking one of the
Browse buttons. It is not possible to define less than four alarm flags. After all the Alarm Items are
filled in, click OK.

The limit value alarms do not correspond to IEC 61850 limits. For IEC 61850 systems
using IED measurement supervision with range reporting the Enable IEC 61850 Range
Data Attribute Mapping option should be used.

26 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

When all the fields of the Item Editor dialog have been filled in, the mapping is completed and OK
can be clicked. The newly created and mapped item is shown under the appropriate STA object,
under the appropriate OPC Group.

Some of the OPC Item properties cannot be validated in the OPC server. If an item
property has been selected in the Item field, after clicking OK, a warning dialog "The
OPC Item or property is NOT valid. Continue?" may appear. If this occurs, the item
property can still be mapped to a custom STA attribute. Mapping it to a process object
causes an error on this item property in the OPC client instance, which was started by
this configuration.

Example

The following is an example of mapping IEC 61850 measurement data with IED limit checking to
SYS600 process object through SYS600 IEC 61850 OPC Server.

Before starting this example, the following requirements should be fulfilled:

• IEC 61850 OPC Server is configured and connected to an IED supporting measurement limit
supervision.
• The SYS600 base system should be configured as in the example in Section 3.1.1.
• In the SYS600 Object Navigator, create an analog input process object with block address 45.

Once these actions are done, the following can be done:

1. Start the configuration tool (DAOCT.EXE).

2. Create a configuration file from the main menu File/New. Configure server properties for an IEC
61850 OPC Server (for example ABB.IEC61850_OPC_DA_Server.Instance[1].1).
3. Add STA 2.
4. Right-click the STA_(2) object and select Add group to open the Add Group dialog.

GUID-7AD92DC6-211A-4528-8254-DA193E1042CD V1 EN-US

Figure 16: Add Group dialog

5. Set the group name to ProcObjs and click OK.
Now the ProcObjs object is added under the STA (2) as shown in Figure 17.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 27

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

GUID-DD6D5C2F-9B9C-495D-BE39-D37E80BDE8E2 V1 EN-US

Figure 17: The main window after adding ProcObjs

6. To open the Item Editor dialog, activate the ProcObjs object on the left side of the main window
and select Edit/Add from the main menu, see Figure 18.

28 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

GUID-4E17A42A-F56E-48A8-9CEC-6C77DDD553CF V1 EN-US

Figure 18: Item Editor dialog

7. Click Browse. Select a measurement in the Available Items dialog and click OK.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 29

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

GUID-46FB96C5-639B-425A-8B98-72AEAF1503FC V1 EN-US

Figure 19: Available Items dialog

8. After clicking OK, the measurement is shown on the Item field in the Item Editor dialog, see
Figure 20.
9. Select the Connect to MicroSCADA Process Object radio button.
10. Check the Enable Input Process Object check box.
11. Select Analog Input in Obj. type drop-down list.
12. Fill in the other fields related to input process object.

30 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

GUID-62D27E26-15D1-4B13-B49A-F5DB1848DE53 V1 EN-US

Figure 20: Filling in the Item Editor dialog fields

13. Click the Alarm Items button to open the Alarm Items Editor dialog, see Figure 21.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 31

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

GUID-8AC0F897-0C72-40C6-A8BB-13F49C59E5DA V1 EN-US

Figure 21: Filling in the Alarm Item Editor dialog fields

14. In Alarm Item Editor dialog select Enable IEC 61850 Range Data Attribute mapping and
browse the appropriate measurement limit indication item in the Browse dialog.
15. Click OK in the OPC Alarm Items Editor dialog and then click OK again in the Item Editor
dialog.

32 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

GUID-7926BD77-8FD8-4604-A6DD-2D0CB4E1BF37 V1 EN-US

Figure 22: Main window after adding items

Mapped items can be seen on the left side of the main window, under ProcObjs object.

3.1.5.4 Adding device connection status item for system self supervision GUID-FCB8AE8E-2A12-4495-B722-7E83A0C7E6DD v1

In case the System Messages Enabled (SE) definition made in the CPI Node Properties dialog is
set to 4, the device connection status items must be added.

In case the System Messages Enabled (SE) definition made in the CPI Node Properties dialog is
set to 1, adding the device connection status items is not required. When SE=1, the OPC Item
Attributes\Device connection status has no special meaning and adding this item is not mandatory.

For more information about the differences between the SE=1 and SE=4 configurations, see Section
3.2 Starting from the command line.

Adding of the device connection status item is necessary for the correct operation of the
system self supervision (SSS).
If the status of the STA is not reported to be RUNNING in SE=4 configuration, the data is
not updated in the process database.

The item Attributes\Device connection status is provided by the IEC 61850 OPC Server and it is used
to report whether the OPC Server has a connection to the specified IED or not.

System events RUNNING and SUSPENDED are based on the updating of this item in the OPC
Server. If SE=4, each configured STA object must have a device connection status item configured.
Otherwise, the data points defined for the STA object are not updated to the process database. See
SYS600 Application Objects manual for more information about the predefined event channel
APL_EVENT and events RUNNING and SUSPENDED.

To add the device connection status item when creating a new configuration:

1. When creating the configuration manually, add an STA for each IED to be configured. The
number of STAs should equal the number of IEDs configured in the OPC Server. Each STA
must have at least one configured group.
2. Add the IED's device connection status item in a group of the IED's STA with the lowest update
rate.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 33

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

This can be done manually before saving the configuration. The device connection status item
for the IED in that STA is added automatically when saving the configuration. It is added to the
group with the lowest update rate. In case there are items from multiple IEDs under one STA,
the device connection status item is added to the IED with the maximum number of configured
items in that STA.
A message box is shown for the user to accept the adding of the device connection status item.

GUID-C5A74DE6-A2CB-4F7F-9565-C7C14CD93D4B V1 EN-US

Figure 23: Confirming the adding of the device connection status item
3. Confirm the adding of the device connection status item by clicking Yes for the indicated STA, or
Yes to All for all STAs.
If an existing configuration file with SE=4 is opened, the device connection status items are
added if necessary when the file is saved.
4. Verify the attributes for the device connection status item.
• Indication type is "I"
• Object type is single binary "SB"
• Address is allocated automatically. It is the maximum block address occupied by any item
in an STA +1. The block number is present, but it is meaningless if the SE value is 4, since
the process object is not updated.

3.1.5.5 Importing process objects from an external file prepared with OPC PO List
Tool GUID-0B5419D9-C58B-456A-AF08-14BFC6D37E74 v2

Before using this feature, prepare the process objects list file which contains information about the
process objects to be imported. This is a plain text file in which the process objects' attributes are
stored in comma-separated format. There are 8 columns for different attributes:

Table 3: PO list file format

“STA_UN“ UN attribute
“STA_TN” meaning of STA’UN’:BTN
“LN“ object name
“IX“ object index
“OX“ Signal text
“PT“ object type
“OA“ block address
“OB“ bit address
“OI” Object Identifier
“CX” Comment text
“RX” Filter text
“IN” OPC item name
“ATTR_NAME:VAL” User defined attribute name and its value (optional)

The OPC PO List tool can be used to create such a file. See Section 3.1.7 for details.

34 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
Instructions

The Import Process Objects dialog of the OPC DA Client Configuration tool is used for mapping
SYS600 objects to OPC data items.

When the OPC groups have been created, the SYS600 process objects or custom attributes can be
mapped to OPC Items. Select the appropriate group on the left side of the configuration tool main
window and select File/Import Proc List from the main menu to open the Import dialog. In this
dialog, select the file which has been prepared previously to see the list of available process objects,
see Figure 24.

GUID-B69E2818-03D9-429C-9A50-82F459FE9569 V1 EN-US

Figure 24: List of available process objects

If this dialog is started for the first time, select the file which has been prepared previously.
Otherwise, process objects are read from the last used file. Another file can be opened by clicking
the Select File button. When the process objects are loaded, select the process object(s) from the
list to be mapped to the OPC Items. Multiple selection is available.

When certain objects have been selected and OK is clicked, the following Figure 25 opens.

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GUID-2F215AD2-AFC2-4129-8F6E-FD471B1B528F V1 EN-US

Figure 25: Import Process Objects dialog

The selected process objects are shown in the Process Object group. The address space of the OPC
server is shown on the right side of the dialog (tree view). It is possible to filter the OPC items
displayed in this tree view by using the RX attribute, if it is not empty.

There are two filtering modes that are allowed. The LIB 5xx mode is filtering by using the first 30
positions from the RX attribute and the IEC 61850 mode is filtering by using 31-63 positions of the
RX attribute. When the filtering is enabled, the left tree contains only those items that satisfy the
selected condition. The RX string can consist of characters and wildcards "*". For mapping the
appropriate process object to an OPC Item or item property, double-click the item on the right side of
the dialog. After that, the Name field is filled and the Add button is activated.

If the imported SYS600 process object is of Analog Input or Digital Input type, OPC Items can be
assigned to the alarm flags of this object.

1. Click the Alarm Items button in the same manner as in the Item Editor dialog.
2. Add the mapped object by clicking the Next button, or return to the previously mapped object by
clicking the Back button, or skip the current object by clicking the Skip button.
3. When the process objects are mapped or skipped, the next selected process object is shown in
this dialog, and the mapping procedure can be continued.
• The whole mapping operation can be stopped by clicking the Cancel button. If some
objects have already been mapped, the following dialog is shown, see Figure 26.

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GUID-14BF42F7-BD26-491A-91EF-A23F15A8AEEB V1 EN-US

Figure 26: Save or discard the mapping results dialog

Click the Yes or No button, to save or discard the mapping results. To continue the
mapping of the process objects, click the Cancel button on this dialog.

Example:

The following is an example of importing SYS600 process objects and mapping them to OPC Items
of Matrikon OPC Simulation Server.

Before starting this example, the following requirements should be fulfilled:

• Matrikon.OPC.Simulation server should be installed. See the example in Section 3.1.5.

• The configuration file (matrikon_cfg.ini) should be prepared. See the example in Section 3.1.5.
• The SYS600 base system should be configured as in the example in Section 3.1.1.

When using the SYS600 Object Navigator, there are two process objects that should be created:

• SPA/Analog Input process object with the following attributes: PT=SPA/Analog Input, OA=801.
• SPA/Single Indication process objects with the following attributes: PT=SPA/Single Indicat.,
OA=802, OB=2.
• Export the created process objects from SYS600 to the PO list file (ObjPOList.pl) by using the
OPC PO List tool. See the description of PO List tool in Section 3.1.7.

When these procedures are done, the following actions can be taken:

1. Start the configuration tool (DAOCT.EXE).

2. Open the configuration file (matrikon_cfg.ini) from the main menu File/Open, see Figure 27.
3. Select the STA_(2) object on the left side of the main window. Then select Add group from the
main menu to open the Add Group dialog.
4. Set the group name to ProcObjs in the dialog and click OK.

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GUID-DD6D5C2F-9B9C-495D-BE39-D37E80BDE8E2 V1 EN-US

Figure 27: Main window with one empty group

5. Activate ProcObjs object on the left side of the main window and select File/Import Proc List
from the main menu. Select the file ObjPOList.pl in the Import dialog to open a dialog containing
a list of the available SYS600 objects, see Figure 24. This dialog contains the two process
objects (SPA/Analog Input and SPA/Single Indication) that have been created by using the
Object Navigator.
6. Select the two objects from the list and click OK.
The Import Process Objects dialog for the first object is opened, see Figure 28.

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GUID-C5842D4B-F0D4-4025-B121-86C522EFECA4 V1 EN-US

Figure 28: Import Process Objects dialog

7. Expand the Simulation Items and Random tree node and double-click the OPC Item
Random.Int2 on the right side of the dialog to fill in the Name field on the dialog and to activate
the Add button.
8. Click Next.
The first object (SPA/Analog Input) is mapped to the OPC Item Random.Int2. After that, the
dialog is refreshed automatically and the new imported process object (SPA/Single Indication) is
shown in the Process Object section. At the same time, Random.Int2 is marked as not allowed
(already used) on the right side of the window.
9. Double-click the OPC Item Random.UInt2 on the right side of the dialog to show the
Random.UInt2 item in the Name field and to activate the Next button. Click Next.
10. When the SPA/Single Indication object has been mapped to the OPC Item Random.UInt2, the
importing is complete.
On the left side of the main window, under ProcObjs group, there are now two mapped objects
for the ProcObjs group: Random.Int2 and Random.UInt2.

3.1.5.6 Automated External OPC Data Access Client configuration GUID-05DD24ED-9C8B-42E2-9868-A69E543C4F44 v1

This function is useful only in IEC 61850 based SYS600 systems. Similarly to importing process
objects, see Section 3.1.5.4, a process objects list file should first be prepared by using the OPC PO
List tool. The auto configure function can be applied to process objects that contain a reference to an
OPC item name in their IN attribute. This attribute is fulfilled by the SA-LIB objects when the IEC
61850 type process objects are created or imported to the SYS600 process database by using the
SCL Importer tool.

When a connection to the IEC 61850 server is established, the automated configuration can be
started by selecting File/Auto Configure from the main menu to open the Auto Configure dialog,
see Figure 29.

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GUID-4C3A7FA7-CCD4-4C36-B2E3-7F500F32427A V1 EN-US

Figure 29: Auto Configure dialog

All the fields in this dialog are filled in with the default values, but it is also possible to redefine them
manually.

Node Name The computer identifier in the network (name or TCP/IP

address).
OPC Server Prog ID By default, this is the name of the OPC server instance.
Process Object List File The name of the file containing a list of exported process
objects. By default, this is the last used file name. This is
a read-only field. To change this, click the Select file...
button.
OPC Item Name Delimiter (IN) The character used as a path delimiter in the IN attribute
of process objects.
Default OPC Group Name The name of OPC Group which contains the configured
items. Such a group is created for all the Unit Numbers
found in the Process Objects List file.
OPC Item Path Delimiter The character used by an OPC server as a path
delimiter.
Maximum number of LD occurrences Method This flag indicates the maximum number of logical device
occurrences under one STA.

During the auto configuration process, the tool reads process objects from the PO List file and maps
an OPC Item to each of them. The OPC Item name consists of Node Name, OPC Server Prog ID
and the IN attribute of the imported process object. The newly configured OPC Items are placed in
the Default OPC Group Name, which is located under the STA number corresponding to the Unit
Number of process object.

When all the fields of the Auto Configure dialog are completed and verified, click the Configure
button to start the automatic configuration process. The status of the configuration process and its
progress information is shown in the opening dialog.

A warning dialog may be displayed during the auto configuration process, see Figure 30

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GUID-66C13B36-A29F-4FBD-BABB-38ECF19D18F9 V1 EN-US

Figure 30: Auto Configure Confirmation dialog

Such a dialog with an appropriate message is displayed in the following cases:

• The OPC item name cannot be verified because the OPC server configuration does not contain
such an item or there is no connection to the OPC server.
• The OPC item has already been mapped to another process object.
• The process object or SM STA attribute has already been mapped to another OPC item.

The operation is confirmed by clicking Yes and canceled by clicking No, and the auto configuration
process is canceled by clicking Cancel. To apply the choice to all the similar situations, check the Do
not show this message again check box.

After the auto configuration process is finished, all the configured items are shown in the tree
structure on the left side of the main window.

3.1.6 Importing and Exporting OPC Items configuration GUID-1C1F3642-FF7F-4E57-B354-01FCDE8E465A v2

OPC DA Client Configuration Tool can be used to import the whole item configuration from a comma-
separated (CSV) file (main menu File/Import CSV file). The file can be prepared in any text editor or
Excel, or created in the same or previous session of the configuration tool.

The file has the following format:

Each record contains 7 or 8 fields, separated by commas. The fields should not contain quotation
marks. A record for an item mapped to a custom STA attribute has 8 fields:

1. Fully qualified OPC Item name.

2. The character I, P or R indicating whether the record describes Item, Item Property or IEC
61850 Range Data Attribute.
3. Required data type (for example VT_BSTR).
4. Object type as it is seen in the item editor dialog (Single Indication, Analog Input, Custom STA
attribute and so on).
5. "STA" followed by the STA number concatenated by an underscore ("_"), as it is seen on the left
side of the tool main window (for example STA_(2)).
6. Custom STA attribute in the form "STA:Sxx", where xx is the name of the attribute.
7. Address of the process object or STA attribute index (0 if the attribute is not indexed).
8. Name of the group to which the OPC Item belongs.

It is also possible to import a .csv file which contain UTF-8 BOM (Byte Order Mark) header, but the
actual contents of the file should contain only ASCII characters.

A record describing an item mapped to a process object has the same format as above, except field
6, which is not included. Therefore, the record has only 7 fields. The address field can be in the form
BLOCK:BIT for Single or Double indication objects or BLOCK for other Process Objects. The
following is an example of the CSV file rows:

Bucket Brigade.UInt2,I,VT_UI2,Custom STA

attribute,STA_(2),STA:SIM,0,Group_1
Bucket Brigade.Int4, I,VT_UI2, Single indication, STA_(2), 1700:0, Group_2

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The file can be prepared by using the configuration tool from the open configuration (main menu File/
Export CSV file). In both operations (Export or Import), the CSV file can be selected in the standard
Windows file chooser dialog. Both operations are enabled only if an existing configuration is open or
a new one is created in the tool session. Export file is saved as ASCII file, i.e. no UTF-8 header is
included.

3.1.7 OPC Process Object List tool GUID-14DB0D30-C178-4E2B-B088-98E801B85DBF v1

The OPC Process Object List tool (OPC PO List tool) can be used to make it easier to create
mapping between the OPC Items and SYS600 addresses (process objects). The tool produces a file
(OPCPOLIST.PL) in which available process objects are listed in comma-separated (CSV) format.
This file is then used by the OPC Configuration tool to select a process object and map it to an OPC
Item.

3.1.7.1 Introduction GUID-D5438DA5-2F10-4658-B81B-3D9C2CE23AB6 v1

The SYS600 External OPC Data Access Client uses its own parameter file. Along with other data,
this file contains mapping information on OPC Items and points in SYS600. These points are block
and bit addresses of the SPA type process objects in one of the SYS600 applications. The OPC DA
Client Configuration tool allows the manual customizing of these values for an OPC Item. Another
possibility is to import the list of available addresses from an external file, then select a row in the
imported table and assign an OPC Item to the block and bit addresses selected. The OPC PO List
tool makes it easy to create such an external file. The format of the file is described in Section
3.1.7.9.

The following actions can be done in the OPC PO List tool:

• Display the process objects filtered by the OX and RX attributes or by using the custom filter
• Browse process objects
• Set a new station number for the listed process objects
• Set filters
• Include and exclude an object into/from the output file
• Change the application from which the process objects are taken
• Save the Process Objects List
• Generate and assign new block and bit addresses for process objects that are included in an
export file

3.1.7.2 Start-up GUID-38C9FE9C-721D-4C9E-AA1F-07001222714F v1

OPC PO List tool is a Visual SCIL tool of SYS type in SYS600. It can be started from the Tool
Manager by double-clicking its icon:

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GUID-117D8C3B-C58B-4052-B6FE-4F0C285329CD V1 EN-US

Figure 31: Starting the OPC PO List tool from the Tool Manager

3.1.7.3 Browsing Process Objects GUID-4007975C-D1C3-45B7-86F8-9D591D52FB76 v1

The main dialog of the OPC PO List tool is a process objects navigator with a main table, a toolbar
and a menu, see Figure 32. At start-up, the tool reads the current application and shows the
available SPA type process objects.

There are five standard columns that are always shown: Process object (in ’LN’:P’IX’ format), the
Object Identifier of the process objects, signal text (OX), Block/Bit address and station (value of
STA’UN’:BTN). There is also one user-defined column (IX), where another process object attribute
can be listed.

GUID-A3B297B7-C50F-4FBF-8A10-746E6610BAC0 V1 EN-US

Figure 32: The main dialog of the PO List tool

The main table has a limited row count. If the number of possible process objects is more than this
value, then the full objects list is shown page by page. The full list can be navigated by using the

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Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
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toolbar buttons First, Previous, Next and Last. The maximum row count is specified by the
Table_PageSize parameter of the [PO_List] section in the OPCPOLIST.INI file in the user parameters
directory. The default page size is 100. The left part of the status bar at the bottom of the table shows
information about the number of the objects found and the currently displayed object numbers. The
application from which the process objects are taken is shown in the right part of the status bar.

It is possible to refresh the object list by reading objects from the current application or another
application by means of the File/Open menu command.

3.1.7.4 Setting filters GUID-19356616-FFFD-4A74-BDA3-F4FF8CAF079B v1

The process objects listed in the main table can be filtered by using the RX and OX attributes. The
Filters dialog is accessible from the toolbar button or from menu Edit/Filter, the Figure 33 is shown
when an option is selected.

GUID-E56F113B-C468-46CF-B8C2-87A38EC78D0F V1 EN-US

Figure 33: Setting filters

The conditions for the OX and/or RX attributes can be specified in this dialog. It is possible to select
objects which satisfy any or both of the specified conditions.

By default, all the objects shown in the main dialog are included in the output file. If the file
OPCPOLIST.PL already exists in the tool home directory, only those objects that are present in the
file, are marked as "included". The not included objects are dimmed.

By selecting the option "Do not show objects with empty IN attribute", the tool hides those objects
that do not have a value in IN (OPC Item Name) attribute. This setting is useful in the IEC 61850
based systems, because it hides unnecessary objects during signal engineering.

All the filters are saved in the OPCPOLIST.INI file in the user parameter directory.

By checking the Custom Filter check box the user can add a custom filter string to set various
conditions for the filtering process objects. This string uses the common syntax for a logical
expression, for example UN>1 AND LN == “TEST”.

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To define a Custom filter condition, click the browse button (Button with three dots) in the Filters
dialog > Custom Filter container.

The Custom Filter dialog opens.

GUID-7A5AE44E-ACFE-4FF6-B666-70AE89DD2771 V1 EN-US

Figure 34: Setting Custom Filter

In this dialog it is possible to define filter conditions by using attributes found in the process database
and by using a set of comparison operators and condition values. It is also possible to type in the
filter condition directly in the Filter text box.

When the filter dialog is opened, only the first drop-down list is enabled. It is possible to select any
attribute from the Attribute drop-down list. After the attribute is selected, the next drop-down list
becomes enabled. From this list, it is possible to select the comparison signs: < (smaller than), <=
(smaller than or equal to), = = (equal to), >= (bigger than or equal to), > (bigger than) or <>
(unequal). In the text box, it is possible to type any text.

To enter the next filter condition AND or OR has to be selected from the last drop-down list.

The chosen filter is added to the Filter text box when OK or Apply is clicked. Below are the
explanations for all buttons:

• OK adds the contents of all fields and combo boxes into the Filter text box and closes the
dialog.
• Apply adds the contents of all fields and combo boxes to the Filter text box, but does not close
the dialog. Another filter condition can be selected in the combo boxes and fields to append to
the existing filter conditions present in the Filter text box.
• Clear clears all fields and combo boxes.
• Cancel closes the dialog after confirming the update of the selected filter condition in combos.

When clicking Cancel, a message dialog opens to confirm whether the filter condition selected in
combo boxes and fields must be updated. If Yes is clicked, the Filter Text is updated with the
selected condition in combo boxes and fields. If No is clicked, the dialog closes without updating.

3.1.7.5 Setting a new station number GUID-792CD0E7-C205-4527-B1B3-D502C63E09CC v1

The station number of the process objects listed in the Station column in the tool window can be
modified. Select Edit /Set station number from the main menu, or click the right mouse button and
select Set Station Number... from the pop-up menu to open the dialog shown in Figure 35, in which a
station number can be chosen.

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GUID-29F4CFCC-E75F-4E09-A90C-EE343331BC07 V1 EN-US

Figure 35: Set Station Number dialog

The selected station number is assigned only for those objects marked to be included in the export
file.

3.1.7.6 Including / excluding Process Objects GUID-147CFC08-E158-4E5C-91AC-E060497B2307 v1

One or more process objects can be simultaneously included in or excluded from the output file.

To include process objects, select the table row(s) with the object(s) to include. Choose Edit/Include
Selected Objects in the menu or click the toolbar button. Or click the right mouse button and select
Exclude Selected Objects in the pop-up menu.

To exclude process objects, select the row(s) with the object(s) to exclude. Then select Edit/Exclude
Selected Objects menu option, click the toolbar button, or select the corresponding item in the pop-
up menu. All the excluded process objects are dimmed.

It is also possible to include or exclude all process objects simultaneously by selecting Edit/Include
All and Edit/Exclude All in the menu or in the corresponding pop-up menu.

If some of the process objects included do not have a valid station number, then the Set Station
Number dialog opens, see Figure 36.

GUID-E95B2942-F351-411D-A2B0-1E4B32831F0C V1 EN-US

Figure 36: Set Station Number dialog

3.1.7.7 Changing application GUID-294A0674-CDB0-44CA-B46F-0D54A0EE84AE v1

When the tool is started, it lists the objects for the current application. Later, the process object list
can be retrieved from another application by using the menu item File /Open or the toolbar button to
open the Open Objects List dialog, see Figure 37.

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GUID-217D6D4A-3BDF-4E71-B90B-7DC358168D33 V1 EN-US

Figure 37: Open Objects List dialog

The drop-down list displays the currently selected application. Another application can be selected
from the list.

3.1.7.8 Saving the Process Objects list GUID-225F936B-9687-4D4A-AF7A-CC66DBD1CC34 v1

The Process Objects list can be saved to the output file by selecting File /Save or by using the
toolbar button. It is also possible to select File /Save As to open the Save Objects List As dialog.
(See Figure 38)

GUID-9676FFF5-6DE7-411E-B20F-FBEE26437A6C V1 EN-US

Figure 38: Save Process Objects list as dialog

The name and location of the output file is defined in this dialog.

When the output file has been defined, click OK or select File /Save to save the Process Objects list.
The Figure 39 opens.

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GUID-26D81011-0EE3-440A-91B8-7482A445303F V1 EN-US

Figure 39: Save objects list dialog

The following options can be checked in the dialog:

• Save all objects, ignore the custom filtering

• Save only objects shown by using the current filters and marked as "included"

It is also possible to assign new block addresses and bit numbers for the process objects to be saved
by checking the Assign new block address and bit number check box in the Save dialog. The tool
generates them automatically.

Start range for the block can be assigned from 1 to 4094, depending on the number of the process
object in the list. If the assign range goes beyond 4095, a notification message is given. The default
start range is 1.

If this option is not selected, the tool validates the block and bit numbers of the process objects and
the Figure 40 is shown for each object with an invalid address:

GUID-E3582674-FDE6-4CD1-9232-FD06898C67B5 V1 EN-US

Figure 40: Invalid address dialog

It is possible to exclude objects with invalid addresses from the export file by clicking the Skip button,
or automatically generate the new address by clicking OK.

During the save operation the tool produces an output file named OPCPOLIST.PL to the folder sc\sys
\active\sys_. The format of the output file is described in Section 3.1.7.9. File is saved as ASCII file,
i.e. no UTF-8 header is included.

3.1.7.9 Formats for the output file GUID-4B729BD1-7A69-44E0-A308-8DD6A92F1F93 v2

The OPCPOLIST.PL file is a plain text file, in which process object attributes are stored in a comma
separated format. It is also possible to import a .pl file which contain UTF-8 BOM (Byte Order Mark)
header, but the actual contents of the file should contain only ASCII characters.

There are 10 columns for different attributes:

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"STA_UN" UN attribute
"STA_TN" Meaning of STA’UN’:BTN
"LN" Object name
"IX" Object index
"OX" Signal text
"PT" Object type 1)
"OA" Block address
"OB" Bit address
"OI" Object Identifier
“CX” Comment text
“RX” Filter text
“IN” OPC item name
"ATTR_NAME:VAL" User Defined attribute name and its value (optional)

1) This attribute does not depend on the SPA or other protocols. The SPA-type objects are filtered using the DX
attribute.

Examples:

The following is an example of the file contents:

2,2,"RIVH03_R1Z",135,"Output TS2",3,23,1,
"Rivers Winchester","","SPCJ4D61 FRFMFUIOUT","",AT:"04-12-28 17:48:02"
2,2,"RIVH03_R1Z",137,"Output TS3",3,23,2,"Rivers
Winchester","","SPCJ4D61 FRFMFUIOUT","",AT:"04-12-28 17:48:02"
2,2,"RIVH03_R2A",2,"Tripping of stage Io>",3,23,3,"Rivers
Winchester","","REJ511SB-AREJ511_1 FRFMFUITRP","",AT:"04-12-28
17:48:02"
2,2,"RIVH03_R2A",4,"Tripping of stage Io>>",3,23,4,"Rivers
Winchester","","REJ511SB-AREJ511_1 FRFMFUITRP","",AT:"04-12-28
17:48:02"
2,2,"TEST111",11,"Breaker open select command",5,0,16,"Rivers
IEC Q9",""," FPQB01COBC CSWI1.Pos.ctlSelOff","",AT:"04-12-28 17:48:02"
2,2,"TEST111",12,"Breaker close select command",5,1,16,"Rivers
IEC Q9",""," FPQB01COBC CSWI1.Pos.ctlSelOn","",AT:"04-12-28 17:48:02"
2,2,"TEST111",13,"Breaker open execute command",5,2,16,"Rivers
IEC Q9",""," FPQB01COBC CSWI1.Pos.ctlOperOff","",AT:"04-12-28
17:48:02"
2,2,"TEST111",14,"Breaker close execute command",5,5,16,"Rivers
IEC Q9",""," FPQB01COBC CSWI1.Pos.ctlOperOn","",AT:"04-12-28 17:48:02"

3.1.7.10 Viewing OPC signals GUID-A0F6682C-9C9B-4647-B121-2ABCFDBF04DC v1

If one or more OPC client instances are running, it is possible to see the process object states for the
objects involved in running OPC client configurations. To do this, select Tools/Signal Diagnostics
from the menu bar to open the Select Station Number and filter dialog, see Figure 41.

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GUID-EF2A6B21-FE9B-4D90-8190-6F0EDBF0A7BF V1 EN-US

Figure 41: Select Station Number and filter dialog

In this dialog, select the STA number of the process objects to be seen and set a custom filter to
narrow down the list to the process objects which have this station number, and click OK. The Signal
Diagnostics system tool is started and the process objects are loaded into this tool. The objects are
loaded from the application that is open in the PO List tool. The main window of the Signal
Diagnostics tool is shown below.

GUID-627A633A-6E21-42C9-990D-6227D39F89C4 V1 EN-US

Figure 42: Signal Diagnostics tool dialog

The process object values, states and time stamps are updated as soon as new events are received
from the OPC server.

3.2 Starting External OPC Data Access Client GUID-A30C86F0-4DDA-4D5C-8672-A7D3F5853C77 v1

There are three methods of starting the External OPC Data Access Client: starting from the system
command line, starting from a SCIL program and starting from the External OPC Data Access Client
Control Panel.

3.2.1 Starting from the command line GUID-18223B25-3806-4E48-9913-27EA0C5EE8CF v3

The following commands can be used in the External OPC Data Access Client type:

DAOPCCL -show | -id "id_name" { -start "conf_file_name" [-trace [level] |

-stop | -restart | -trace [on|off|high] }
-show : show information about all active instances
-id "id_name" : unique identifier of client instance (according to NT
file name conventions)

50 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

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1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 3
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-start "conf_file_name" : start instance with given config file

(according to NT file name conventions)
-stop [timeout] : stop instance. For forcing stop, timeout may be
specified (in sec.). If timeout is 0,infinite waiting
-restart : Restarts the running instance with id "id_name"
-trace [ normal | off | high | extreme] : switch tracing between
NORMAL , OFF (disabled level -default ), HIGH and EXTREME levels.
-se [1|4] :
-rm [0|1] :

Starting of the External OPC DA Client instance from the command line will make it run in
the context of current user. When this user logs out, the execution of the instance will
stop. See section 'Starting from a SCIL program' how to start the instance in the context
of the other SYS600 processes.

The status handling of the IEC 61850 devices is divided into two different modes. The
mode must be selected using a command line option "-se" that sets the node attribute
value SE accordingly.
The setting of "-se" can be done using the CPI Node properties dialog of the OPC DA
client Configuration Tool, or it can be read from the ini-file generated by the SCL Importer.

The modes are as follows:

With the setting "-se 1", the OPC item "Attributes\Device connection status" updates a process object
that has been configured for the item. There is no special handling for this item. This mode of
operation does not fully support the usage of System Self Supervision, since no RUNNING and
SUSPENDED events are generated by the External OPC DA client. This is the default mode of
operation. The functionality is the same with MicroSCADA versions prior to 9.3.

With the setting "-se 4", the OPC item "Attributes\Device connection status" does not update a
process object configured for the item, but it updates special process objects used by System Self
Supervision. Furthermore, if the "Device connection status" item indicates that the connection to the
IED is lost or established, events RUNNING and SUSPENDED are generated to the predefined
event channel APL_EVENT in the application that is configured for the External DA client. The
process objects used by SSS are of type ANSI Analog Input, UN=0, OA=1000+STA number and
ANSI Binary Input, UN=0, OA=1000+1000000hex+STA number. No more than one Device
connection status point should be configured for one STA object. If the STA object is reported to be
SUSPENDED, no data configured for the STA object is sent to the MicroSCADA application. See
SYS600 Application Objects manual for more information about the predefined event channel
APL_EVENT and events RUNNING and SUSPENDED.

The value given as a command line argument defines the value of the node attribute SE. This can be
read from the application by evaluating 'NETx:SSE', where "x" is the node number of the External DA
client instance. It is not recommended to modify the value of SE in runtime. If the "-se" parameter is
not defined, the value of SE is 1. In case the trace option is used, the trace option must be defined
before the "-se" option.

Other OPC servers than the IEC 61850 OPC Server do not usually provide the item
Attributes\Device connection status. In these cases, the setting "-se 1" must be used.

If the External OPC DA Client is started with trace 'extreme', a trace file containing the full
initialization is created. In the case of problems, this may reveal the cause. See section 'Starting from
External OPC Data Access Client Control Panel' for trace file details.

3.2.2 Starting from a SCIL program GUID-6F92AAD8-DCCA-43B0-A8CF-ECCBA7CB5C21 v3

The same commands can be executed by means of the OPS_CALL function in SCIL, for instance:

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Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

@a = OPS_CALL("daopccl -id <id_name> -start <file_name> -trace <trace

value> -se <se value>", 0)

or

@a = OPS_CALL("start daopccl -id <id_name> -start <file_name> -trace

<trace value> -se <se value>", 0)

External OPC DA Client instance should be started from APL_INIT_1:C or using #EXEC
in order to run in the context of permanent SYS600 processes. If External OPC DA Client
instance is started using SCIL statement #DO e.g. from test dialog, the instance will run
in the context of current user and its execution will stop when the user logs out.

Parameter -se is optional.

The SE (system message enabled) attribute can have the following values:

• 1 System message generation enabled (analog status points updated)

• 4 System message generation enabled (analog and binary status points updated)

If option "-se" is not defined and the configuration file is created with MicroSCADA version 9.2SP2 or
older, value SE=1 is used as the default, and the functionality is as in version 9.2SP2 and older. See
Section 3.2.1 for more information.

This line can be included in a Visual SCIL tool method or command procedure. For example, include
this command in the application initialization procedure (APL_INIT_... or LIB_INIT_...) to start the
External OPC Data Access Client automatically at the SYS600 start-up.

If the External OPC DA Client is started with trace 'extreme', a trace file containing the full
initialization is created. In the case of problems, this may reveal the cause. See section 'Starting from
External OPC Data Access Client Control Panel' for trace file details.

The same command line argument presented in Section 3.2.1, can be used when the External OPC
client is started from the SCIL application. In case System Self Supervision is used, the option "-se 4"
must be used.

To stop an External OPC Data Access Client, where "id_name" is the id of the instance:

@b=OPS_CALL(" daopccl.exe -id <id_name> -stop")

or

@b=OPS_CALL("start daopccl.exe -id <id_name> -stop")

To restart an External OPC Data Access Client, where "id_name" is the id of the instance:

@c=OPS_CALL("daopccl.exe -id <id_name> -restart")

or

@c=OPS_CALL("start daopccl.exe -id <id_name> -restart")

See the following examples of starting, stopping and restarting instances. In the examples the
<id_name> is IEC61850_1 and the configuration file path is c:\sc\sys\active\sys_\IEC61850_1.ini

Example 1

Start Instance:

daopccl -id IEC61850_1 -start c:\sc\sys\active\sys_\DAClients

\IEC61850_1.ini -trace high -se 1

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Instructions

The -trace switch is optional

Stop Instance:

daopccl -id IEC61850_1 -stop

Restart Instance:

daopccl -id IEC61850_1 -restart

Example 2

Using a SCIL command:

Start Instance:

@con=console_output(timems + " Start OPC DA Client for IEC61850")

@a=OPS_CALL("C:\sc\prog\OPC_Client\DA_Client\daopccl.exe -id IEC61850_1 -
start C:\sc\sys\active\sys_\DAClients\IEC61850_1.ini -trace normal", 0)

Stop Instance:

@a=OPS_CALL("C:\sc\prog\OPC_Client\DA_Client\daopccl.exe -id IEC61850_1 -

stop")

Restart Instance:

@a=OPS_CALL("C:\sc\prog\OPC_Client\DA_Client\daopccl.exe -id IEC61850_1 -

restart")

3.2.3 Starting from External OPC Data Access Client Control Panel GUID-B3BFA319-6E04-4796-8F6E-303D17BDCA64 v3

Run the DAOPCCP.EXE program to open the OPC DA Control Panel, see Figure 43.

GUID-84F99389-DE74-46FD-9FD9-4AD0A6FB52DA V1 EN-US

Figure 43: External OPC Data Access Client Control Panel

This dialog contains a list of the existing client instances. A new instance is started by clicking the
New Instance button to open the dialog and fill in the following parameters:

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Instance ID The name of the created instance.

Config File The name of configuration file, which can be selected by clicking the Browse button.
Tracing The level of tracing. A trace file with the same name as the Instance ID is written, if Normal,
High level, or Extreme is selected. The high level of tracing provides detailed information
about data transfer during run-time.
If the Extreme level is selected, the OPC DA writes the following information into the trace
log:

• Name of the item that received an update

• Its timestamp
• Value

The same information is written after an update has been transferred to the SYS600
application.
A trace file may indicate troubles in the ACP communication towards the base system. See
Section 3.9 for details.
The location of the trace file is '\sc\prog\OPC_Client\DA_Client', file trace_*.

In a normal situation, the Extreme level should not be set. It is intended for testing and
debugging purposes only.

When a corresponding name (ID) is selected from the list of External OPC Data Access Client
instances, the following actions are available for the existing instances:

• To change the trace level, click Trace and select a new level from the pop-up menu.
• To open the notification window, click Start Notify.
• To stop the client instance, click Stop.

If the External OPC DA client is started from the control panel, the value of SE is read
from the ini-file. If the definition "SystemMessagesEnabled" is not present in the ini-file,
the value of SE is 1.

• To restart the client instance, click Restart.

Use the SCIL command OPS_CALL to start the External OPC Data Access Client
permanently. See section 'Starting from a SCIL program' for details. Starting SCIL is
needed to get a full trace from External OPC DA Client start-up, too.
The External OPC Data Access Client Control Panel and the system command line are
meant only for the temporary startup of client instances.
Permanent start up allows the instance to run even when the user logs off and the
instance continues to run until the MicroSCADA service is running in the system.

When an External OPC DA Client instance is started with the New or Restart buttons in
the Control Panel, all process objects are updated. If the HA (History Activation) attribute
of the process objects is set to 2 - Update, useless events may be generated to the event
list.
To avoid this, setting HA to 1 - New Value is necessary for all process objects which may
generate events to the event list. All possible values for the process object attribute HA
are listed in the Application Objects manual.

3.3 Supervising DA Client GUID-F93E5C86-9317-4A19-9144-4FE0C48B9D33 v2

The supervision of the External OPC Data Access Client is done by reading the related Object Status
(STAn:SOS) attribute. In case a numerical value is received as a response to the STA:SOS request,

54 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

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the connection to the OPC DA client is OK. The existence of the OPC DA client is also supervised by
the node diagnostic of the base system and cyclically by the SSS (System Self Supervision).

When "System Messages Enabled" SE has the value 4, the STAn:SOS returns 0 when the
connection to the IED is OK and the connection between the OPC DA client and the configured OPC
server is OK. Otherwise, a value of 13251 = SPAP_DEVICE_SUSPENDED is returned.

The returned value of the STAn:SOS is the same as the value that is updated to the ANSI Analog
input process object described in Section 3.2.1, setting "-se 4". If SE is 4 and the application writes
value 1 to the OS attribute of the STA, the last object status and related RUNNING/SUSPENDED
information are retransmitted, and the SSS process object is updated. This writing may be needed
for each STA object after a HSB switch-over, and is always needed if proxy setup is used.

When an OPC DA Client instance is started, it updates and the ANSI Analog Input process object
UN=0, OA=6000+Node number, with value 10001 and the ANSI Binary Input process object, UN=0,
OA=6000+1000000hex+Node number with the value 1. These process objects are used by the SSS.
In general, the usage of SSS is recommended in the supervising of the External OPC DA Client.

When "System Messages Enabled" SE has the value 1 and the connection to the IED is lost, OPC
DA Client loops through all configured items and marks the corresponding process objects to status
OS=2 (Obsolete). In most cases, this happens when the OPC server has lost its connection to the
IED or a failure has occurred in the OPC server itself. SSS cannot supervise the behavior of the OPC
DA client if SE has the value 1.

3.4 OPC quality flags GUID-7FE16B4B-DB41-4E6D-80DB-D8414C082327 v2

OPC quality flags represent the quality state of an item's data value. The low 8 bits of the OPC
quality flags are currently defined in the form of three bit fields:

• Quality
• Substatus
• Limit status

The 8 quality bits are arranged as follows:

QQSSSSLL

Details of the OPC standard quality bits are represented in the following tables:

Table 4: Quality bit field

QQ BIT VALUE DEFINE SYS600 Object Status DESCRIPTION

(OS)
0 00SSSSLL Bad Depends on the Substatus Value is not useful for reasons indicated by
the Substatus.
1 01SSSSLL Uncertain Depends on the Substatus The quality of the value is uncertain for
reasons indicated by the Substatus.
2 10SSSSLL N/A Not used by OPC.
3 11SSSSLL Good 0 (OK) The Quality of the value is good.

If the quality is good for IEC 61850 OPC Server, the status returned to SYS600 depends
on the time quality. This is represented by the second of the high 8 bits which are not
used by other OPC servers. If this bit is set, the BAD_TIME status is reported to SYS600.
When the quality is not good, the time quality bit is ignored, since the OPC item value
quality has higher priority than the quality of time.

The layout of the Substatus field depends on the value of the Quality field.

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The used substatus values are listed below. A separate table is given for both configurations node
attribute RM bit 0 = 0 and RM bit 0 = 1.

Table 5: Substatus for bad quality when node attribute RM bit 0 = 1

SSSS BIT VALUE DEFINE SYS600Process Object DESCRIPTION

Status (OS)
0 000000LL Non-specific 1 (Faulty Value Status) The value is bad but no specific
reason is known.
1 000001LL Configuration 1 (Faulty Value Status) There is a server specific problem with
Error the configuration. For example, the
item is question has been deleted from
the configuration.
2 000010LL Not Connected 1 (Faulty Value Status) The input is required to be logically
connected to something but is not.
This quality can reflect that no value is
available at this time, for reasons like
the value may not have been provided
by the data source.
3 000011LL Device Failure 1 (Faulty Value Status) A device failure has been detected.
4 000100LL Sensor Failure 1 (Faulty Value Status) A sensor failure has been detected.
The Limits field can provide additional
diagnostic information in some
situations.
5 000101LL Last Known 1 (Faulty Value Status) Communication has failed. The last
Value known value is available.
6 000110LL Comm Failure 1 (Faulty Value Status) Communication has failed. No last
known value is available.
7 000111LL Out of Service 1 (Faulty Value Status) The block is off-scan or otherwise
locked. This quality is also used when
the active state of the item or the
group containing the item is inactive.
8-15 N/A 1 (Faulty Value Status) Not used by OPC.

RM bit 0 = 0 provides a quality handling which is backward compatible with versions prior to SYS600
9.3.

Table 6: Substatus for bad quality when node attribute RM bit 0 = 0

SSSS BIT VALUE DEFINE SYS600 Object Status DESCRIPTION

(OS)
0 000000LL Non-specific 10 (Not Sampled Status) The value is bad but no specific
reason is known.
1 000001LL Configuration 10 (Not Sampled Status) There is a server specific problem with
Error the configuration. For example, the
item is question has been deleted from
the configuration.
2 000010LL Not Connected 10 (Not Sampled Status) The input is required to be logically
connected to something, but it is not.
This quality can reflect that no value is
available at this time, for a reason
such as the value may have not been
provided by the data source.
3 000011LL Device Failure 10 (Not Sampled Status) A device failure has been detected.
4 000100LL Sensor Failure 10 (Not Sampled Status) A sensor failure has been detected.
The Limits field can provide additional
diagnostic information in some
situations.
Table continues on next page

56 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

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Instructions

SSSS BIT VALUE DEFINE SYS600 Object Status DESCRIPTION

(OS)
5 000101LL Last Known 1 (Faulty Value Status) Communication has failed. The last
Value known value is available.
6 000110LL Comm Failure 10 (Not Sampled Status) Communication has failed. The last
known value is not available.
7 000111LL Out of Service 10 (Not Sampled Status) The block is off-scan or otherwise
locked. This quality is also used when
the active state of the item or the
group containing the item is inactive.
8-15 N/A Not used by OPC.

Table 7: Substatus for Uncertain quality

SSSS BIT VALUE DEFINE SYS600 Object Status DESCRIPTION

(OS)
0 010000LL Non-specific 2 (Obsolete Status) There is no specific reason why the
value is uncertain.
1 010001LL Last Usable 2 (Obsolete Status) This value has stopped writing. The
Value returned value should be regarded as
stale. Note that this differs from a Bad
value with Substatus 5 (Last Known
Value). That status is associated
specifically with a detectable
communication error on a fetched
value. This error is associated with the
failure of some external source to put
something into the value within an
acceptable time frame.
2-3 N/A Not used by OPC.
4 010100LL Sensor Not 2 (Obsolete Status) Either the value has violated one of the
Accurate sensor limits (in which case the limit
field should be set to 1 or 2) or the
sensor is otherwise known to be out of
calibration via some form of internal
diagnostics (in which case the limit
field should be 0).
5 010101LL Engineering 2 (Obsolete Status) The returned value is outside the limits
Units defined for this parameter. Note that in
Exceeded this case (per the Fieldbus
Specification) the Limits field indicates
which limit has been exceeded but
does not necessarily imply that the
value cannot move farther out of
range.
6 010110LL Sub-Normal 2 (Obsolete Status) The value is derived from multiple
sources and has less than the required
number of Good sources.
7-15 N/A Not used by OPC.

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Table 8: Substatus for Good quality

SSSS BIT VALUE DEFINE DESCRIPTION

0 110000LL Non-specific The value is good. There are no special conditions.
1-5 N/A Not used by OPC.
6 110110LL Local Override The value has been overridden. Typically this means that the
input has been disconnected and a manually entered value
has been forced.
7-15 N/A Not used by OPC.

The Limit Field is valid regardless of the Quality and Substatus. In some cases, such as Sensor
Failure, it can provide useful diagnostic information.

Table 9: Limit bit field

LL BIT VALUE DEFINE DESCRIPTION

0 QQSSSS00 Not Limited The value is free to move up or down.
1 QQSSSS01 Low Limited The value has violated the lower limit.
2 QQSSSS10 High Limited The value has violated the high limit.
3 QQSSSS11 Constant The value is a constant and cannot move.

3.5 Quality handling with IEC 61850 OPC Server GUID-D36CEE37-E676-4F14-8D8B-0408B6946927 v1

When an External OPC DA client is used with the SYS600 IEC 61850 OPC server and the version is
9.3 FP2 or newer, the quality of the data item from the IEC 61850 device updates the corresponding
process object attributes as follows:

Table 10: IEC 61850 quality to Process Object Attributes

IEC 61850 Quality bit MicroSCADA process object attribute

detailQual.overflow OF
detailQual.outOfRange OR
source SB
operatorBlocked BL
test TM

Values of the attributes are 0 when the corresponding quality bit is not set, and 1 when the
corresponding quality bit is set.

In addition to the table above, the 13-bit IEC 61850 Quality is mapped as a whole to the
MicroSCADA process object attribute QL. Attribute QL contains 16 bits and the IEC 61850 quality is
shifted left by 3 bits (and padded with zeros) with most significant bit left. With versions 9.4FP2HF3
and newer, bit 4 (Inaccurate in 61850) of attribute QL is never set since it is used to indicate that the
update is originated from general interrogation. The attributes OF, OR, SB, BL, TM and QL are
updated in a same way with following input type process objects: single and double indications,
analog value, digital value and pulse counter value. This functionality is present without any
configuration and it cannot be disabled.

In case the OPC update is a result of general interrogation with IEC61850 OPC Server, the CT
attribute of the process object is updated with cause of transmission value 20 (interrogated),
otherwise it is updated with value 3 (spontaneous). This functionality is the same with all data types.
If the update has been of type 'Buffered', the value of the CT attribute is added with 128 (bit 7).

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3.6 Quality Handling, other OPC Servers GUID-EDF2B62E-D67B-4789-92A1-04506EEAF4F9 v1

When an External OPC DA client is used with other OPC Servers but SYS600 IEC 61850 OPC
Server, the quality handling is different, see table below. OS handling is similar in all OPC servers
including SYS600 IEC 61850 OPC Server, but process object attributes SB (Substituted), OR (Out of
Range) and BL (Blocked) are updated based on sub-statuses of the OPC Qualities:

GUID-1F23F08F-6E59-4DF3-A687-F852AA2D63FC V1 EN-US

Figure 44: Quality mapping, other OPC Servers but IEC 61850

This means that

• SB is set when OPC quality of the item is GOOD and its sub-status is 6, Local Override
• BL is set when OPC quality of the item is UNCERTAIN and its sub-status is 1, Last Usable or
OPC quality of the item is BAD and its sub-status is 7, Out of Service
• OR is set when OPC quality of the item is UNCERTAIN and its sub-status is 5, Engineering
Units Exceeded

The mentioned attributes SB, OR and BL are set to '0' when mentioned sub-statuses are not
reported. The meaning of OPC sub-statuses are described in detail in chapter 'Quality handling with
IEC 61850 OPC Server'.

RM (Running Mode) attribute, Bit 1, controls if QL (Qualifier) attribute of the process object is
updated. If RM bit 1 is set, QL (Word) is updated followingly:

• Lower byte (bits 0..7) of QL is updated using standard OPC Quality, i.e. Quality, Sub-status and
Limit fields
• Upper byte (bit 8..15) of QL is updated using the vendor specific byte in the OPC quality

RM attribute setting is done from command line or from the configuration file.

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QL can be used e.g. make project specific quality mapping to NCC protocols. If RM bit 1 is 0, QL
attribute of the process object is not updated.

3.7 Buffered events GUID-D057A170-9D8A-4BD9-BFF8-336C22C7D3AB v3

With some OPC servers, duplicate events may be received from the underlying process. E.g. with
SYS600 IEC 61850 OPC Server duplicate events can be received from connected IED buffers when
the OPC server is restarted or resynchronization of data with connected IEDs fails after a
reconnection. Since these retransmitted events may be very old, filtering is needed to not display the
duplicates in MicroSCADA Event List.

For event data sent via SYS600 internal protocol ACP communication to the process database there
is a flag indicating that the event is buffered (BE). MicroSCADA base system will discard the events
marked buffered (BE=1) which are older than the current valid value (with OS=0) in database. In
order to identify and filter out duplicate events, External OPC Data Access Client sets the BE flag for
OPC data change events from OPC server based on event timestamp. BE=1 is set if the event
timestamp is older than a compare timestamp of External OPC Data Access Client.

BE is not set for data received via OPC refresh. E.g. when setting UP=1 for a STA unit in
MicroSCADA the current data from the OPC server is refreshed and sent without BE=1
regardless of the timestamp of the data item.

For comparing event timestamps a STA specific compare timestamp is used. The compare
timestamp is initialized to External OPC Data Access Client startup time and updated to the
connected OPC server startup time if it is newer. If a 'Device connection status'-item (DCS) is
configured for the STA the compare timestamp will be updated to the timestamp of DCS=TRUE
change. All events older than the connection time will be marked with BE=1. If DCS is not configured
or System Messages Enabled equals to 1, events older than External Data Access Client / OPC
server startup time are marked with BE=1.

If External OPC DA Client is connected to IEC61850 OPC Server and SYS600 version is 9.4FP2HF3
or newer, bit 15 of the quality field of the OPC update indicates that the update is originated from the
general interrogation of the IEC61850 report control block initialization. These updates are never
marked as 'buffered' and they will update the process object as such.

If the loaded configuration file from .ini file contains setting "HistoricalEventsAsBuffered=No" in [OPC]
section, the timestamp comparison mechanism above is not used and the duplicates are not filtered.
With this configuration, the functionality is similar to version 9.3FP3 and older. This setting is worth to
consider if the timestamps of the subscribed OPC items are permanently invalid and the timestamp
based duplicate filtering cannot be used. If setting HistoricalEventsAsBuffered does not exist or it is
set to "Yes", duplicate filtering as described above is used. Please note that updating the .ini file from
configuration tools may overwrite this setting. In case of the IEC61850 OPC Server, setting 'Discard
Old Buffered Events' in IEC61850 OPC Server configuration can also be used to eliminate duplicate
events. See manual 'SYS600 IEC61850 Master Protocol (OPC)' for more details.

If all Analog and Pulse counter events should be transferred to the process database, see also
parameter 'QueueUpdatesOfAllDataTypes' defined to [OPC] section of the used .ini-file.

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3.8 OPC error codes GUID-EAD3559E-50C5-4D3A-BB97-99FA2778E7F9 v1

Table 11: Standard COM errors that are used in OPC servers

Error Description
E_FAIL Unspecified error.
(0x80004005)
E_INVALIDARG The value of one or more parameters is not valid. This is
(0x80000003) generally used in place of a more specific error where
problems are unlikely or easy to identify (for example
when there is only one parameter).
E_NOINTERFACE No such interface supported.
(0x80000004)
E_NOTIMPL Not implemented.
(0x80000001)
E_OUTOFMEMORY Not enough memory to complete the requested
(0x80000002) operation. This can happen any time the server needs to
allocate memory to complete the requested operation.
CONNECT_E_ADVISELIMIT Advise limit exceeded for this object.
(0x80040201)
OLE_E_NOCONNECTION Cannot Unadvise - there is no existing connection.
(0x80040004)
DV_E_FORMATETC Invalid or unregistered format specified in FORMATETC.
(0x80040064)

Table 12: OPC-specific errors

Error Description
OPC_E_BADRIGHTS The Items AccessRights do not allow the operation.
(0xC0040006)
OPC_E_BADTYPE The server cannot convert the data between the
(0xC0040004) specified format/ requested data type and the canonical
data type.
OPC_E_DUPLICATENAME Duplicate name not allowed.
(0xC004000C)
OPC_E_INVALIDCONFIGFILE The server's configuration file is in an invalid format.
(0xC0040010)
OPC_E_INVALIDFILTER The filter string is not valid.
(0xC0040009)
OPC_E_INVALIDHANDLE The value of the handle is invalid. Note: a client should
(0xC0040001) never pass an invalid handle to a server. If this error
occurs, it is due to a programming error in the client or
possibly in the server.
OPC_E_INVALIDITEMID The item ID does not conform to the server's syntax.
(0xC0040008)
OPC_E_INVALID_PID The passed property ID is not valid for the item.
(0xC0040203)
OPC_E_NOTFOUND Requested Object (for example a public group) was not
(0xC0040011) found.
OPC_E_PUBLIC The requested operation cannot be done on a public
(0xC0040005) group.
OPC_E_RANGE The value is out of range.
(0xC004000B)
Table continues on next page

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 61

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Section 3 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A
Instructions

Error Description
OPC_E_UNKNOWNITEMID The item ID is not defined in the server's address space
(0xC0040007) (on add or validate operations) or no longer exists in the
server's address space (for read or write operations).
OPC_E_UNKNOWNPATH The item's access path is not known to the server.
(0xC004000A)
OPC_S_CLAMP A value passed to WRITE was accepted but the output
(0x0004000E) was clamped.
OPC_S_INUSE The operation cannot be performed because the object
(0x0004000F) is being referenced.
OPC_S_UNSUPPORTEDRATE The server does not support the requested data rate but
(0x0004000D) will use the closest available rate.

3.9 CPI Exceptions GUID-0ED7ACBF-2EFC-4E61-9864-8BE981065F49 v1

If there are problems in the ACP-communication across the CPI interface towards the process
database, these problems are reported as exceptions in the trace log. Usually, this means
configuration inconsistencies in the system. The following exception codes are used:

Table 13: CPI Exceptions

Exception Description
1 (TCP/IP error) Indicates an error in LAN connection towards the base
system. Consider using the local socket 127.0.0.1 if
possible.
2 (No reply error) The base system has not responded to ACP messaging.
May indicate incorrect values either in parameter Base
Node Number or parameter Base Application.
6 (Application error) The base system has responded with an error code to
ACP messaging. Usually, this indicates an inconsistency
in the base system STA object configuration. Either the
STA object does not exist, or its node definition is not in
line with the Own Node Number of this External OPC DA
Client instance. Check the parameter Base Node
Number as well.
7 (Send error) ACP message sending has taken an unusually long time.
Indicates an error in LAN connection or lack of
resources. Check Windows and SYS600 functionality in
general.

62 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Section 4
Technical description

Section 4 Technical description GUID-3A5AFB3D-8455-4D2A-84BA-A864E5B520A4 v1

4.1 OPC DA Client software components GUID-8A25FDE6-1878-453B-8F65-B3A3AA91A6FF v1

OPC DA Client package includes three program modules:

1. DAOPCCL.EXE
This is a SYS600 OPC DA Client, which provides access to various OPC- enabled devices from
SYS600 applications. Another purpose is to give access to communication links for SYS600
based tools, when the connectivity to, for example LON and SPA devices, is granted by an OPC
server, instead of the SYS600 communication services (like PC-NET). This is a console
application with full integrity of the command line interface.
2. DAOPCCP.EXE
This application provides a GUI interface for the SYS600 OPC DA Client. It allows starting,
stopping and restarting of OPC DA Client Instances. The user can also start and stop the trace
monitoring on the fly.
3. DAOCT.EXE
This is the SYS600 OPC DA Client Configuration Tool. This tool allows creating and modifying
parameter files that are used by the SYS600 OPC DA Client program. The tool allows loading
OPC servers and browsing the server address space. Alternatively, it is possible to enter item
names manually. This tool helps create and modify OPC groups, add OPC items to the groups
and connect those items to SYS600 objects (process objects or custom STA:S attributes).

4.2 Visual SCIL tools GUID-588CFDF7-25E9-4283-BCA5-B641610518E9 v1

The visual SCIL part of the External OPC Data Access Client implementation includes one tool:

• OPC Process Object List Tool

The VSO file is OPCPOLIST.VSO, the initialization file is OPCPOLIST.INI. These two files can be
placed in any path accessible for SYS600, for example in the SC\OPC\ directory.

OPC PO List tool is a SYS type tool. It can be started from the Tool Manager. To do this, its shortcut
should be added to one of the pages in the Tool Manager main dialog. To make the last action easier,
the tool should be registered in the \SC\STool\Misc\TOOLS.INI file:

[OPC_POLIST]

Tool_Dir_ = \SC\OPC

The \SC\OPC path is shown here only as an example. It should be the actual path to the VSO and
INI files of the tool. If the tool is registered in the TOOLS.INI file, it is added to the available tools list
in the Add tool dialog of the Tool Manager. See SYS600 System Configuration for details about
working with the Tool Manager.

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 63

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
64
1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A Index

Index

A Enable Input Process Object..................... 25, 30

Add STA.......................................................... 17 Enable limit value alarms mapping..................26
Alarm flags.................................................23, 36 Enable Output Process Object........................ 25
Alarm Items......................................... 26, 31, 36 Exception...................................................54, 62
Alarm Items Editor........................................... 31 Exclude process objects..................................46
Alarm limit types.............................................. 23 F
All Events updated...........................................60 Filter text....................................................34, 49
Analog buffering.............................................. 21 Formats........................................................... 48
Analog Input........................................ 23, 30, 36
Array handling................................................. 22 G
Auto Configure.................................................39 General interrogation.................................20, 58
Auto Confuguration process............................ 40 Group...............................................................23
Available Items................................................ 29 H
Available Servers.............................................13
HistoricalEventsAsBuffered....................... 12, 60
B HSB switch-over.................................. 20, 21, 55
Back Application Number................................ 12 HSB System.................................................... 21
Back IP Address.............................................. 12 I
Back Node Number......................................... 12
Back Station Number.......................................12 Import.............................................................. 25
Base Application Number................................ 12 Importing process............................................ 34
Base IP Address..............................................12 Importing process objects................................23
Base Node Number......................................... 11 Import Process Objects................................... 38
Base Station Number...................................... 12 IN............................................................... 34, 49
Base system configuration................................ 9 Include process objects................................... 46
Bit.................................................................... 25 Index................................................................25
Bit address.................................................34, 49 Input process objects.......................................21
Bit Stream........................................................22 Invalid address................................................ 48
BL.................................................................... 59 Item..................................................................24
Block................................................................25 Item Editor................................................... 9, 23
Block address............................................ 34, 49 IX............................................................... 34, 49
Blocked............................................................59 K
Browsing process objects................................43 Keep events.....................................................21
Buffered........................................................... 58
Buffer size........................................................21 L
LN.............................................................. 34, 49
C location of the trace file....................................54
Cause of transmission..................................... 58
Change application..........................................46 M
Circular Buffering.............................................20 Main window..............................................28, 33
Comment text............................................ 34, 49 Mapping...........................................................23
Configuration tool............................................ 37 Mapping of process objects.............................23
confirmation dialog.......................................... 40 Matrikon OPC Simulation Server...............13, 37
Connect to MicroSCADA Process Object........30 Maximum buffer size....................................... 21
Connect to SYS600 Custom STA Attribute..... 25 Maximum length of Bit Stream........................ 22
Connect to SYS600 Process Object................25 MS Max Reconnections...................................12
CPI Exception............................................54, 62 N
CPI interface.................................................... 11 Name............................................................... 25
CPI Node Properties........................................15 No Buffering.....................................................20
CpiTimeout...................................................... 12 Node Name..................................................... 40
CT....................................................................58 Normal Buffering..............................................20
Custom STA object attributes.......................... 22
CX..............................................................34, 49 O
OA............................................................. 34, 49
D OB............................................................. 34, 49
DAOCT.EXE........................................ 13, 27, 37 Obj. type.......................................................... 30
Data quality......................................................55 Object index...............................................34, 49
Data refresh.....................................................20 Object name.............................................. 34, 49
Default OPC Group Name...............................40 Object type................................................ 34, 49
deltaT...............................................................21 ObjPOList.pl.................................................... 37
Device connection status item.........................33 OI.....................................................................34
Device connection status item configuration... 33 OPC arrays......................................................22
Digital Input................................................23, 36 OPC DA Client Configuration Tool...................10
Disable Device Refresh................................... 20 OPC DA Client Control Panel..........................50
E OPC DA Client package.................................. 63
Enable Auto Refresh....................................... 19 OPC DA Control Panel.................................... 53

MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5 65

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
Index 1MRK 511 640-UEN Rev. A

OPC data items with read-write access rights.23 Sub-status....................................................... 59

OPC- enabled devices.....................................63 Substituted.......................................................59
OPC group.......................................................23 SYS_BASCON.COM.........................................9
OPC Groups.................................................... 23 System Messages Enabled....................... 55, 60
OPC Item access rights...................................21 System Messages Enabled (SE)..................... 11
OPC Item icons............................................... 17 System Self Supervision..................................55
OPC item name......................................... 34, 49 T
OPC Item Name Delimiter (IN)........................ 40
OPC Item Path Delimiter................................. 40 Time bias......................................................... 23
OPC items....................................................... 21 Timeout CPI.....................................................12
OPCPOLIST.PL......................................... 42, 48 trace file......................................... 51, 52, 54, 62
OPC Process Object list tool........................... 42 trace file location..............................................54
OPC quality flags.............................................55 tracing..............................................................52
OPC Server Prog ID........................................ 40 Troubles in ACP communication............... 54, 62
OPC Servers....................................................11 U
OPS_CALL function........................................ 51 UN attribute............................................... 34, 49
OR................................................................... 59 UP....................................................................20
OS............................................................. 54, 56 Update Rate.................................................... 23
OS Reading..................................................... 54
OS Writing....................................................... 55
Out of Range................................................... 59
Output process objects....................................22
Own Node Number.......................................... 11
Own Station Number....................................... 11
OX....................................................... 34, 44, 49
P
Percent deadband........................................... 23
PO............................................................. 34, 37
Primary SYS600 base system.........................12
Process Object List File...................................40
Process objects list file.................................... 34
Process object status...................................... 56
Property........................................................... 24
proxy................................................................55
PT.............................................................. 34, 49
Pulsecounter buffering.....................................21
Q
QL.............................................................. 11, 59
Qualifier..................................................... 11, 59
Quality............................................................. 55
QueueUpdatesOfAllDataTypes................. 21, 60
R
Req. Type........................................................ 24
RM................................................................... 59
Running Mode........................................... 11, 59
RX........................................................34, 44, 49
S
save process objects....................................... 47
Save Process Objects list................................47
Saving..............................................................47
SB....................................................................59
SE....................................................................55
Secondary SYS600 Pro base system............. 12
Server properties............................................. 14
Server Properties dialog.................................. 13
Set filters..........................................................44
Set station number.......................................... 45
Signal text..................................................34, 49
Simulation server.............................................12
SPA stations................................................ 9, 12
SPA type..........................................................43
SSS................................................................. 55
SSS object updating........................................ 55
STA_TN..................................................... 34, 49
STA_UN.....................................................34, 49
Starting OPC DA Client................................... 50
Station Status.................................................. 54

66 MicroSCADA X SYS600 10.5

External OPC Data Access Client
© 2023 Hitachi Energy. All rights reserved.
67
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