DNP3 Outstation

Warning
 This page describes capabilities only in the development branch. You must checkout the development branch to use these capabilities.

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OpenPLC can be configured as a DNP3 outstation (slave). An outstation is typically controlled by a master, and performs local measurement and control. The master may send control requests to the outstation and the outstation reports the status of controls and measurements back to the master.

Tip

DNP3 outstation is not supported on Windows.

Configuring DNP3 Outstation

To use OpenPLC as a DNP3 outstation, you must:

This information is defined in the config.ini configuration file in the dnp3s section.

Binding DNP3 Objects to PLC Addresses

OpenPLC supports a flexible binding between PLC addresses and DNP3 points.

Each bind_location key defines a one-way binding between a PLC address and DNP3 point. The direction of the binding depends on the DNP3 group (described below).

The value of bind_location is an order-sensitive, comma-separated triple defining the name of the PLC address, the DNP3 group and DNP3 index.

[dnp3s]
enabled = true
bind_location = name:%IX1.0,group:12,index:0
bind_location = name:%QW1.0,group:20,index:3

The above example defines binds two PLC addresses to two DNP3 points.

Binary Output Command (Group 12)

Binary output commands are used to send control requests from the master to the OpenPLC outstation. OpenPLC supports the following variations for the Control Relay Output Block group:

Binary output commands can be bound to BOOL PLC addresses. Except for the most significant place (left-most), the hierarchical address place must be 0. For example, the following is a valid binding:

bind_location = name:%IX1.0,group:12,index:0

Binding to %IX1.2 is not valid because the second most-significant place is non-zero (2);

The DNP3 binary output command supports several values. The DNP3 value LATCH_ON is mapped to TRUE. Any other value is mapped to FALSE.

Analog Output (Group 41)

Analog output commands are used to send analog (numeric) data from the master to the OpenPLC outstation. OpenPLC supports the following variations of the Analog Output group:

Analog outputs can be bound to the following PLC elementary data types:

Bit-string Signed Integer Unsigned Integer Floating point
BYTE, WORD, DWORD, LWORD INT, SINT, DINT, LINT, INT, SINT, DINT, LINT REAL, LREAL
Important
 In OpenPLC DNP3 object values are bound to PLC addresses through a double precision floating point value. This results in loss of precision for 32-bit integral values.
Important
 PLC addresses are updated via a static cast from double to the desired PLC type. The bound value is undefined if the DNP3 object value is out of range for the bound PLC addresses. For example, 1e9 is within the range of DNP3 object group 41 variation 1 (32-bit signed integer) but it out of range of IEC type `SINT` (8-bit signed integer). The binding of the values is undefined. It is your responsibility to ensure values written via DNP3 are in range for the destination type.

Binary Input (Group 1) and Binary Output Status (Group 10)

Binary input and binary output status are used to send Boolean information from the OpenPLC outstation to the master. BOOL PLC addresses an be bound to binary input and binary output status points.

Tip

Normally, binary output status values are associated with a binary output command (group 12). OpenPLC does not enforce such a binding. If this is desired, you must implement this in your IEC application.

Analog Input (Group 30) and Analog Output Status (Group 40)

Analog input and analog output status are used to send floating point information from the OpenPLC outstation to the master.

PLC addresses of the following elementary data types can be bound to counter and frozen counter points:

Bit-string Signed Integer Unsigned Integer Floating point
BYTE, WORD, DWORD, LWORD INT, SINT, DINT, LINT, INT, SINT, DINT, LINT REAL, LREAL
Tip

Normally, analog output status values are associated with an analog output (group 41). OpenPLC does not enforce such a binding. If this is desired, you must implement this in your IEC application.

Counter (Group 20) and Frozen Counter (Group 21)

Counter and frozen counter are used to send fixed-point information information from the OpenPLC outstation to the master.

PLC addresses of the following elementary data types can be bound to counter and frozen counter points:

Bit-string Signed Integer Unsigned Integer Floating point
BYTE, WORD, DWORD, LWORD INT, SINT, DINT, LINT, INT, SINT, DINT, LINT REAL, LREAL