Identifying improper cabling of devices
View Patent ↗Systems and methods are disclosed for identifying improper cabling of control system devices connected to redundant communication networks of distributed control systems. In an embodiment, a receiving device receives messages including a sender identification or source address, and a network or associated device port identification, from sending devices, over redundant networks. The receiving device determines a connect status indicating whether a message was received on a particular device port, and an error event indicating whether the port is associated with the network identified in the message. A system diagnoses an improper communication path between devices and produces an indication of a location and/or type of improper cabling. A method supplants error events with error rates calculated as a probability of receiving messages on a device port not associated with the network identified in a received message. The method compares the error rates to error thresholds to identify improper cabling.
1. A method for identifying improper cabling of devices connected to redundant communication networks, the method comprising:
in response to receiving, via a receiving port of a receiving device, from a first sending device, a message including a network identifier, establishing, by the receiving device, a first connect status;
in response to determining that an identifier of the receiving port does not match the network identifier, establishing a first error event;
in response to receiving, via the receiving port of the receiving device, from a second sending device, a second message including a network identifier, establishing, by the receiving device, a second connect status;
in response to determining that the identifier of the receiving port does not match the network identifier of the second message, establishing a second error event; and
identifying an improper cabling at the receiving device and/or the first sending device, or the second sending device based on one or more of:
the first connect status;
the second connect status;
the first error event; and
the second error event.
2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising:
receiving, via at least one receiving port of the receiving device, a plurality of messages from the first and/or second sending devices;
determining, for each receiving port, a first and second error rate related to a number of error events established for the plurality of messages received from the first and/or second sending devices; and
identifying an improper cabling at the receiving device and/or one of the first and second sending devices based on the first and second error rates.
3. The method according to claim 2 , comprising:
identifying an improper cabling at the receiving device and/or at least one of the first and second sending devices by comparing the first and/or second error rates with error thresholds.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the redundant communication networks are part of a Substation Automation (SA) system.
5. The method according to claim 4 , comprising:
configuring the receiving device and the first and/or second sending devices as supervising and supervised Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED) by an IEC 61850 SCL configuration file.
6. A device for identifying improper cabling of devices connected to redundant communication networks, the device comprising:
means for establishing a first connect status and/or a second connect status in response to receiving, at the device, a message including a network identifier from a first sending device and/or a second sending device;
a receiving port for establishing a first error event and/or a second error event in response to determining that an identifier of the receiving port does not match a network identifier of the received message; and
cabling connected to at least one of the device, the first sending device, or the second sending device,
wherein the device is configured to identify an improper cabling based on one or more of:
the first connect status;
the second connect status;
the first error event; and
the second error event.
7. The device according to claim 6 , comprising:
an IEC 61850 SCL configuration file for configuring the device as a supervising Intelligent Electronic Device (IED).
8. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon, program instructions for identifying improper cabling of devices connected to redundant communication networks, that, if executed by one or more communicating data processing units, cause the data processing units to perform operations comprising:
in response to receiving, via a receiving port of a receiving device, from a first sending device, a message including a network identifier, establishing, by the receiving device, a first connect status;
in response to determining that an identifier of the receiving port does not match the network identifier, establishing a first error event;
in response to receiving, via the receiving port of the receiving device, from a second sending device, a second message including a network identifier, establishing, by the receiving device, a second connect status;
in response to determining that the identifier of the receiving port does not match the network identifier of the second message, establishing a second error event; and
identifying an improper cabling at the receiving device and/or the first sending device, or the second sending device based on one or more of:
the first connect status;
the second connect status;
the first error event; and
the second error event.