ocppjs - An experimental OCPP Simulator

Overview

Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP, http://ocppforum.net) is a communication protocol between multiple charging stations ("charge points") and a single management software ("central system").

Currently (december 2012), two OCPP versions (1.2 and 1.5) have been released. There is a draft in progress for a new version (2.0). Both existing versions use SOAP over HTTP as the RPC/transport protocol:

+---------------+ soap/http client      soap/http server +---------------+
|               |--------------------------------------->|               |
|               |  Operations initiated by ChargePoint   |               |
|  ChargePoint  |                                        | CentralSystem |
|               | soap/http server      soap/http client |               |
|               |<---------------------------------------|               |
+---------------+  Operations initiated by CentralSystem +---------------+

The two main problems with this solution are:

It requires the CentralSystem to be able to establish a TCP/IP connection to the ChargePoint. This is often not possible on IP based mobile data networks using a public APN, where the ChargePoint is assigned a private IP address on the operator network. In such cases, the ChargePoint can access the Internet (using NAT), but no connection can be made from the Internet to the ChargePoint. A possible solution is to set up a VPN and/or a private APN, but the cost is generally prohibitive for small installations.
SOAP is very verbose, with a large overhead on every message. This causes a non-optimal bandwidth consumption, which can raise the running cost of an installation.

This project proposes a new RPC/transport for OCPP, that addresses these two issues, using Websocket (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6455) for the transport layer, and SPRC (see Protocol Specification section below) for the RPC layer.

Architecture

This schema shows objects instances for a system with one ChargePointSimulator and one CentralSystemSimulator.

+------------------------+             +------------------------+
|  ChargePointSimulator  |             | CentralSystemSimulator |
+------------------------+             +------------------------+
  |create (param: url)                   |create (param: listening tcp port)
  V                                      V
+------------------------+   connect   +------------------------+
|     WebSocketClient    |------------>|     WebSocketServer    |
+------------------------+             +------------------------+

When a WebSocket connection (i.e. a transport layer) is established, each peer creates:

a WampClientConnection, to make RPC calls
a WampServerConnection, to handle RPC calls

This gives two independant RPC channels on a single TCP connection:

  +------------------------+             +------------------------+
+-|  ChargePointSimulator  |             | CentralSystemSimulator |-+
| +------------------------+             +------------------------+ |
| create (param: connection)              create (param: connection)|
|                                                                   |
| +------------------------+             +------------------------+ |
+>|  WampClientConnection  |------------>|  WampServerConnection  |<+
| +------------------------+  RPC call   +------------------------+ |
|                           (e.g. MeterValue)                       |
|                                                                   |
| +------------------------+             +------------------------+ |
+>|  WampServerConnection  |<------------|  WampClientConnection  |<+
  +------------------------+  RPC call   +------------------------+
                            (e.g. Reset)

Installation & usage

This program requires Node.js (http://nodejs.org/). Third-party packages can be installed with the npm utility. Currently, ocppjs depends on 'websocket', 'xml2js', 'node-expat', 'request' and 'jayschema' packages:

% npm install

To run the OCPP.js simulator, just enter

% node gir-ocppjs.js

You will be given a prompt where you can enter commands.

Commands syntax:

start_cs <port> [options]: Start a CentralSystem simulator, listening on the specified TCP <port>. This command can be directly specified on the command line. Options: -i <pingInterval>: websocket ping interval (default: 300s) -u <endpoint>: endpoint URL (default: '/') -p <protocol>: websocket protocol name (default: 'ocpp1.2,ocpp1.5')
start_cp <url> <id>: Start a ChargePoint simulator, which will try to connect to a CentralSystem on the specified URL, using the specified chargepoint <id>. This command can be directly specified on the command line. Options: -p <protocol>: websocket protocol name (default: 'ocpp1.5') -i <pingInterval>: websocket ping interval (default: 300s) -t <transport>: transport layer mode (websocket or soap), default: websocket -f <from>: in SOAP mode, defines the SOAP From header. -r <remoteActionPort>: in SOAP mode, defines the remote action port.
remote_<cmd> [options] [custom_arguments]: When a CentralSystem simulator is running and has a connected chargepoint, perform a <cmd> remote action. See help for available commands. Options: --remote-id <id>: send the remote action to the specified chargepoint <id>. This parameter can be omitted when a single chargepoint is connected. Custom Arguments: see section Argument customization below.
<cmd> [options] [custom_arguments]: When a ChargePoint simulator <id> is running and is connected to a CentralSystem, send a <cmd> message. See help for available commands. Options: --id id: send the message using the specified chargepoint <id>. This parameter can be omitted when a single chargepoint simulator is running. Custom Arguments: see section Argument customization below.
set <cs|cp> [arguments]: modify the simulator settings from command line interface. Arguments: setting=value ... Supported settings: websocket_ping_interval.

set cs websocket_ping_interval=120
help: List available commands.
quit: Exit the program.

Argument customization:

When typing remote_<cmd> or <cmd>, the fields of the payload can be customized individually from the command line interface using the following syntax:

argument=value ...

> bootnotification chargePointVendor="DBT"
> bootnotification chargePointVendor="DBT" chargePointModel="NQC-ACDC"

value handles string, number, object and array types.

Example - Running a CentralSytem

% node gir-ocppjs.js start_cs 9000
[2012-12-28 14:54:32] CentralSystem started.
[2012-12-28 14:54:32] cs: Server is listening on port 9000
[2012-12-28 14:54:44] cs: ChargePoint #0 connected from 127.0.0.1.

>
[2012-12-28 14:54:54] cs: <<cp#0 [2,"V7NeDL1MnbkaQcaHcYnvxOpCdcI4gpAV",
                      "BootNotification",{"chargePointVendor":"DBT",
                      "chargePointModel":"NQC-ACDC",...}]
[2012-12-28 14:54:54] cs: >>cp#0 [3,"V7NeDL1MnbkaQcaHcYnvxOpCdcI4gpAV",
                      {"status":"Accepted",
                      "currentTime":"2012-11-28T13:54:44Z",
                      "heartbeatInterval":300}]

> remote_reset type="Soft"
[2012-12-28 14:56:50] cs: >>cp#0 [2,"tU8hVs8yY6Aleie1kN8fXD7YUJ0PDuyc",
                      "Reset",{"type":"Soft"}]
[2012-12-28 14:56:50] cs: <<cp#0 [3,"tU8hVs8yY6Aleie1kN8fXD7YUJ0PDuyc",
                      {"status":"Accepted"}]

>
[2012-12-28 14:58:22] cs: <<cp#0 [2,"Shfrho1gR2NmsjCVeHpCOjImdNxhPPXq",
                      "MeterValues",{"connectorId":1,values:[{
                      "timestamp":"2012-12-28T13:58:22Z","value":0}]}]
[2012-12-28 14:58:22] cs: >>cp#0 [3,"Shfrho1gR2NmsjCVeHpCOjImdNxhPPXq",
                      {}]

>
[2012-12-28 14:59:44] cs: <<cp#0 [2,"yUtxCAuRRv26dKRuQ1fy1AYvE0fZTZ2Z",
                      "Heartbeat",{}]
[2012-12-28 14:59:44] cs: >>cp#0 [3,"yUtxCAuRRv26dKRuQ1fy1AYvE0fZTZ2Z",
                      {"currentTime":"2012-12-28T13:59:44Z"}]

Example - Running a ChargePoint

% node gir-ocppjs.js start_cp ws://localhost:9000 0
[2012-12-28 14:54:44] ChargePoint #0 started.
[2012-12-28 14:54:44] cp#0: Connected to CentralSystem.

> bootnotification chargePointVendor="DBT" chargePointModel="NQC-ACDC"
[2012-12-28 14:54:54] cp#0: >>cs [2,"V7NeDL1MnbkaQcaHcYnvxOpCdcI4gpAV",
                      "BootNotification",{"chargePointVendor":"DBT",
                      "chargePointModel":"NQC-ACDC",...}]
[2012-12-28 14:54:54] cp#0: <<cs [3,"V7NeDL1MnbkaQcaHcYnvxOpCdcI4gpAV",
                      {"status":"Accepted",
                      "currentTime":"2012-12-28T13:54:44Z",
                      "heartbeatInterval":300}]

>
[2012-12-28 14:56:50] cp#0: <<cs [2,"tU8hVs8yY6Aleie1kN8fXD7YUJ0PDuyc",
                      "Reset",{"type":"Soft"}]
[2012-12-28 14:56:50] cp#0: >>cs [3,"tU8hVs8yY6Aleie1kN8fXD7YUJ0PDuyc",
                      {"status":"Accepted"}]

> metervalues
[2012-12-28 14:58:22] cp#0: >>cs [2,"Shfrho1gR2NmsjCVeHpCOjImdNxhPPXq",
                      "MeterValues", {"connectorId":2,
                      values:[{"timestamp":"2012-12-28T13:58:22Z",
                      "value":0}]}]
[2012-12-28 14:58:22] cp#0: <<cs [3,"Shfrho1gR2NmsjCVeHpCOjImdNxhPPXq",
                      {}]

> heartbeat
[2012-12-28 14:59:44] cp#0: >>cs [2,"yUtxCAuRRv26dKRuQ1fy1AYvE0fZTZ2Z",
                      "Heartbeat",{}]
[2012-12-28 14:59:44] cp#0: <<cs [3,"yUtxCAuRRv26dKRuQ1fy1AYvE0fZTZ2Z",
                      {"currentTime":"2012-12-28T13:59:44Z"}]

Example - Running a CentralSystem in SOAP mode

% node gir-ocppjs.js start_cs 9000 -t soap
[2013-04-22 16:44:44] cs: SOAP Server listening on port 9000
[2013-04-22 16:44:44] CentralSystem started.

[2013-04-22 16:57:52] cs: ChargePoint #boxid connected.
[2013-04-22 16:57:52] cs: <<cp#boxid /BootNotification {"chargePointVendor":
                      "DBT","chargePointModel":"NQC-ACDC", ...}
[2013-04-22 16:57:52] cs: >>cp#boxid /BootNotification {"status":"Accepted",
                      "currentTime":"2013-02-01T15:09:18.000Z",
                      "heartbeatInterval":1200}

> remote_starttransaction
[2013-04-22 17:01:48] cs: >>cp#boxid /RemoteStartTransaction {"idTag":
                      "044943121F1D80","connectorId":2}
[2013-04-22 17:01:48] cs: <<cp#boxid /RemoteStartTransaction {"status":
                      "Accepted"}

Example - Running a ChargePoint in SOAP mode

% node gir-ocppjs.js start_cp http://localhost:9000 boxid -t soap \
    -f http://localhost:9001
[2013-04-09 14:27:14] cs: SOAP Server listening on port 9001

> bootnotification
[2013-04-09 14:57:29] cp#boxid: >>cs /BootNotification {"chargePointVendor":
                      "DBT", "chargePointModel":"NQC-ACDC", ...}
[2013-04-09 14:57:29] cs: >>boxid /BootNotification {"status":"Accepted",
                      "currentTime":"2013-02-01T15:09:18.000Z",
                      "heartbeatInterval":1200}
...

[2013-04-22 17:01:48] cs: <<cp#boxid /RemoteStartTransaction {"idTag":
                      "044943121F1D80","connectorId":2}
[2013-04-22 17:01:48] cs: >>cp#boxid /RemoteStartTransaction {"status":
                      "Accepted"}

> set cp print_xml=true

> heartbeat
[2013-04-09 15:03:02] cp#boxid: >>cs <soap:Envelope ...>
                      <soap:Header>...</soap:Header><soap:Body>
                      <tns:heartbeatRequest></tns:heartbeatRequest>
                      </soap:Body></soap:Envelope>
[2013-04-09 15:03:02] cs: >>boxid <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
                      <soap:Envelope ...><soap:Body><tns:HeartbeatResponse>
                      <currentTime>2013-02-01T15:09:18Z</currentTime>
                      </tns:HeartbeatResponse></soap:Body></soap:Envelope>

Unit testing

ocppjs provides a framework and four example files (in the test/ folder) for writing unit tests. If a test fails, the errors are printed on the standard output. If it succeeds then nothing is displayed.

Example - Running a test

% cd test/
% node test-cp-1.2.js
%

Plugins

ocppjs provides a plugin system which allows developers to define the simulator behavior without modifying the program source code. Plugins consist of extern JavaScript files listed in the plugins/ folder.

From the prompt of the simulator, 3 commands are available:

Documentation

The gir-ocppjs-doc.js program generates JSON examples from WSDL files. Run it with:

% npm install xml2js
% cd doc
% make

Output files generated:

Protocol specification

A draft specification for a WebSocket-based OCPP transport is available: http://www.gir.fr/ocppjs/ocpp_srpc_spec.shtml

Download

http://www.gir.fr/ocppjs/gir-ocppjs-1.0.2.zip

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 3 Commits
doc		doc
lib		lib
plugins		plugins
test		test
NEWS		NEWS
README.md		README.md
gir-ocppjs.js		gir-ocppjs.js
package.json		package.json

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ocppjs - An experimental OCPP Simulator

Overview

Architecture

Installation & usage

Example - Running a CentralSytem

Example - Running a ChargePoint

Example - Running a CentralSystem in SOAP mode

Example - Running a ChargePoint in SOAP mode

Unit testing

Example - Running a test

Plugins

Documentation

Protocol specification

Download

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ocppjs - An experimental OCPP Simulator

Overview

Architecture

Installation & usage

Example - Running a CentralSytem

Example - Running a ChargePoint

Example - Running a CentralSystem in SOAP mode

Example - Running a ChargePoint in SOAP mode

Unit testing

Example - Running a test

Plugins

Documentation

Protocol specification

Download

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