MODBUS Asherah Nuclear Power Plant Executable with MODBUS server and ferryman. Linux Only at this time.
Tested On:
- Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS (Focal Fossa)
- Python 3.8.10
- MATLAB R2020b (not required for this standalone executable version, just FYI)
The Asherah Nuclear (Power Plant) Simulator (a.k.a. ANS) is a MATLAB Simulink model of a Twin-Loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). It was developed as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Coordinated Research Project (CRP) J02008.
The University of São Paulo, Brazil, are responsible for the model's development. Special thanks for the MODBUS/TCP version of the model used in this repository must go to Professor Ricardo Paulino Marques, who worked on this model at the request of AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH. Modifications made by Prof. Marques mean that software and hardware-based controllers can be used to control the simulator via the MODBUS/TCP protocol.
- Linux OS (Tested on Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS)
- 4GB RAM (minimum), 8GB RAM (recommended)
mbclient is a shared library that allows a simple interface to implement Modbus client functionality in the simulator as well as other eventual applications. The shared library also allows independent applications and routines to share a single Modbus connection, in order to optimize resource usage.
The shared library libmbclient.so is used by the client functions implemented in the Asherah simulator and is based on the open-source Modbus implementation libmodbus.
Note that the libmbclient.so has to be in folder /usr/lib in order to be accessible to the client applications. Check that the user has permissions for this file too!
Ferryman is a python script that connects to two MODBUS endpoints to exchange data via MODBUS/TCP. The version in this repository connects to an OpenPLC server and the MODBUS server in MB_SERVER to exchange Pressurizer process control signals.
Install the requirements.txt using pip: pip install -r requirements.txt
I believe only the following are really needed:
pymodbus==2.5.3
pyserial==3.5
requests==2.31.0
Note that updating past this version of pymodbus is going to bork the client used by ferryman.py
If you get the following error: ## MB_SRV: Failed to create file /ramdisk/discrete_inputs.txt when executing the Modbus Server or asherah_npp.sh script, then you need to execute:
sudo mkdir /ramdisk
sudo chmod 755 /ramdisk/This will allow the Modbus Server to write the read-only signals to file…
The following directory structure is defined:
.
├── DEPENDENCIES
│ └── libmbclient.so <-- see Requirements->mbclient
├── FERRYMAN
│ ├── ferryman.py <-- see Requirements->Ferryman
│ ├── requirements.txt
│ └── test.py <-- ignore for the most part
├── MB_SERVER
│ ├── libmodbus.a
│ ├── modbus
│ │ ├── modbus-rtu.h
│ │ ├── modbus-tcp.h
│ │ ├── modbus-version.h
│ │ └── modbus.h
│ ├── modbus_init_coil.txt
│ ├── modbus_init_discinp.txt
│ ├── modbus_init_holdreg.txt
│ ├── modbus_init_inpreg.txt
│ ├── modbus_server <-- starts the local MODBUS server for the model
│ ├── modbus_server.c
│ └── modbus_srv_port.txt
├── SIMULATION
│ ├── alpha_mbans_HIL_RPS_ON <-- NPP simulation for external control (requires ferryman.py)
│ └── release_mbans_STANDALONE <-- NPP standalone simulation (does not require ferryman.py)
└── asherah_npp.sh <-- main script for running the different services
- IP addresses in the ferryman script.
- The simulation file executed by
asherah_npp.sh
Execute sudo ./asherah_npp.sh. This will:
- Start the Modbus server & wait 3 seconds.
- Start the nuclear simulator, and...
- Starts the the ferryman script which takes data to and from a PLC and the Modbus server.