CASE STUDY

SPPA-T3000 Distributed
Control System
Siemens AG

State-of-the-art Lausward combined cycle

power plant in Düsseldorf Germany
utilizes Siemens’ SPPA-T3000 Distributed
Control System

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About Siemens AG

Siemens is a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of electrification,

automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of
energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier
of systems for power generation and transmission as well as healthcare.
In infrastructure and industry solutions the company plays a pioneering role.

Power and Gas

The Power and Gas Division (PG) is the trusted partner for world-class products
and solutions. PG helps customers worldwide to successfully operate fossil fuel
power plants and to meet their specific economic and ecological challenges in
their market environment.

SPPA-T3000 Distributed Control System (DCS)

Raising performance in power plant operation

Conditions in today’s power generation industry are getting tougher. Now more
than ever, power generators have to rely on top plant performance, which is
ultimately powered by dependable and predictable operation. Power plant
control and automation solutions can help reach those goals.

Suited for all types of power plants

SPPA-T3000 has been designed to perform all power plant automation tasks:
turbine control, boiler control including boiler protection, balance of plant (BoP)
and integration of third party systems. Thereby SPPA-T3000 accommodates all
types of power plants and works with turbines and generators of all other
manufacturers and with each OEM-System.

Operator centric approach

SPPA-T3000 Cue, the new release of Siemens’ worldwide leading distributed

power plant control system, has evolved under an operator centric approach.
It is infused with innovations specially designed for effective and efficient
operation. By supporting operators with the right tools, targeted cues, and
guided procedures for sound operation, SPPA-T3000 Cue provides the platform
to increased power plant performance.

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Optimized workflows thanks to a clever HMI-Interface - help plant operators perform their
day-to-day work more efficiently and more effectively, and react reliably and more quickly in
critical situations.

Major benefits of the SPPA-T3000 Control System:

• Improved plant availability, e.g. by predictive data analytics

• Quick reaction of the system or of the guided operator in critical situations

• Clear instructions and transparency of upcoming issues available

• Integrated workflows also beyond a classical DCS

• Simple and reliable day-to-day I&C operation

• Optimal support of work processes and ergonomic design

• Almost entirely implemented in Java®

AS3000/CS3000

Alongside SIMATIC S7 the AS3000 / CS3000 represent the automation controller

in the SPPA-T3000 control system. It is based on embedded PC hardware with
a real-time Linux operating system. The so-called real-time runtime container
is almost entirely implemented in Java executed within the PTC Perc real-time
Virtual Machine (VM) and supports cycle times for execution of automation
function blocks down to 20ms. The AS3000 uses PROFIBUS DP to communicate
with field devices and can also be used for advanced control e.g. Gas Turbine
combustion optimization.

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Beside automation functions, the CS3000 supports a variety of different protocols

for communicating with other devices on the network like MODBUS, IEC60870,
IEC61850 or DNP3 to name just a few.

© Siemens AG 2016, All rights reserved

AS3000 real-time controller based on Intel CPU with PROFIBUS interface

Both types of controllers can be deployed in a standalone and redundant

configuration. A redundant setup consists of two devices, which are coupled
with each other by two point-to-point connected Ethernet links. For the
underlying real-time communication mechanism only a very small and simple
native library is required in order to exchange byte arrays of a predefined fixed
length on ISO-level 2. The handling of the bi-directional data transfer, including
the redundancy protocol, has been completely implemented in Java.

As there is no TCP/IP stack or any other high level communication layer involved,
the communication mechanism has been proven to be strictly deterministic and
highly performant. The resulting transmission rate of the data is only slightly less
than the physical bandwidth of the Ethernet link.

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The automation program will be configured by end users via graphical function
diagrams. Any modifications can be activated within the controller in a seamless
switch-over from the previously executed program to the updated program.
Thereby any changes in the program are prepared within the controller in a non-
real-time context and a subsequent atomic switch-over to the new automation
program, including the update of a redundancy partner. An internal transaction
mechanism automatically switches back to the previous program when a cycle-time
overflow has been detected or if the user explicitly forces a rollback of the activation.

In addition to the online configurability, the automation controller supports a

so-called fast parameter change of module parameters and the forcing or
simulation of every module port. Moreover, even automation function types
can be upgraded online without interference to the program execution.

Furthermore the controller is capable of exchanging signals with other controllers,

whereas the signals exchange is graphically engineered and supports the online
handling as well.

The controller communicates with the SPPA-T3000 related application servers

via an in-house developed communication protocol based on TCP/IP instead of
using Remote Method Invocation (RMI) to have more control over the allocated
resources and threads.

The challenge

Design and implementation of a highly configurable real-time controller,

which supports online modification and upgrade mechanism for almost every
scenario. Hereby a strict separation of real-time and non-real-time tasks is
required with well-defined synchronization points to guarantee deterministic
and predictable behavior.

The solution

Due to the well-known advantages of the Java language versus native

programming, including the dynamic class-loading mechanism; Siemens chose
Java even for the automation layer. This approach allows the usage of standard
hardware and a software platform for the Automation Controller (shown in
fig_1 below) instead of special, expensive hardware. This leads to a greater
standardization and simplified design by applying the same development
environment for the application services (engineering and monitoring) and the
automation controllers as well.

Now, the algorithms of the function blocks can be written in the same
programming language (Java) as all other components of the DCS system.

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© Siemens AG 2016, All rights reserved

[fig_1] SPPA-T3000 Architecture

As shown in figure 2 below, the system programs like a DCS using symbols,
faceplates, and other common elements designed for power plants. The new
software, with an IDE, has made the system much easier to use and understand.
With this feature, the basic training program for the software has been reduced
from a 5-7 week training program to 4 days.

© Siemens AG 2016, All rights reserved

[fig_2] SPPA-T3000 HMI

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Selection of the java solution

In advance of selecting a real-time Java solution, Real-Time Specification for

Java (RTSJ) No Heap Real time Threads in conjunction with the scoped memory
model was considered and determined to not be an option due to the highly
online-configurability requirement of the end system. The approach of the
PTC Perc real-time VM, providing real-time determinism by using “standard
Java” was the method of choice. A pre-emptible garbage collector combined
with a transparent prioritization of the involved threads was the convincing
base for building a deterministic, robust and maintainable solution.

Another decisive factor was the Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation mechanism

available with PTC Perc which is required for faster startup of the application,
as well as to prevent jitter when loading additional classes without any
disturbing influence on the currently running program. As a result, it is also
essential that the AOT-compilation mechanisms can be applied on single jar-files,

“
maintaining the deployment packages of the application.

 Productivity and robustness determined

our decision to use Java particularly for the
implementation of the real-time automation
controller. PTC® Perc® offers real-time performance
and determinism without adding complexity.”
Andreas Drebinger
Siemens AG

The results

The AS3000 / CS3000 automation controller has been proven to be fully

deterministic and a robust automation platform for SPPA-T3000 and will be used
in many different environments, such as turbine control, coupling of third party
systems, etc. The ability to minimize native coding wherever possible has been
proven to be a major success factor.

The dynamic class loading mechanism of Java offers greater flexibility regarding
the configuration of the automation controller. In addition it is the prerequisite
for upgrading automation functions online without interrupting the automation
program execution.

By having a preemptive garbage collector, it becomes possible to make use of

the advantages of Java even in the development of automation controllers,
leading to maintainable software and shorter development cycles.

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How PTC perc met siemens PG’s requirements

PTC Perc virtual machine paves the way for using Java for real-time embedded
development without the necessity of having an additional, complex framework
in addition to the following benefits:

• Perc “Ahead-of-Time” compilation guarantees faster application startup and makes

byte code obfuscation superfluous by stripping the byte code from the final jar files.

• Perc’s pre-emptible garbage collector ensures determinism and predictability.

• PTC outstanding technical support facilitates further optimizing system

“
performance und efficiency.

 Throughout the whole life-cycle, PTC engineers

were very responsive to support requests and
provide outstanding support for solving any
issues, regardless of the direct cause (Perc VM,
operating system, platform).”
Andreas Drebinger,
Siemens AG

Field proven success

SPPA-T3000 was introduced to the market in 2006 and, as of April, 2016, is now
deployed in 2395 projects world-wide.

© Siemens AG 2016, All rights reserved

[fig_3] SPPA-T3000 successful in the power plant market. Currently 2395* projects world wide.

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Hellischeidi I, Geothermal Plant: a new DCS The result:

designed to last • Lasting DCS that Never Goes Obsolete during power
plant lifetime due to the hardware-independence of
The plant: the software
• Location: Hellischeidi, Iceland • High programming flexibility thanks to online
configuration and the drag and drop system
• Geothermal plant, six high pressure and one low
pressure unit
© 2016, PTC Inc. (PTC). All rights reserved. Information described herein is
• Supply: 303 MW of electricity & 130 MW of thermal furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and
energy using steam from the depth of 2000 m should not be taken as a guarantee, commitment, or offer by PTC. PTC, the
PTC logo, and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered
trademarks of PTC and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and other
The task: countries. All other product or company names are property of their respective
owners. The timing of any product release, including any features or
functionality, is subject to change at PTC’s discretion.
• Due to extensions, the existing PCS7 units need to
communicate with new DCS
J7407–Siemens-AG-SPPA-T3000D-CS–EN–1216

Our solution:

• Installation of SPPA-T3000 for new units

• Furthermore other control systems can

communicate with SPPA-T3000 like those of
the existing units

• Migration to SPPA-T3000 still possible later

© Siemens AG 2016, All rights reserved

[fig_4] Hellischeidi I, 433 MW, Commissioning 2011

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