charging-stations-simulator

Summary

Simple node.js program to simulate a set of charging stations based on the OCPP-J 1.6 protocol.

Prerequisites

Windows

• Chocolatey:

choco install -y nodejs-lts

MacOSX

• Homebrew:

brew install node@16

GNU/Linux:

• NodeSource Node.js Binary Distributions for version 16.X

Configuration files syntax

All configuration files are in the JSON standard format.

Configuration files list:

• charging stations simulator configuration: src/assets/config.json;
• charging station configuration templates: src/assets/station-templates;
• charging station configurations: dist/assets/configurations;
• charging station RFID tags lists: src/assets.

The charging stations simulator's configuration parameters must be within the src/assets/config.json file. A charging station simulator configuration template file is available at src/assets/config-template.json.

All charging station configuration templates are in the directory src/assets/station-templates.

A list of RFID tags must be defined for the automatic transaction generator with a default location and name: src/assets/authorization-tags.json. A template file is available at src/assets/authorization-tags-template.json.

Configuration files hierarchy and priority:

1. charging station configuration: dist/assets/configurations;
2. charging station configuration template: src/assets/station-templates;
3. charging stations simulator configuration: src/assets/config.json.

The charging stations simulator have an automatic configuration files reload feature at change for:

• charging stations simulator configuration;
• charging station configuration templates;
• charging station authorization RFID tags lists.

But the modifications to test have to be done to the files in the build result directory dist/assets. Once the modifications are finished, they have to be reported or copied to the matching files in the build source directory src/assets to ensure they will be taken into account at next build.

Charging stations simulator configuration

src/assets/config.json:

Key	Value(s)	Default Value	Value type	Description
supervisionUrls		[]	string | string[]	string or array of global connection URIs to OCPP-J servers
supervisionUrlDistribution	round-robin/random/sequential	round-robin	boolean	supervision urls distribution policy to simulated charging stations
workerProcess	workerSet/staticPool/dynamicPool	workerSet	string	worker threads process type
workerStartDelay		500	integer	milliseconds to wait at worker threads startup (only for workerSet threads process type)
elementStartDelay		0	integer	milliseconds to wait at charging station startup
workerPoolMinSize		4	integer	worker threads pool minimum number of threads
workerPoolMaxSize		16	integer	worker threads pool maximum number of threads
workerPoolStrategy	ROUND_ROBIN/LESS_RECENTLY_USED/...	poolifier default: ROUND_ROBBIN	string	worker threads pool poolifier worker choice strategy
chargingStationsPerWorker		1	integer	number of charging stations per worker threads for the workerSet process type
logStatisticsInterval		60	integer	seconds between charging stations statistics output in the logs
logConsole	true/false	false	boolean	output logs on the console
logFormat		simple	string	winston log format
logRotate	true/false	true	boolean	enable daily log files rotation
logMaxFiles		7	integer	maximum number of log files to keep
logLevel	emerg/alert/crit/error/warning/notice/info/debug	info	string	winston logging level
logFile		combined.log	string	log file relative path
logErrorFile		error.log	string	error log file relative path
uiWebSocketServer		{ "enabled": true, "options": { "host: "localhost", "port": 8080 } }	{ enabled: boolean; options: ServerOptions; }	UI WebSocket server configuration section
performanceStorage		{ "enabled": false, "type": "jsonfile", "file:///performanceRecords.json" }	{ enabled: boolean; type: string; URI: string; } where type can be 'jsonfile' or 'mongodb'	performance storage configuration section
stationTemplateUrls		{}[]	{ file: string; numberOfStations: number; }[]	array of charging station configuration templates URIs configuration section (charging station configuration template file name and number of stations)

Worker process model:

• workerSet: Worker set executing each a static number (chargingStationsPerWorker) of simulated charging stations from the total

• staticPool: Statically sized worker pool executing a static total number of simulated charging stations

• dynamicPool: Dynamically sized worker pool executing a static total number of simulated charging stations

Charging station configuration template

src/assets/station-templates/<name>.json:

Key	Value(s)	Default Value	Value type	Description
supervisionUrls		''	string | string[]	string or array of connection URIs to OCPP-J servers
supervisionUser		''	string	basic HTTP authentication user to OCPP-J server
supervisionPassword		''	string	basic HTTP authentication password to OCPP-J server
supervisionUrlOcppConfiguration	true/false	false	boolean	allow supervision URL configuration via a vendor OCPP parameter key
supervisionUrlOcppKey		'ConnectionUrl'	string	the vendor string that will be used as a vendor OCPP parameter key to set the supervision URL
ocppVersion	1.6	1.6	string	OCPP version
ocppProtocol	json	json	string	OCPP protocol
ocppStrictCompliance	true/false	false	boolean	strict adherence to the OCPP version and protocol specifications
ocppPersistentConfiguration	true/false	true	boolean	enable persistent OCPP parameters storage by charging stations 'hashId'. The persistency is ensured by the charging stations configuration files in dist/assets/configurations
wsOptions		{}	ClientOptions & ClientRequestArgs	ws and node.js http clients options intersection
authorizationFile		''	string	RFID tags list file relative to src/assets path
baseName		''	string	base name to build charging stations id
nameSuffix		''	string	name suffix to build charging stations id
fixedName	true/false	false	boolean	use the baseName as the charging stations unique name
chargePointModel		''	string	charging stations model
chargePointVendor		''	string	charging stations vendor
chargePointSerialNumberPrefix		''	string	charge point serial number prefix
chargeBoxSerialNumberPrefix		''	string	charge box serial number prefix (deprecated in OCPP 1.6)
firmwareVersion		''	string	charging stations firmware version
power			float | float[]	charging stations maximum power value(s)
powerSharedByConnectors	true/false	false	boolean	charging stations power shared by its connectors
powerUnit	W/kW	W	string	charging stations power unit
currentOutType	AC/DC	AC	string	charging stations current out type
voltageOut		AC:230/DC:400	integer	charging stations voltage out
numberOfPhases	0/1/3	AC:3/DC:0	integer	charging stations number of phase(s)
numberOfConnectors			integer | integer[]	charging stations number of connector(s)
useConnectorId0	true/false	true	boolean	use connector id 0 definition from the charging station configuration template
randomConnectors	true/false	false	boolean	randomize runtime connector id affectation from the connector id definition in charging station configuration template
resetTime		60	integer	seconds to wait before the charging stations come back at reset
autoRegister	true/false	false	boolean	set charging stations as registered at boot notification for testing purpose
autoReconnectMaxRetries		-1 (unlimited)	integer	connection retries to the OCPP-J server
reconnectExponentialDelay	true/false	false	boolean	connection delay retry to the OCPP-J server
registrationMaxRetries		-1 (unlimited)	integer	charging stations boot notification retries
amperageLimitationOcppKey		undefined	string	charging stations OCPP parameter key used to set the amperage limit, per phase for each connector on AC and global for DC
amperageLimitationUnit	A/cA/dA/mA	A	string	charging stations amperage limit unit
enableStatistics	true/false	true	boolean	enable charging stations statistics
mayAuthorizeAtRemoteStart	true/false	true	boolean	always send authorize at remote start transaction when AuthorizeRemoteTxRequests is enabled
beginEndMeterValues	true/false	false	boolean	enable Transaction.{Begin,End} MeterValues
outOfOrderEndMeterValues	true/false	false	boolean	send Transaction.End MeterValues out of order. Need to relax OCPP specifications strict compliance ('ocppStrictCompliance' parameter)
meteringPerTransaction	true/false	true	boolean	enable metering history on a per transaction basis
transactionDataMeterValues	true/false	false	boolean	enable transaction data MeterValues at stop transaction
mainVoltageMeterValues	true/false	true	boolean	include charging stations main voltage MeterValues on three phased charging stations
phaseLineToLineVoltageMeterValues	true/false	true	boolean	include charging stations line to line voltage MeterValues on three phased charging stations
Configuration			ChargingStationConfiguration	charging stations OCPP parameters configuration section
AutomaticTransactionGenerator			AutomaticTransactionGenerator	charging stations ATG configuration section
Connectors			Connectors	charging stations connectors configuration section

Configuration section

  "Configuration": {
    "configurationKey": [
       ...
       {
        "key": "StandardKey",
        "readonly": false,
        "value": "StandardValue",
        "visible": true,
        "reboot": false
      },
      ...
      {
        "key": "VendorKey",
        "readonly": false,
        "value": "VendorValue",
        "visible": false,
        "reboot": true
      },
      ...
    ]
  }

AutomaticTransactionGenerator section

  "AutomaticTransactionGenerator": {
    "enable": false,
    "minDuration": 60,
    "maxDuration": 80,
    "minDelayBetweenTwoTransactions": 15,
    "maxDelayBetweenTwoTransactions": 30,
    "probabilityOfStart": 1,
    "stopAfterHours": 0.3,
    "stopOnConnectionFailure": true,
    "requireAuthorize": true
  }

Connectors section

  "Connectors": {
    "0": {},
    "1": {
      "bootStatus": "Available",
      "MeterValues": [
        ...
        {
          "unit": "W",
          "measurand": "Power.Active.Import",
          "phase": "L1-N",
          "value": "5000",
          "fluctuationPercent": "10"
        },
        ...
        {
          "unit": "A",
          "measurand": "Current.Import"
        },
        ...
        {
          "unit": "Wh"
        },
        ...
      ]
    }
  },

Charging station configuration

dist/assets/configurations/<hashId>.json:

The charging station configuration file is automatically generated at startup from the charging station configuration template file and is persistent.

The charging station configuration file content can be regenerated partially on matching charging station configuration template file changes. The charging station serial number is kept unchanged.

stationInfo section

The syntax is similar to charging station configuration template with some added fields like the charging station id (name) and the 'Configuration' section removed.

configurationKey section

The syntax is similar to the charging station configuration template 'Configuration' section.

Start

To start the program, run: npm start.

To start the program with a UI controller, run: npm start:server. Then, start/stop the simulator by going to https://<hostname:port> in a browser. Localhost port will default to 8080. For Cloud Foundry, the port is assigned based on the process.env.PORT environment variable.

Docker

In the docker folder:

make

Or with the optional git submodules:

make SUBMODULES_INIT=true

OCPP-J commands supported

Version 1.6

Core Profile

• ✅ Authorize
• ✅ BootNotification
• ✅ ChangeAvailability
• ✅ ChangeConfiguration
• ✅ ClearCache
• ❌ DataTransfer
• ✅ GetConfiguration
• ✅ Heartbeat
• ✅ MeterValues
• ✅ RemoteStartTransaction
• ✅ RemoteStopTransaction
• ✅ Reset
• ✅ StartTransaction
• ✅ StatusNotification
• ✅ StopTransaction
• ✅ UnlockConnector

Firmware Management Profile

• ✅ GetDiagnostics
• ✅ DiagnosticsStatusNotification
• ❌ FirmwareStatusNotification
• ❌ UpdateFirmware

Local Auth List Management Profile

• ❌ GetLocalListVersion
• ❌ SendLocalList

Reservation Profile

• ❌ CancelReservation
• ❌ ReserveNow

Smart Charging Profile

• ✅ ClearChargingProfile
• ❌ GetCompositeSchedule
• ✅ SetChargingProfile

Remote Trigger Profile

• ✅ TriggerMessage

OCPP-J standard parameters supported

All kind of OCPP parameters are supported in a charging station configuration or a charging station configuration template file. The list here mention the standard ones also handled automatically in the simulator.

Version 1.6

Core Profile

• ✅ AuthorizeRemoteTxRequests (type: boolean) (units: -)
• ❌ ClockAlignedDataInterval (type: integer) (units: seconds)
• ✅ ConnectionTimeOut (type: integer) (units: seconds)
• ❌ GetConfigurationMaxKeys (type: integer) (units: -)
• ✅ HeartbeatInterval (type: integer) (units: seconds)
• ❌ LocalAuthorizeOffline (type: boolean) (units: -)
• ❌ LocalPreAuthorize (type: boolean) (units: -)
• ❌ MeterValuesAlignedData (type: CSL) (units: -)
• ✅ MeterValuesSampledData (type: CSL) (units: -)
• ✅ MeterValueSampleInterval (type: integer) (units: seconds)
• ✅ NumberOfConnectors (type: integer) (units: -)
• ❌ ResetRetries (type: integer) (units: times)
• ✅ ConnectorPhaseRotation (type: CSL) (units: -)
• ❌ StopTransactionOnEVSideDisconnect (type: boolean) (units: -)
• ❌ StopTransactionOnInvalidId (type: boolean) (units: -)
• ❌ StopTxnAlignedData (type: CSL) (units: -)
• ❌ StopTxnSampledData (type: CSL) (units: -)
• ✅ SupportedFeatureProfiles (type: CSL) (units: -)
• ❌ TransactionMessageAttempts (type: integer) (units: times)
• ❌ TransactionMessageRetryInterval (type: integer) (units: seconds)
• ❌ UnlockConnectorOnEVSideDisconnect (type: boolean) (units: -)
• ✅ WebSocketPingInterval (type: integer) (units: seconds)

Firmware Management Profile

• none

Local Auth List Management Profile

• ✅ LocalAuthListEnabled (type: boolean) (units: -)
• ❌ LocalAuthListMaxLength (type: integer) (units: -)
• ❌ SendLocalListMaxLength (type: integer) (units: -)

Reservation Profile

• none

Smart Charging Profile

• ❌ ChargeProfileMaxStackLevel (type: integer) (units: -)
• ❌ ChargingScheduleAllowedChargingRateUnit (type: CSL) (units: -)
• ❌ ChargingScheduleMaxPeriods (type: integer) (units: -)
• ❌ MaxChargingProfilesInstalled (type: integer) (units: -)

Remote Trigger Profile

• none

License

This file and all other files in this repository are licensed under the Apache Software License, v.2 and copyrighted under the copyright in NOTICE file, except as noted otherwise in the LICENSE file or the code source file header.

Please note that Docker images can contain other software which may be licensed under different licenses. This LICENSE and NOTICE files are also included in the Docker image. For any usage of built Docker images please make sure to check the licenses of the artifacts contained in the images.