System Level Software Initialisation; Platform Software Initialisation And Monitoring; Continuous Self-Testing - GE MiCOM P40 Technical Manual

Chapter 4 - Software Design
3.4.2

SYSTEM LEVEL SOFTWARE INITIALISATION

The initialization process initializes the processor registers and interrupts, starts the watchdog timers (used by the
hardware to determine whether the software is still running), starts the real-time operating system and creates
and starts the supervisor task. In the initialization process the device checks the following:
● The status of the backup battery
The integrity of the battery-backed SRAM that is used to store event, fault and disturbance records
●
The operation of the LCD controller
●
The watchdog operation
●
At the conclusion of the initialization software the supervisor task begins the process of starting the platform
software. Coprocessor board checks are also made as follows:
A check is made for the presence of the coprocessor board
●
The RAM on the coprocessor board is checked with a test bit pattern before the coprocessor board is
●
transferred from flash memory
If any of these checks produces an error, the coprocessor board is left out of service. The other protection
functions provided by the main processor board are left in service.
3.4.3

PLATFORM SOFTWARE INITIALISATION AND MONITORING

When starting the platform software, the IED checks the following:
● The integrity of the data held in non-volatile memory (using a checksum)
The operation of the real-time clock
●
● The optional IRIG-B function (if applicable)
The presence and condition of the input board
●
The analog data acquisition system (it does this by sampling the reference voltage)
●
At the successful conclusion of all of these tests the unit is entered into service and the application software is
started up.
3.5

CONTINUOUS SELF-TESTING

When the IED is in service, it continually checks the operation of the critical parts of its hardware and software. The
checking is carried out by the system services software and the results are reported to the platform software. The
functions that are checked are as follows:
The Flash memory containing all program code and language text is verified by a checksum.
●
The code and constant data held in system memory is checked against the corresponding data in Flash
●
memory to check for data corruption.
The system memory containing all data other than the code and constant data is verified with a checksum.
●
The integrity of the digital signal I/O data from the opto-inputs and the output relay coils is checked by the
●
data acquisition function every time it is executed.
The operation of the analog data acquisition system is continuously checked by the acquisition function
●
every time it is executed. This is done by sampling the reference voltages.
The operation of the optional Ethernet board is checked by the software on the main processor card. If the
●
Ethernet board fails to respond an alarm is raised and the card is reset in an attempt to resolve the problem.
The operation of the optional IRIG-B function is checked by the software that reads the time and date from
●
the board.
In the event that one of the checks detects an error in any of the subsystems, the platform software is notified and
it attempts to log a maintenance record.
62
P446SV
P446SV-TM-EN-1