Method for testing transmission performance of data acquisition software using network impairment simulation device

Abstract

This method uses network impairment simulation equipment to test the transmission performance of data acquisition software. It introduces a network impairment instrument to simulate complex network behaviors such as latency and packet loss in wide area networks, tests the adaptability and performance parameters of the data acquisition software in various network environments, and improves the success rate of software deployment in the field.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of software testing, specifically relating to a method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device. Background Technology

[0002] Due to their unique characteristics, thermal power, wind power, hydropower, and photovoltaic power plants mostly need to be built in remote areas with poor transportation and sparse populations, far from modern cities. In accordance with the operation and maintenance requirements of "remote centralized control and unmanned operation (remote monitoring)," the operating data of the power plant's equipment needs to be collected in real time and sent to the centralized control system for monitoring and decision-making by operation and maintenance personnel. Simultaneously, control commands need to be transmitted back to the power plant's equipment in real time to achieve the function of controlling remote equipment.

[0003] At the network transmission medium level, the network may use dedicated power lines, broadband or wireless networks from telecommunications operators, or even self-built wireless networks by the enterprise. These transmission lines have relatively low bandwidth, with some as low as 2 Mbps. The transmission links may connect varying numbers of network devices with different functions, such as multiple firewalls, routers, switches, vertical encryption / decryption devices, and forward or reverse isolation gateways. The main impact of these devices on the transmission link is the latency in network data transmission. Furthermore, the network from the power plant to the centralized control unit may only have a single transmission link, with all services running on this single link. These services generate data traffic intermittently, consuming network bandwidth. The main characteristic of these issues affecting the data acquisition software is bandwidth instability.

[0004] The data transmitted in the above network environments can be characterized by limited network bandwidth, transmission delays, network instability, and packet loss. To adapt to these network environment characteristics, a reliable method is needed to verify the transmission performance of the data acquisition software.

[0005] Currently, there is no good way to simulate the above network environment. Software development and deployment personnel need to go to the site to perform on-site installation and testing, collect data on the actual operation of the software, determine the cause of the problem, and whether it meets business requirements, which leads to longer delivery time and increased development costs. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides a method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device. The method introduces a network impairment instrument to simulate complex network behaviors such as latency and packet loss in a wide area network, testing the adaptability and performance parameters of the data acquisition software under various network environments, thereby improving the success rate of software deployment in the field.

[0007] The present invention adopts the following technical solution.

[0008] A method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device includes the following steps:

[0009] Step 1: Configure the edge data acquisition software's acquisition protocol, data source address, a small number of acquisition points and acquisition cycle, data acquisition terminal address of the acquisition software, data aggregation terminal address of the acquisition software, and non-relational database address. Start the acquisition software to enable data to be acquired from the data source and then stored in the non-relational database.

[0010] Step 2: Configure the edge data acquisition software's sending and receiving servers to physically connect to port 1 and port 2 of the network impairment simulation device, respectively. The physical connection method is as follows: Figure 1 As shown, data between the sending server and the receiving server can only be transmitted through the network impairment simulation device. If multiple sending servers exist, they can first be connected to a switch, and then the switch can be physically connected to port 1 of the network impairment simulation device. The data stream of its acquisition software is as follows: Figure 2 As shown, data from data source 1 and data source 2 are transmitted simultaneously through the network impairment simulation device;

[0011] Step 3: Press the start button for the network impairment simulation device, wait for the device to start, and then enter the network simulation device management backend through the GUI and turn on the engine switch;

[0012] Step 4: Configure the simulation link parameters of the network impairment simulation device. Configure the parameters according to the test and verification scenario. Use the default settings for network parameters that do not need to be configured to simulate specific network environments.

[0013] Step 5: Observe the data traffic statistics of the network impairment simulation device, the number of broadband packet loss frames, and the data storage status of the non-relational database; if the judgment phenomenon occurs, the test of this scenario ends and optimization operations are performed; otherwise, proceed to step 6.

[0014] Step 6: Configure more measurement points in the edge data acquisition software, start the data acquisition function, and repeat step 5.

[0015] Preferably, in step 1, the software being tested should have the ability to collect data according to a specific protocol and store the collected data in a database when not using a network impairment simulation device.

[0016] Preferably, in step 2, after the tested software collects data according to a specific protocol and before storing the collected data in the database, the collected data can be forwarded between the two servers.

[0017] The network impairment simulation device has a GUI backend management capability, and the parameters can be flexibly set.

[0018] The network impairment simulation device, when the engine is turned on, has the function of monitoring network status, and can monitor network parameters such as receive bit rate, transmit bit rate, and number of lost frames.

[0019] Preferably, in step 4, the fixed broadband speed, broadband latency, and packet loss rate can be set; and the network parameters of port1 and port2 of the simulation device can be set separately.

[0020] Preferably, in step 5, the determination phenomenon is as follows:

[0021] 1) The data traffic of the network impairment simulation device reaches the set value, which includes the transmit bit rate and receive bit rate of port1 or port2;

[0022] 2) The data buffer queue size of the network impairment simulation device is slowly increasing, including the data buffer queues of port1 or port2;

[0023] 3) When the network impairment simulation device is not configured with packet loss parameters, the number of simulated broadband packet loss frames is not 0 and begins to increase slowly, indicating network packet loss. This packet loss includes packet loss on port 1 or port 2.

[0024] 4) The collected data cannot be stored in a non-relational database in accordance with the collection cycle.

[0025] Preferably, in step 5, the optimization operation includes:

[0026] 1) Extend the data collection cycle and reduce data flow;

[0027] 2) Estimate the actual network traffic based on business needs and expand the dedicated power line until the requirements are met.

[0028] The beneficial effects of this invention are that, compared with the prior art,

[0029] 1. The data acquisition software's data transmission performance under a specific network environment can be obtained. If there is a significant difference between the software's theoretical transmission performance and its actual transmission performance, the acquisition software should be optimized.

[0030] 2. A software performance table can be created based on the data acquisition software's transmission capabilities under various limited bandwidth conditions;

[0031] 3. By using the network environment and transmission performance table of the scenario to be deployed and the data acquisition software, it can be predicted whether both can support on-site deployment and meet the performance standards. If appropriate, the problem can be solved by upgrading the network environment or extending the transmission cycle of the data acquisition software. Attached Figure Description

[0032] Figure 1 A diagram showing the server network wiring for deploying the data acquisition software;

[0033] Figure 2 This is a data flow diagram for the data acquisition software. Detailed Implementation

[0034] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this invention clearer, the technical solutions of this invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of this invention. The embodiments described in this application are merely some embodiments of this invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the spirit of this invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the protection scope of this invention.

[0035] A method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device includes the following steps:

[0036] Step 1: Configure the edge data acquisition software's acquisition protocol, data source address, a small number of acquisition points and acquisition cycle, data acquisition end (sender) address, data aggregation end (receiver) address, and non-relational database address. Start the acquisition software to enable data to be acquired from the data source and then stored in the non-relational database.

[0037] Step 2: Configure the edge data acquisition software's sending and receiving servers to physically connect to port 1 and port 2 of the network impairment simulation device, respectively.

[0038] Step 3: Press the start button for the network impairment simulation device, wait for the device to start, and then enter the network simulation device management backend through the GUI and turn on the engine switch;

[0039] Step 4: Configure the simulation link parameters of the network impairment simulation device, and configure the parameters according to the test and verification scenarios:

[0040] Configuration 1: Depending on the simulated network environment, use different rate units, Kbps or Mbps, to set the fixed broadband simulation acquisition software to exclusively use network resources, and to set the jitter broadband simulation to share network resources with multiple services.

[0041] Configuration 2: Depending on the simulated network environment, different units such as Packets, Kbps, or Mbps are used, and different buffer queue depths are configured to simulate the situation where data is cached by network devices during transmission.

[0042] Configuration 3: Configure latency parameters according to different simulated network environments. Configure fixed constant latency parameters to simulate fixed latency scenarios caused by the broadband network itself, or configure a latency parameter with a numerical range and uniform distribution of data packets, such as uniformly distributed between 1ms and 80ms, to simulate specific network latency situations.

[0043] Configuration 4: Configure packet loss conditions according to different simulated network environments, including random packet loss rate percentage or periodic packet loss rate.

[0044] Configuration 5 allows you to set the network environment parameters from port 1 to port 2 or from port 2 to port 1, depending on the simulation network environment, to simulate an asymmetric network environment.

[0045] Configuration 6: Depending on the simulation network environment, network parameters that do not require configuration will use the default settings. Save the configured network parameters to make the network simulation environment settings effective.

[0046] Step 5: Observe the data traffic statistics of the network impairment simulation device, such as the number of lost packets and the data storage status of the non-relational database. If the following phenomena occur, the test for this scenario ends; otherwise, proceed to step 6.

[0047] 1) The data traffic of the network impairment simulation device reaches the set value, which includes the transmit bit rate and receive bit rate of port1 or port2;

[0048] 2) The slow growth of the data buffer queue size of the network impairment simulation device indicates that the data packets sent by the sender are not being processed by the receiver in time, resulting in a backlog. This includes the data buffer queues of port1 or port2.

[0049] 3) Even when no packet loss parameters are set, the number of simulated broadband packet loss frames is not 0 and begins to slowly increase, indicating network packet loss. This packet loss includes packet loss on port 1 or port 2.

[0050] 4) The collected data cannot be stored in a non-relational database in accordance with the collection cycle.

[0051] Step 6: Configure more measurement points in the data acquisition software or modify the software's acquisition cycle storage, start the data acquisition function, verify whether the data acquisition software runs normally under higher pressure, and then repeat step 5.

[0052] Example 1:

[0053] Based on the actual business scenario of a power generation company, the power plant's business data is published using the Modbus TCP protocol. There are 90,000 monitoring points. The distance between the power plant and the control center is 90 kilometers, connected by a 2M dedicated power line. Vertical encryption / decryption devices are used on the network, with an actual network latency of approximately 5 milliseconds. The desired goal is to transmit the latest values ​​from all monitoring points to the control center every second and store them in the VeStore 5.0 database.

[0054] Specific implementation steps:

[0055] Step 1: Configure the data acquisition software with the acquisition protocol ModbusTCP, data source address, 10000 measurement points and acquisition period of 1 second, data acquisition end (sender) address of the acquisition software, data aggregation end (receiver) address of the acquisition software, and VeStore5.0 database address. Start the acquisition software to realize the data acquisition from the data source to the data acquisition software and store it in the VeStore5.0 database.

[0056] Step 2: Configure the edge data acquisition software's acquisition server and aggregation server to physically connect to port1 and port2 of the network impairment simulation device, respectively.

[0057] Step 3: Press the start button for the network impairment simulation device, wait for the device to start, and then enter the network simulation device management backend through the GUI and turn on the engine switch;

[0058] Step 4: Configure the simulation link parameters of the network impairment simulation device. Configure the parameters according to the test and verification scenario: bandwidth 2Mbps, latency 5ms. Use the default settings for network parameters that do not need to be configured.

[0059] Step 5: Observe the data traffic statistics of the network impairment simulation device, the number of lost packets in broadband, and the data storage status of the non-relational database. If the following phenomena occur, the test for this scenario ends; otherwise, proceed to step 6:

[0060] 1) The data traffic of the network impairment simulation device reaches the set value, resulting in network packet loss;

[0061] 2) The collected data cannot be stored in the VeStore5.0 database in full according to the collection cycle.

[0062] Step 6: Add 2000 measurement points to the edge data acquisition software, start the data acquisition function, and repeat step 5.

[0063] Based on the test results, the data acquisition software's transmission capacity with a 2M broadband connection is only 40,000 points / second, which cannot meet the business requirements. The following optimization solutions are proposed:

[0064] Option 1: Extend the data collection period to 3 seconds to reduce data flow;

[0065] Option 2: Estimate the actual network traffic based on basic business needs, and expand the dedicated power line until the requirements are met.

[0066] This disclosure can be a system, method, and / or computer program product. A computer program product may include a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions loaded thereon for causing a processor to implement various aspects of this disclosure.

[0067] Computer-readable storage media can be tangible devices capable of holding and storing instructions for use by an instruction execution device. Computer-readable storage media can be, for example—but not limited to—electrical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, optical storage devices, electromagnetic storage devices, semiconductor storage devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of computer-readable storage media include: portable computer disks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), static random access memory (SRAM), portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital multifunction disc (DVD), memory sticks, floppy disks, mechanical encoding devices, such as punch cards or recessed protrusions storing instructions thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. The computer-readable storage media used herein are not to be construed as transient signals themselves, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through waveguides or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses through fiber optic cables), or electrical signals transmitted through wires.

[0068] The computer-readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded from computer-readable storage media to various computing / processing devices, or downloaded via a network, such as the Internet, local area network, wide area network, and / or wireless network, to an external computer or external storage device. The network may include copper transmission cables, fiber optic transmission, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers, and / or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing / processing device receives the computer-readable program instructions from the network and forwards them to the computer-readable storage media in the respective computing / processing device.

[0069] Computer program instructions used to perform the operations of this disclosure may be assembly instructions, instruction set architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine-dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, status setting data, or source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Smalltalk, C++, etc., and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as the "C" language or similar programming languages. The computer-readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a standalone software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In cases involving a remote computer, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer via any type of network—including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN)—or may be connected to an external computer (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry, such as programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or programmable logic arrays (PLAs), is personalized by utilizing the status information of the computer-readable program instructions to implement various aspects of this disclosure.

[0070] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and not to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can still be made to the specific implementation of the present invention. Any modifications or equivalent substitutions that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention should be covered within the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: Step 1: Configure the edge data acquisition software's acquisition protocol, data source address, a small number of acquisition points and acquisition cycle, data acquisition terminal address of the acquisition software, data aggregation terminal address of the acquisition software, and non-relational database address. Start the acquisition software to enable data to be acquired from the data source and then stored in the non-relational database. Step 2: Configure the edge data acquisition software's sending server and receiving server to be physically connected to port 1 and port 2 of the network impairment simulation device, respectively. Data between the sending server and the receiving server is transmitted through the network impairment simulation device. If there are multiple sending servers, they are first connected to a switch, and then the switch is physically connected to port 1 of the network impairment simulation device. Step 3: Press the start button for the network impairment simulation device, wait for the device to start, and then enter the network simulation device management backend through the GUI and turn on the engine switch; Step 4: Configure the simulation link parameters of the network impairment simulation device. Configure the parameters according to the test and verification scenario. Use the default settings for network parameters that do not need to be configured to simulate specific network environments. Step 5: Observe the data traffic statistics of the network impairment simulation device, the number of broadband packet loss frames, and the data storage status of the non-relational database; if the judgment phenomenon occurs, the test of this scenario ends and optimization operations are performed; otherwise, proceed to step 6. Step 6: Configure more measurement points in the edge data acquisition software, start the data acquisition function, and repeat step 5.

2. The method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 1, the software being tested should have the ability to collect data according to a specific protocol and store the collected data in a database when not using a network impairment simulation device.

3. The method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 2, after the tested software collects data according to a specific protocol and before storing the collected data in the database, the collected data can be forwarded between the two servers.

4. The method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The network impairment simulation device has a GUI backend management capability, and the parameters can be flexibly set.

5. The method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The network impairment simulation device, when the engine is turned on, has the function of monitoring network status. The network parameters that can be monitored include the receive bit rate, the transmit bit rate, and the number of lost frames.

6. The method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 4, the fixed broadband speed, broadband latency, and packet loss rate are set; and the network parameters of port 1 and port 2 of the simulation device can be set separately.

7. The method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 5, the determination phenomenon is as follows: 1) The data traffic of the network impairment simulation device reaches the set value, which includes the transmit bit rate and receive bit rate of port1 or port2; 2) The data buffer queue size of the network impairment simulation device is slowly increasing, including the data buffer queues of port1 or port2; 3) When the network impairment simulation device is not configured with packet loss parameters, the number of simulated broadband packet loss frames is not 0 and begins to increase slowly, indicating network packet loss. This packet loss includes packet loss on port 1 or port 2. 4) The collected data cannot be stored in a non-relational database in accordance with the collection cycle.

8. The method for testing the transmission performance of data acquisition software using a network impairment simulation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 5, the optimization operation includes: 1) Extend the data collection cycle and reduce data flow; 2) Estimate the actual network traffic based on business needs and expand the dedicated power line until the requirements are met.

9. A terminal, comprising a processor and a storage medium; characterized in that: The storage medium is used to store instructions; The processor is configured to operate according to the instructions to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-8.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When executed by a processor, the program implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-8.

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