Emulation/simulation of PLC networks with the S3F network simulator
Vignesh Babu, David M. Nicol · Winter Simulation Conference · 2016
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are devices frequently used in industrial control systems with tight real time constraints on operations. Using emulation and/or simulation to evaluate the behavior of a network of PLCs is difficult because of the lack of tools that accurately mimic the real-time behavior of such networks. This paper addresses this issue by showing how to tightly integrate instances of a PLC emulator Awlsim with the network simulator S3F, in such a way that emulations and simulation are advancing synchronously in virtual time. We demonstrate fidelity of the approach in capturing the operating behaviour of a PLC network under varied network conditions and stress levels.