CIM++

CIM++ is a software project around a deserialiser library (libcimpp) for C++ objects from XML/RDF documents based on the Common Information Model (CIM) standards (i.e. IEC61970/61968/62325) for the energy sector.

The increasing complexity of ICT systems in smart grids requires a standardized data model to improve interoperability. To this aim, IEC 61970/61968/62235 specify the CIM, which defines data structures for many power system components and the relations between them. This means that CIM based software such as the CIM-to-X translators must be kept up-to date as well. First, the CIM-to-X translator has to deserialize the CIM data in the form of RDF/XML documents and present it in the form of objects, C++ objects in our specific case. To enable this with our toolchain, a CIM based data model, specified by a visual Unified Modeling Language (UML) editor, can be mapped to a compilable CIM C++ codebase. This codebase is used for the automated generation of a C++ objects deserializer library for RDF/XML documents following the UML specification. The toolchain and deserializer are implemented in the open-source project called CIM++. The deserialized C++ objects can be processed directly by another C++ program or they can be used as input to a serializer, which converts them into another data format.

It includes a toolchain for an automated generation of the CIM++ Deserializer from ontologies specified by CIM UML. Currently the CIM++ Deserializer is distributed via GitHub and the generation toolchain will follow.

More about the idea behind CIM++ can be found here.

GitHub Repositories

• libcimpp
• Arabica XML Toolkit

CIM C++ Codebases adapted by CIM++

Original CIM Versions

• IEC61970 16v29a
• IEC61970 16v29a IEC61968 12v08
• IEC61970 17v07
• IEC61970 17v23

CIM_SINERGIEN Versions

• IEC61970 16v29a - SINERGIEN 20170324
• IEC61970 16v29a - SINERGIEN 20170705

Publications

• L. Razik, M. Mirz, D. Knibbe, S. Lankes, and A. Monti, “Automated deserializer generation from CIM ontologies: CIM++–an easy-to-use and automated adaptable open-source library for object deserialization in C++ from documents based on user-specified UML models following the Common Information Model (CIM) standards for the energy sector,” Computer Science-Research and Development, pp. 1–11, 2017.
• M. Mirz, L. Razik, J. Dinkelbach, H. A. Tokel, G. Alirezaeiz, R. Mathar and A. Monti, “A Co-Simulation Architecture for Power System, Communication and Market in the Smart Grid”

Documentation

Please click on the links above to find Doxygen documentation of the CIM++ code.

For further question please consider joining our Slack channel: FEIN Aachen e.V. Slack.

Contact

• Lukas Razik (lrazik@eonerc.rwth-aachen.de)
• Markus Mirz (mmirz@eonerc.rwth-aachen.de)

Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems (ACS) EON Energy Research Center (EONERC) RWTH University Aachen, Germany