Introduction to the Sofrel Driver

This driver is an advanced driver. It provides additional functionality to enable Geo SCADA Expert to interface with specific supported devices using a particular protocol. To interact successfully with such devices, you need to:

  • Install and run the driver
  • Ensure that the driver is licensed
  • Configure the required database items and settings on the driver
  • Ensure that the database items (and any database items on which they depend) have valid, saved, configuration and are 'In Service'.

Intended Audience

This guide is primarily intended for engineers who are responsible for configuring Sofrel items and features in the Geo SCADA Expert database.

The guide also contains information for:

  • Operators and engineers who use the Sofrel driver to monitor and control plant
  • Maintenance engineers.

Document Scope

This guide explains the configuration, features and database items that are specific to Geo SCADA Expert's Sofrel driver.

The Sofrel driver supports two Modbus transport protocols:

  • Modbus RTU (over serial, TCP or UDP)
  • Modbus TCP

Sofrel outstations do not support Modbus RTU over TCP or UDP directly, so this would only be used when communicating via a 'Modbus gateway' device.

In addition the driver enables Geo SCADA Expert to communicate with devices using two Sofrel protocols:

  • LACBUS-RTU
  • SOFBUS-PL

The driver supports the following Sofrel outstation models:

  • S500 Remote Terminal Unit range that includes three products for installations of any size and any functional requirements.
  • BOX range (Cellbox Data and Telbox), developed specifically for the remote monitoring of small isolated installations without any energy source.
  • S50 range.

This guide contains technical information that is intended for users that are sufficiently familiar with Geo SCADA Expert configuration and operation. Before reading this driver guide, ensure that you are familiar with:

  • Advanced driver configuration order, outstation types, and configuration properties and logging options that are common to many advanced drivers. For more information, see the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Advanced Drivers.

Some sections of this guide are intended for operator-level users. These sections are intended for users that are familiar with the navigational and operational aspects of Geo SCADA Expert. Before reading the operational sections in this guide, ensure that you are familiar with:

The Sofrel driver allows interoperability between RTUs (Remote Terminal Units) and Geo SCADA Expert. A Sofrel network typically consists of a single Geo SCADA Expert master and multiple outstations.

Most Sofrel outstations can support up to four masters, refer to the Sofrel literature for more information.

The Geo SCADA Expert master maintains a local database that holds a copy of the data stored in each outstation.

Geo SCADA Expert processes the data received from the outstation and:

  • Displays current values to operators.
  • Generates alarms.
  • Stores historic event data so that it may be trended and reported.

The data sent by an outstation may be:

  • Values of physical inputs at the outstation.
  • Values obtained from another device by the outstation.
  • Values that are calculated by the outstation.

One of the fundamental concepts of Sofrel is that an outstation can buffer historic data. The outstation sends its buffered data to Geo SCADA Expert when it sends a poll request to the outstation—these can be scheduled by Geo SCADA Expert to optimize use of the communications network.

Geo SCADA Expert supports 'report data' from the S50 range of outstations, which is a specialized form of historic data used for daily reporting.

Alternatively, the outstation can dial-in (PSTN/GSM) or make a connection (Network) to report alarms.

This guide explains how to configure Sofrel specific features and items within the Geo SCADA Expert database.

Policy of Continuous Development

To maintain Geo SCADA Expert's position as a leading SCADA solution, we operate a policy of continuous development. Each new version of our product supports additional features and functionality to previous releases. To use the new drivers, features, or functionality involving database items, your system has to be running the latest version of Geo SCADA Expert software. Additionally, if you have upgraded from an earlier version of the product, you have to deactivate any Database Emulation that was activated during the upgrade process. You should only deactivate the Database Emulation once you have successfully completed the upgrade process on all of the servers and clients in your system (see Deactivate Database Emulation after a Successful Upgrade).