RESTful web services and the Common Information Model (CIM)

This paper shows one possible way to enhance power system software integration by combining RESTful web services (RESTful WS) and the IEC 61970 set of standards. We also discuss the differences between SOAP and RESTful web services in the context of this research. We propose a web service, which wraps the resource oriented power system data model defined in the IEC 61970–301 Common Information Model (CIM) and the generic query interface defined in IEC 61970–403 Generic Data Access (GDA). We will demonstrate that a RESTful WS atop of existing IEC 61970 standards can significantly loose the couplings between different software packages used in power system control centers. We have performed tests on real life power system data models (some used in CIM interoperability tests) to make the tests more realistic. The proposal depicted in this paper provides another powerful tool for creating truly distributed power system software solutions.