SSCI 125 emulation of Point Lepreau G.S

A C language program has been developed at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station which emulates the actions of an SSCI 125 computer's instruction set and also emulates the actions of those input and output devices which belong to the plant control computer of the nuclear power plant's full scope training simulator. This enables the same DCC software to run on both the $20 million dollar training simulator and an equivalent desktop simulator whose hardware cost is now $16,000 or less. It facilitates making additional copies of the $20 million dollar training simulator for less than 0.1% of the cost per copy. When this emulation program is run on a 266 MHz DEC single CPU Alpha computer, it simulates the running of the training simulator plant control DCC (digital control computer) at approximately the rate of real time: either faster or slightly slower depending on the compiler options employed and depending on the choice of the modeled machine cycle speed of the SSCI. Using the standard machine cycle speed of 660 nanoseconds, using the emulator fully optimized and using plant process modelling without optimization the speed is 90% as fast as real time - this is the normal use situation for simulator modelers who were the originally intended users of the emulator. If the modeled SSCI machine cycle speed is slowed down to 792 nanoseconds (making use of space capacity on the real SSCI to reduce the workload of emulation), and all objects are compiled as optimized, then it takes only about 20 minutes of clock time to simulate over 30 minutes of modelling time. This mode of simulation may be useful for somebody who is not doing emulator or modeling code development. This could include preparing lesson plans for the training simulator, developing or evaluating plant operating procedures or trying out revised DCC software. (DM)