FORTRAN SPECIALIST GROUP - 22nd OCTOBER 1990

  at ScottishPower Headquarters, Glasgow

List of Attendees - Total = 11

1.    Cheyne, I E       -      ScottishPower (SSEB)

2.    Marchant, Dr E    -      ScottishPower

3.    Mclntyre, A T     -      Babcock Energy Ltd

4.    Reid, A J         -      National Engineering Laboratory

5.    McLeod, R I       -      National Engineering Laboratory

6.    Blair-Fish, Dr J  -      University of Edinburgh

7.    Connell, M        -      University of Edinburgh

8.    Muxworthy, D T    -      University of Edinburgh

9.    Brough, Colin     -      EPCC, University of Edinburgh

10.   Milne, W J        -      Paisley College

11.   Bruce, J W        -      British Computer Society

All but two were BCS members. Dr John Blair-Fish is a Committee member

of the Parallel Processing Specialist Group, and H Connell is an IEE

member.

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REPORT

POWER SYSTEHS AHALYSIS - by I E Cheyne, ScottishPower: This talk covered

the use of computing in ScottishPower's engineering applications. UPSS

(Unified Power Systems Suite) featured most and is a package of five

major programs and five hundred routines, taking some 60,000 lines of

code. It logs between 10,000 and 12,000 runs per annum, and has been

supplied to five other Boards. The package (UPSS) caters for Databank

Edit, Fault Analysis, Transient Stability, and Outage Security. It is

written in a portable version of Fortran (some enhanced Fortran 66 and

77). A graphics-oriented interface (especially for networks) is GINO-F

based, and this alone comprises 4 major programs itself, involving 100

major routines, and 19,000 lines of code. The system is 'directive-

driven' where program options are input in an abbreviated form with a

leading asterisk. All algorithm are accessible to the programs. The

system runs on DEC MicroVAXs, some PCs, and a network of ICL Series 39

computers which are linked to ScottishPowers's Operations Centre at

Kirkintilloch by microwave link. The other package featured was DINIS

(Distribution Network Information System) for the design of distribution

networks, as the name implies.

PARALLEL COMPUTERS and FORTRAN 77 by A J Reid, National Engineering

Laboratory, East Kilbride: The case for parallel computing was made in

terms of cost, efficiency, and the reduction of elapsed time. One

transputer runs at the same speed as a VAX 8700 so that a program

needing 60 minutes could reduce to 6 minutes with ten processors. NEL

uses 3L compilers which are actually sequential, but Fortran programs

can be allowed to communicate, and so two program can run in parallel.

The compiler provides features for extensive communications via the run-

time creation of processes, in the style of Hoare, that is. The required

coding overhead is very small, easily done, and can involve an extremely

small number of extra lines of code. The key is knowing where to split a

program. However, that coding has to be done by hand as no tools yet

exist.