Operator Glossary
This glossary explains terms the way an operating user needs them: what it is, why it matters and when you need to care.
| Term | What it means | Why / when the operator cares |
|---|---|---|
| Activation catalog | The list printed by evse start --dry-run and evse external-evcc-session-policy with the listener and EVCC commands for every protocol. | It is the authoritative recipe for your build; copy commands from it rather than from memory. |
| Annex B (ISO 15118-20) | The certificate profile of ISO 15118-20: ECDSA secp521r1 with SHA-512, defined key usages and identifiers. | Production TLS 1.3 material for ISO 15118-20 must follow it; the SECC identity is validated as an Annex B chain, not by DNS name. |
| Artifact root | Directory where ChargeLink stores run outputs: manifest, traces, reports, evidence. | Pass it explicitly on every command; back it up; verify integrity before sharing. |
| ATS | Abstract Test Suite: the structured inventory of test cases for a standard (ISO 15118-4, -21, -23). | Source of the case identifiers in packages and campaigns; ChargeLink ships case identifiers, not standards text. |
| BPT | Bidirectional Power Transfer. | Defined by ISO 15118-20; not provided by ChargeLink, and a profile whose ID names BPT is refused. |
| Campaign | A concrete selection of cases chosen and executed for one protocol, role and configuration. | Produced by test plan/test run or a package; keep the plan with the verdicts. |
| CAN / CAN-FD | Controller Area Network. | IEC 61851-23/-24 System A (CHAdeMO) runs on a virtual CAN hub or a Kvaser CAN channel. The scripted DC-CAN sequences model CAN virtually; their adapter names are descriptors and open no hardware. |
| Claim boundary | A field in every artifact that states what the evidence proves and does not prove. | Read it before quoting a result; it is the product's own limit statement. |
| API access token | A random 256-bit token the gRPC server writes to <state-root>\api-token at every start and requires as a bearer header on every call. | CLI commands read it from CHARGELINK_API_TOKEN_FILE or the runtime root's integration\api-token; third-party clients must send it themselves. |
| Bench kit | The files of a ChargeLink version: the CLI, the NI VeriStand bench executables, the plant model, the charger-side and vehicle-side scripts, manifests and notices. The setup ChargeLinkSetup-<VERSION>.exe installs them; DEVlink can also supply them as ChargeLink-<VERSION>-bench-kit-win64.zip. The kit has a charger\ and a vehicle\ folder. | This manual documents the same binary. The NI VeriStand bench is set up from the separate ChargeLink kit for NI VeriStand (ChargeLink-VeriStand-<VERSION>.zip; Set Up the VeriStand Bench). |
| CP / PP | Control Pilot and Proximity Pilot, the low-level signalling of the charging interface. | Not implemented as protocol behaviour; exposed only as HIL adapter signals. |
| DUT / SUT | Device / System Under Test: the charger, vehicle or controller being tested. | Record its identity and firmware in every run and ticket. |
| EIM | External Identification Means: authorization outside Plug & Charge. | The authorization mode ChargeLink provides. |
| Entitlement | What the usable licences grant: the edition, packages, features and limits, shown in the entitlement object of license status. | Without a usable licence, licensed commands stop with CL-LICENSE-001 (exit 20). |
Licence (.dlic) | A signed licence file from DEVlink, bound to the machine ID of one PC, installed with license install into %ProgramData%\DEVlink\ChargeLink\licenses. | See Licensing. |
| Machine ID | The identifier of this PC that a licence is bound to (license machine-id). | Send it, or a license request file, to DEVlink to get a licence. |
| EVCC | Electric Vehicle Communication Controller, the vehicle side. | The role ChargeLink plays when your charger or SECC is the DUT; see ChargeLink as Vehicle. |
| Evidence manifest | The JSON file (chargelink.protocol_test_evidence.v1) that binds a live or replayed capture to test cases with reviewed checks and hashes. | The only source of PASS/FAIL for protocol-first campaigns. |
| EVSE / SECC | Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (the charger) and its Supply Equipment Communication Controller. | The role ChargeLink plays when your vehicle or EVCC is the DUT; ChargeLink implements the SECC. See ChargeLink as Charger. |
| EXI | Efficient XML Interchange, the binary encoding of ISO 15118 messages. | EXI captures are part of the run evidence; decode results appear in the frame trace. |
| Full-wire session manifest | The session manifest of the ChargeLink vehicle's ISO 15118-20 session, delivered as vehicle\cases\full-wire-session-manifest.json. | Required by a live ISO 15118-20 session of the ChargeLink vehicle (CHARGELINK_ISO20_FULL_WIRE_SESSION_MANIFEST); use it unchanged. |
| gRPC Integration API | chargelink.integration.v1, the automation boundary. | Loopback only; a per-start bearer access token on every call; no TLS transport. |
| HIL / SIL / MIL | Hardware-, Software-, Model-in-the-Loop. | ChargeLink runs SIL, with a deterministic HIL reference; it drives no physical HIL equipment. |
| Interface index / zone | Windows identifier of a NIC used with link-local IPv6 (%19). | Always the local machine's index; the wrong zone is the most common EVCC connection failure. |
Kit folders charger\, vehicle\ | The charger-side (charger\) and vehicle-side (vehicle\) folders of the bench kit. | Folder names only; in prose this manual says "the charger PC" and "the vehicle PC" on the NI VeriStand bench. |
| Link-local IPv6 | Addresses in fe80::/10 used by ISO 15118 discovery and sessions. | No router needed; firewall rules should be scoped to it. |
| Live case | The ChargeLink vehicle's identity and electrical parameters file for a live ISO 15118-20 session (CHARGELINK_ISO20_LIVE_SEMANTIC_CASE). | Required; values are validated before the first packet. |
Manifest (manifest.json) | Inventory of a run with SHA-256 per file and redaction class. | Basis of integrity verification and support bundles. |
| Operator screen (ChargeLink Operator) | The screen of the ChargeLink VeriStand project from which an NI VeriStand bench session is operated. The Start-menu entry ChargeLink Operator (VeriStand) starts the session as administrator and opens it. | Press Apply safe startup, Start session, Start external EVCC to start, and Stop external EVCC, Stop session, Shutdown workflow to stop; see NI VeriStand Bench. |
| Package | A licensed test collection with catalogue, PICS/PIXIT templates, runner and reports. | Select by protocol and DUT role; check the entitlement. |
| PICS / PIXIT | Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (what the SUT supports) and eXtra Information for Testing (values needed to run tests). | Generated per package; changing them creates a different campaign. |
| Plant-coupled session | An ISO 15118-20 DC EIM session of the ChargeLink charger in which the present voltage and current come from the plant model. | Requires the runtime profile, a plant gRPC endpoint and TLS 1.3 mutual. |
| PLC / SLAC | Power Line Communication and its link setup on the charging cable. | Not implemented in ChargeLink 0.5.0; the bench's Ethernet path provides the link. See Connecting to Real PLC Hardware. |
| PnC | Plug & Charge: certificate-based authorization. | Defined by ISO 15118-20 and ISO 15118-2; not provided by ChargeLink (EIM only), and a profile whose ID names Plug & Charge is refused. |
| Profile | Named configuration: protocol, role, connector family, EXI mode. | Discover with profile list; deployment values are not profile data. |
| Reference responder | A charger mode that answers each decoded request with the validated reference response for that message. | Exercises transport, TLS and sequencing; the responses do not follow the vehicle's requested values. |
| Replay | Hash verification of a deterministic simulation report (sim replay), or a validated capture used as campaign evidence. | Reproducibility without hardware; not new interoperability evidence. |
| Role lock | active\evse.lock.json / evcc.lock.json: one live session per role per runtime root. | Stale locks block starts; recover with runtime recover --stale-only. |
| Run ID | Identifier of one run, session and evidence set. | Pass it with --run-id; record it everywhere. |
| Runtime profile | JSON with the electrical tolerances and safe limits of the plant-coupled ISO 15118-20 session. | A reviewed engineering decision recorded in evidence. |
| Runtime root | Directory with session state, locks and heartbeats. | Pass it explicitly (this manual: %ProgramData%\DEVlink\ChargeLink\data\runtime). |
| SDP | SECC Discovery Protocol on UDP 15118. | If SDP fails, nothing else starts; check NIC, IPv6 and firewall first. |
| Signal (canonical) | One of 94 transport-neutral values such as Vehicle.SocPct. | The mapping target of every integration. |
| TLS adapter | The built-in TLS adapter (default) or Windows SChannel. | ISO 15118-20 requires the built-in adapter with TLS 1.3 mutual; SChannel is TLS 1.2 for ISO 15118-2 peers. |
| Trace | Chronological machine-readable record of events and frames. | Primary evidence for where a session diverged; potentially sensitive. |
| V2GTP | Vehicle-to-Grid Transport Protocol framing that carries EXI payloads. | Its own troubleshooting layer between TCP/TLS and the application. |
| Verdict | pass, fail, inconclusive, blocked; trace verdicts observed, accepted, rejected, timeout, unsupported, faulted. | Blocked and inconclusive are not failures. |
| Watchdog / command age | Freshness check on plant commands (Runtime.CommandAge_ms). | Expiry drives the plant to the safe state. |
| XIL (ASAM) | Standardised test-bench interface (Framework, MAPort, EESPort). | A reference implementation; not used by the VeriStand bench. |