1. Vision/Benefits/Introduction Randy Armstrong (OPC Foundation)
OPC UA
Vision/Benefits/Introduction
Randy Armstrong (OPC Foundation)

2. Basic Service of Microsoft OS
Classic OPC
Data Access
Historical Data Access
Alarms & Events PC
Driver A
Application
OPC Client
OPC Server
Basic Service of Microsoft OS
Field Bus
Device
OPC
DCOM
COM
Driver B
Driver C

3. Requirements for OPC UA
Scalability
MES
ERP
Embedded
devices
SCADA
Wide
adoption of
OPC
Communication
between distributed
systems
Security
Access control
Internet
Firewalls
Robustness
Fault tolerant
Platform
independent
Redundancy
Performance
OPC
used as common
system interface
Modeling
Data
Common
model for all
OPC data
Complex
data
Method
calls
Meta data
Base for other
standard data
models
Type system

4. OPC UA – Next Generation OPC
Definition 2003 – 2006
Verification and Implementation 2006 – 2008
Final OPC Foundation Release 2009
IEC Release 2010 – 2012
OPC UA = established OPC features
+ Platform independence
+ Standard internet and IP based protocols
+ Built in security features
+ Generic object model
+ Extensible type system
+ Scalability through profiles
+ Migration path from Classic OPC

5. Benefit #1 – Unifies all Specifications
OPC UA unifies Data Access, Alarms & Events, Historical Data, etc.
One OPC server can support all specifications
Legacy COM/DCOM applications interoperate with OPC UA
COM
Client UA
Client DA AE UA
HDA

6. Benefit #2 – Platform Independence
OPC UA can be ported to any Operating System
Increased market demand for OPC technology on alternate platforms like UNIX, Linux, embedded operating systems
OPC UA supports C/C++, Java, .NET, etc.
Mac
Linux
Java
Client
Java
Server
Windows 7
Windows XP
Embedded
.NET
Client
.NET
Server
Linux
VxWorks
C\C++
Client
C\C++
Server

7. Benefit #2 – Scalability
Profiles
Mainframe
Standard internet protocols allow cross-platform communication
Server Cluster
Server
devices portables desktops servers clusters mainframes
Desktop PC
Portables
Multiple UA APIs
C/C++
JAVA
Microsoft .NET
Controllers
Embedded
Systems

8. Benefit #4 – Secure Network Traffic
Security follows web standards
Security certificates encrypt communication
Application certificates ensure only certified applications can connect
User Accounts ensure authorized access UA
Client UA
Server

9. Benefit #5 – Communication Reliability
OPC UA recovers from communication loss
OPC UA ensures robust and reliable communication
Keep-alive monitoring
Buffering of data and acknowledgements
Fast recovery in case of communication errors
Redundancy concepts
Request
UA Client UA
Server
Response
UA Session

10. Benefit #6 – Unified Data Model
Unification  Simplification
Classic OPC defines different address space models for process data, alarms and historical data
Reduced system integration costs by providing a common architecture for accessing information

11. Benefit #7 – Complex Data, Modeling
OPC products can now represent complex systems with OPC UA’s rich Information Model
OPC UA provides data and meta data
UA Information model defines modeling elements and modeling rules
Complex data types
Methods State machines
Inheritance

12. Benefit #8 – Method Calls / Programs
Market demand to start and stop a drive, download a file to a device, invoke a batch file and track download resp. batch process
OPC UA defines program invocation and state machines as part of the unified address space
Start UA
Client UA
Server
Industrial
Process
Stop
Done

13. Benefit #9 – Enhanced Performance
OPC UA has been architected for speed and network performance
Transfer thousands of points per second
Poll-Report-By-Exception mechanism ensures full bandwidth control
User-Selected network protocols using binary or HTTP ensure applications can traverse almost any network topology
SOAP/XML
Sender
Receiver
UA Binary
Binary XML

14. Benefit #10 – Vertical Integration
UNIX, Linux, …
UA Client
UA Client P L
MES
ERP
Device data
Configuration
Firewall
Enterprise Network
UA Server
UA Client
UA Client
Operations Network
UA Server
UA Server
UA Client
UA Client
Plant Floor Network
UA Server
UA Server
Linux, VxWorks, QNX, …

15. Use Case: OPC embedded in Device
PROBLEM: I want to supply an OPC interface to my device without the use of an external Windows PC
HMI
OPC COM Server
OPC UA Server
SOLUTION: OPC-UA is cross-platform and embeddable

16. Use Case: Embedded HMI Solutions today: With OPC UA
Proprietary device driver
WinCE OPC Server  OEM solution
Windows Gateway PC
With OPC UA
OPC UA Server comes with device
OPC UA Client comes with HMI
OPC UA on the wire
Plug & Play
Rapid engineering with UA type system
Panel
Windows CE
HMI
OPC UA Client
Ethernet
UA TCP
Ethernet
PLC
OPC UA
Server

17. Device to Device Communication
Devices from different vendors
Solutions today:
Serial connection
Project specific TCP/IP protocol
Often not possible
With OPC UA
Both devices are OPC UA Server and OPC UA client
OPC UA on the wire
PLCopen communication FBs planned
PLC
OPC UA
Server
OPC UA
Client
Ethernet
UA TCP
Ethernet
PLC
OPC UA
Server
OPC UA
Client

18. Thanks for Your Attention !
Randy Armstrong Sparhawk Software Inc.