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FLC Corner – March 2023

    UAFX Controller-to-Controller Interoperability Demo Celebrates Premiere in Asia

    At this year’s Smart Factory and Automation exhibition in Seoul (South Korea), the OPC Foundation showcased a newly created multivendor UAFX-based interoperability demonstration in combination with a series of presentations on a forum organized by KETI (Korea Electronics Technology Institute). The demonstration is comprised of controllers and network switches from nineteen manufacturers, including: ABB, Beckhoff, Bosch Rexroth, B&R, Emerson, Festo, Hirschmann/Belden, Huawei, Keba, Lenze, Mitsubishi Electric, Moxa, Omron, Phoenix Contact, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Unified Automation, and Yokogawa.

    The demonstration showcases horizontal communication between 3rd party controllers, i.e., controller-to-controller (C2C) communications. Utilizing the UAFX extensions, the controllers exchange cyclic process data using UAFX Connections and PubSub mechanisms via UDP/IP over wired Ethernet and Ethernet TSN. The UAFX Connections utilize UAFX Publisher and UAFX Subscriber functionality, and the controllers are configured and interconnected via built-in or stand-alone UAFX Connection Manager software. Mitsubishi Electric, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and Unified Automation implemented the UAFX Connection Managers used in the demonstration. The controllers in this demonstration are monitored in real time via a central dashboard, which visualizes the status, selected process data, and other information from the UAFX asset information model for each automation component.

    The UAFX interoperability demo will be shown at other exhibitions in Asia in 2023 and 2024, accompanied by presentations and seminars.


    TIACC (TSN Industrial Automation Conformance Collaboration) – New Test Specification Work Group

    The TSN Industrial Automation Conformance Collaboration (TIACC) – a collaboration of the OPC Foundation with Avnu Alliance, CC-Link Partner Association, ODVA, and PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI) – is launching a Test Specification Working Group. This Working Group will develop a single, jointly-agreed and jointly-owned conformance test plan for the IEC/ IEEE Standards Association 60802 profile of TSN for Industrial Automation. TIACC’s overall goal is to develop an interoperable ecosystem of devices from different manufacturers contributing to end-users confidence that 60802-compliant devices from different manufacturers, supporting different automation protocols, will interoperate reliably at the TSN level on shared networks, including devices using TSN for applications other than automation. The drafts of the test specification elaborated by this new TIACC Working Group will be reviewed by the OPC Foundation’s Compliance Working Group (CWG) and the Test Development Working Group of OPC Foundation’s FLC Initiative. Member companies of the OPC Foundation that wish their employees to participate directly in the TIACC Working Group meetings can sign a Direct Participation Agreement and get directly involved.

    www.tiacc.net


    For more information please contact Peter Lutz via email at: peter.lutz[AT]opcfoundation.org.