What’s new in OPC UA Certification

Welcome back after hopefully a relaxing summer vacation.

The compliance working group has been busy working on remapping testcases for 1.05. The completion is targeted for the end of this quarter and the team is hard at work to meet the timeline. Since the UAFX profiles are based on 1.05 profiles/facets this release is required for UAFX. In addition to the 1.05 test case mapping, we have also been working on completing test case definition for all of the mandatory features in UAFX and well as the more common optional UAFX features. With a target to automate 85-95% of the UAFX related testing, the definition and implementation of the testing is more complex but will simplify testing for vendors.

The Open Group is planning to announce their certification program for O-PAS 2.1 during the week of September 23. Stay tuned for more details! You might wonder why the OPC Certification program is discussing this:

• O-PAS is a standard of standards, and OPC UA is an included standard.
• Information models for O-PAS are built using OPC UA
• Control level communication uses OPC UA
• GDS related services are utilized by O-PAS

What does a certification announcement by The Open Group related to O-PAS mean to the OPC Foundation Certification team:

• All O-PAS products require certification
• The Open Group utilizes existing testing where available for its certification
• All O-PAS products that include the O-PAS defined communication profile (OCF) or certificate management (GDS) will require certification by the OPC Foundation as a step towards obtaining The Open Group O-PAS certification.

The complete list of OPC related profiles that O-PAS Vendor products can be tested for by the OPC Foundation can be found in the OPC Profile Application (https://profiles.opcfoundation.org/category/62).  For additional details on O-PAS and The Open Group see https://www.opengroup.org/forum/open-process-automation-forum

Interoperability (IOP) Workshop in Nuremberg October/2024

The next OPC IOP is coming soon, It is “The” event for testing OPC products for interoperability. Vendors can test and debug their products against other vendor’s products for interoperability, compliance, and reliability. IOP workshops also provide an ideal opportunity to network with your peers, learn about OPC technology and interact with industry-leading experts. It also gives vendors a chance to learn more about the OPC Foundation certification program.

Dr. Bernhard Eschermann, CTO Process Automation at ABB, emphasizes the importance of these workshops:

“IOP workshops are a key element of the overall standardization process. The paper specification does a good job of describing what is expected in a normative way but there is always room for unintentional interpretation. The IOP workshops provide a way for both the product developers to validate their products and the standardization working group to validate and improve the specification. For product developers they are also a valuable component to later on pass certification testing along with using the self-test tool suite.”

To join the event, please register at: OPC Interoperability Workshop 2024, Europe – OPC Foundation

 

If you do have questions on these topics or are interested in getting involved in our activities, please do not hesitate to contact us at compliance@opcfoundation.org

 

Paul & Alexander