SPONSORED BY: Unified Automation
Unified Automation is addressing OPC UA from Standardized Communication to Real-World Solutions
The integration of industrial systems and devices in the age of Industry 4.0 depends on seamless communication protocols that ensure interoperability. Within the OPC UA ecosystem, the development of companion specifications (CS) plays a pivotal role in addressing the industry’s evolving needs for semantic standardization.
OPC UA – The Foundation for Standardized Communication
In today’s industrial landscape, seamless communication between machines—regardless of manufacturer or type—is essential. OPC UA provides a standardized communication platform that ensures interoperability across systems, allowing machines to exchange data easily and efficiently. This foundation of robust and scalable communication is key for machine builders, system integrators, and operators, as it eliminates the need for proprietary systems or incompatible data formats, streamlining the overall process.
VDMA – Standardized Semantics across Verticals
The VDMA (German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association) has developed Companion Specifications to address more complex tasks, such as managing job orders on machines, and to standardize not just communication but also the semantics across different verticals. By providing a common framework for diverse industries, these specifications create a consistent approach that benefits not only manufacturing execution systems, analytics and machine learning. The specifications offer machine builders the ability to create solutions that seamlessly integrate into various systems, they offer system integrators the capability to streamline their integration processes, and they offer operators a solution to manage machines from different manufacturers.
Unified Automation – Empowering Developers with SDKs and Tooling
While the foundation of standardized communication and interface semantics is in place, the real challenge lies in translating these theories into practical, operational solutions. This is where Unified Automation steps in. They offer a comprehensive range of SDKs (software development kits) in multiple programming languages to assist developers, machine builders, and automation system vendors in implementing OPC UA solutions. These libraries provide a solid starting point for creating sophisticated applications while ensuring adherence to OPC UA standards.
In addition to the SDKs, Unified Automation provides a powerful tooling environment for information modeling and code generation, called UaModeler. UaModeler simplifies the creation of complex information models and the integrated code generation feature saves time and ensures consistency and code quality. These tools help developers create solutions that meet their specific needs, accelerate the development process, and bring the benefits of OPC UA into products and systems.
From Theory to Practice – A How-To Workshop to Get You Started
These powerful tools and solutions can make a significant difference in how you approach your projects. To see how everything comes together, Unified Automation offers a “How-To” Workshop, where participants gain insight into OPC UA and the VDMA Machinery Companion Specification. The one-day workshop on March 19, 2025 will guide attendees through the process of creating a fully functional OPC UA server, utilizing Unified Automation’s tools. Whether you are a machine builder, system integrator, or plant operator, this workshop will demonstrate how these tools will accelerate the development of powerful, standardized solutions to solve real-world challenges.
For more information and to register for the workshop, please visit:
https://www.unified-automation.com/services/training/schedule-locations.html
You can download UaModeler and OPC UA SDK for free at:
https://www.unified-automation.com/downloads/opc-ua-development.html
To contact to Unified Automation, please visit:
https://www.unified-automation.com/infoarea/contact.html
About Unified Automation
Unified Automation is a leading supplier of OPC UA software. It provides UA-enabled products, cross-platform toolkits and development frameworks in different programming languages (ANSI C, C++, C# .NET, Java, Delphi) and for different platforms (Windows, Linux, VxWorks, QNX, RTOS, and many other embedded operating systems). The target market for OPC UA products ranges from manufacturers of embedded devices to developers of enterprise applications.
Unified Automation is a technology and software provider in the field of OPC-based communication, and its Software Development Kits (SDKs) form the basis of OPC UA products for almost all large and small automation suppliers worldwide.