How OPC Server and SISORT®DA system control 29 substations without SCADA

by Philippe Maurin, Gustavo Ferraz, Eduardo Freitas, RD&I, ORTENG Equipamentos e Sistemas.

ORTENG is supplying the electrical and automation systems of 29 substations with 1,431 IEDs for oil refinery Abreu e Lima of Petrobras, which is being built at Ipojuca, Brazil. Each substation has at least one SISORT DA system working in a redundant configuration with a total of 44 systems and a total of 80,000 OPC items. Each system has an OPC Server (SISORT-OPC Server) connected to at least two (and up to six) OPC Clients, including DCS OPC Clients and Event Recorder OPC Clients.

Seamless data exchange

by Georg Suess, Operational Marketing, and Vaclav Bouse, Product Manager, Softing Industrial Automation GmbH

With the industry-wide trend towards horizontal and vertical integration, intelligence is moving from supervisory control systems to local components. This development is leading to a growing need for communication for which the open OPC UA standard provides an ideal solution because it can also be used for embedded devices.

OPC-UA makes subsea control more secure

by Darek Kominek, Matrikon

A new interface standard for subsea control systems, called MDIS, based on OPC-UA, is being developed to make communications between subsea and top side control systems more robust and less expensive to implement in terms of the time and effort needed to setup and maintain them…

Packaging machine automation – It just works

by Robert Trask, P.E

As U.S. manufacturing and production moves toward what is generally considered the fourth Industrial Revolution, popularized as “Industry 4.0,” many of the necessary technological components are already in place. However, there is some additional ground that must be covered. A consensus is forming around the notion that the primary component preventing the revolution from reaching full speed is wider acceptance of communication standards. So how can we consistently, and with less effort, exchange data between the various components of a highly connected industrial machine or process?

Unified architecture aids interoperability with IoT

by Nathan Pocock, Director of Technology and Compliance, OPC Foundation

It seems as though everyone has now heard of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 and the opportunities ahead. But are you prepared to benefit from this next technological leap while maximizing your opportunity with minimal risk and cost? One key to success is adopting open standards such as OPC UA, a platform-independent technology that assures interoperability…

OPC finds a role in bringing together process and building automation

by Dan Hebert, Control magazine

OPC is playing a significant role in allowing plants to bridge the gap between process control and building automation systems, according to an article in the November issue of Control magazine by senior technical editor Dan Hebert. There are multiple reasons to bring them together, and others to keep them apart.

OPC UA progress highlighted at SPS show

Security and interoperability for data and communication are key topics for the Industry 4.0 initiative and the Internet of Things. An efficient network of sensors, field devices and controllers up to the Cloud for new services and Big Data can be realized with the OPC-Unified Architecture (OPC UA). That was the message delivered at the OPC Foundation press conference during November’s SPS/IPC/Drives 2014 in Nuremberg, Germany.

Smart watch meets smart factory with OPC UA

by Tesla

Tablet PCs are playing a growing role in helping workers monitor industrial processes as they move around a factory. Smart watches may soon prove equally useful.

To showcase the application potential of smart watches, Tesla, a company that enables real-time mobile SCADA access to industrial communications platforms using OPC UA technology and the Android operating system, recently participated in a…

Events Update

The OPC Foundation conducts and attends several events throughout the year that showcase OPC technology and its member’s solutions. See what’s coming up next and what you may have missed.

New Product Releases

Check out the latest product releases from our members:

● National Instruments LabVIEW : enabling OPC communications in LabVIEW-based systems

● Kepware Technologies and Splunk alliance : accelerating new insights from industrial data

● Kepware Technologies KEPServerEX update : improving big data analytics

● Kepware Technologies local historian plug-in : improving operating efficiency