Machine tool builder exeron is convinced that OPC UA is the way forward. The specialist in electrical discharge machining (EDM) has started down that path by developing a communication solution based on the open IEC standard. The solution eliminates the proprietary interface between the HMI systems and CNC controllers of the company’s EDM line.
For one large European transportation customer, it was critical to be able to leverage existing Building Information Modeling (BIM) models in order to quickly and easily integrate its building systems into its monitoring and control systems, as well as continue to work with its existing connected equipment and processes. As shown at an event in Paris, ICONICS is able to keep its customer’s operations on the right track.
Managing security certificates is one of the most important parts of establishing an OPC UA connection. Cogent’s DataHub makes it easy to accept or reject certificates using its built-in management tool. Plus with its latest release, they’ve added the ability to act as both an OPC UA Client and Server.
Two important Memorandums of Understanding were signed in recent months. First, OPC UA is finding itself used in applications beyond traditional manufacturing. In this case, commercial professional kitchens. Second, an MOU was signed with the VDMA Robotics organization. Here, OPC UA was chosen as the easiest route to M2M integration.
New products this month include DataHub version 8 from Cogent; a new OPC UA SDK from Matrikon; an embedded OPC UA toolkit from Softing; safety plus OPC UA from B&R; and OPC UA communication for power supplies from Siemens.
2016 was a outstanding year with all the new collaborations and extensions to the OPC UA technology. 2017 will significantly exceed the success of 2016! OPC UA technology development is well underway for the publish/subscribe architecture which will further extend information integration and system wide interoperability from the embedded world to the enterprise. From an event perspective, the OPC Foundation is hosting many of its own events and participating in a multitude of tradeshows internationally.
We’ve expanded the newsletter program from four newsletters in 2016 to doing six newsletters in 2017 because of the volume of information and making sure that we are providing the latest and greatest timely information. Thanks again for taking time out of your busy day to read this edition of the OPC Foundation OPC connect newsletter.
The OPC Foundation membership really is a diverse set of companies developing products and/or services for many different domains and vertical markets. Corporate members that are Class A members are recognized here that have joined since November 1, 2016.
Also, the OPC Foundation is proud to announce the availability of our new European Certification Test Lab.
Finally, the next OPC interoperability workshop is scheduled for the week of April 24th, 2017 in Phoenix, AZ.
Information Modeling is a useful way to plan for the collaboration involved in the design, implementation, and operation of systems. It can be utilized in various applications from large-scale manufacturing operations to building automation and energy management. The models are typically created and edited via 3D design and drafting tools. Information Modeling also provides for quick and easy project collaboration and interaction.
Those who deploy the OPC Unified Architecture (UA) will be able to better leverage plant floor to enterprise communications as a vehicle to participate in IIoT applications. The goal for OPC is to be a standard for interoperability for moving information vertically through the enterprise of multi-vendor systems as well as providing interoperability between devices on different industrial networks from different vendors.
Benninger Automation forms part of the Swiss Benninger Group which has been the textile industry‘s leading partner across the globe for more than one hundred and fifty years. While developing “certon,” Benninger Automation has focused closely on usability features. As one example, no programming knowledge is required to configure certon for the local data logging environment. The data logging itself is handled by the certonLOG module. This software is installed on a host PC and collects data from the connected sources via an OPC UA client. The mechanisms used in the OPC UA communication standard not only safeguard the actual exchange of data but also ensure that it is transferred securely.