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Industry 4.0

The Role of OPC UA in a Smart Factory

 

The term “Industry 4.0” is hugely popular at the moment, and w

good reason. The reference to the great industrial revolutions of t

past reveals the importance attributed to the role to be played

a ‘Factory of the Future’, with its interconnected components a

systems.

This whitepaper explains the meaning behind the term Industry 4

outlines the operation mode of the OPC Unied Architecture (OPC U

and sheds light on how both are connected. Readers will also lea

what challenges can be mastered with OPC to use the pioneering

but also complex – technology, which is part of Industry 4.0.

Executive Summary

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Importance of Industry 4.0

Whether you ask manufacturers or users, the term Industry 4.0 and the futureit promises to afford have an almost galvanizing effect on the automationindustry. Industry 4.0 envisions the fourth stage of the industrial revolutionthanks to a new revolution kick-started by a system encompassing smartfactories, intelligent machines and networked processes. The rst industriarevolution saw the mechanisation of production using water and steam powerthe second introduced mass production with the help of electric power; thethird revolution was digital, witnessing the use of electronics and IT to furthe

automate production.

Driven by the Internet, the real and virtual worlds are coming closer together toform an Internet of Things. In the future, industrial production will be characterisedby the strong individualisation of products via highly exible production, theextensive integration of customers and business partners in business and valueadded processes, and the connection of production and high-quality services.

In the Factory of the Future, all components will control the production procesautonomously – something made possible thanks to their interconnectivityWhether those components are people, machines, equipment or systemseverything is set to be interconnected, to collect information and to share itTherefore, future components will automatically communicate if they are in needof servicing.

In order to successfully realise the concept of Industry 4.0 or “IntegratedIndustry”, there are a few challenges that rst must be overcome. While industryis on the cusp of the latest industrial revolution, interconnectivity is the criticalynchpin that will enable it. A fundamental component of this process is OPC UAa standard that enables interoperability at all levels – device to device, device tothe enterprise, and beyond.

OPC UA and Embedded

OPC stands for Open Connectivity and it is the world’s most widely usedstandardised data exchange process for automation technology. The standardcollects and transports data in a common form from various devices, controsystems, and applications across an organization.OPC is the dominant communication standard in the industrial markets becauseof its simple approach to structuring and abstracting process data. The designof this standard enables almost all industrial data to be mapped to the OPC datastructure.

The evolution of OPC, OPC UA, leverages a service-oriented architecture (SOA

with platform-independent protocols and built-in security mechanisms. OPC UAapplications are easily written in any environment, which allows it to be fullyscalable, running on anything from the microcontroller level all the way up toenterprise server farms.

The usage scenarios for OPC UA are not limited to the PC level: thanks tothe exibility of OPC UA, applications can also be developed for non-Windowsplatforms such as Linux and for embedded systems running on RTOS (Real TimeOperating System) or even ‘bare metal’ environments which don’t involve anoperating system at all.

 “A fundamental component

of this process is OPC UA,

a standard that enables

interoperability at all levels

– device to device, device to

the enterprise, and beyond. ” 

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This eld of application on an embedded level is important, since a large numof sensors and low-level devices generate data that is essential to analyse. Wtoday’s automation systems and as Industry 4.0 dawns, users must be ableshow the behavior of processes and installations in real time in order to bet

understand them and maximise their protability. Devices are connected to otdevices and applications to the user, all of which must be congured so that thforward data generated. This conguration is so complex that many installatioonly forward a limited amount of the data available to the user.

If an OPC Server is embedded directly into the device an optimal solution for almany application can be created, enabling the industrial devices of a company tobe connected. This provides users with distinct advantages in terms of efciencost and operation of their systems. OPC UA already connects from the enterprlevel to embedded systems of automation components.

The Role of OPC UA within Industry 4.0

DA is a widespread solution for data connectivity, OPC UA provides a method secure and reliable exchange of data and being the world’s most popular opconnectivity standard, it will play a direct role in helping make Industry 4.0reality.

OPC UA is architected for platform independence and is ‘time durable’; as a resit supports the requirements of Industry 4.0. In addition, OPC UA facilitates integration of ‘invisible’ components in the permanent data exchange of the factoof the future, giving OPC UA an important role in the Internet of Things.Embedded OPC UA technology enables open connectivity on devices, sensors acontrollers and delivers clear advantages for enterprises. Thanks to the dataprovides, end-users benet from faster decision-making, and the integraenterprise architecture becomes a reality. The concept of this integrated indus

is at the heart of Industry 4.0.

OPC Classic, as the predecessor to OPC UA, established an ‘open data connectivrevolution’ that broke down the proprietary connectivity barriers betwemanagement and control systems themselves and between management acontrol systems and the rest of the enterprise. Now, OPC UA extends this concfurther thanks to its platform and operating system independence, and exidata modeling capabilities. These allow UA to natively represent data from virtuaany data source on one side, while preserving the data context and presentingto consumers in a format they can use best. This effectively abstracts the physlayer devices by faithfully representing data structures via consistent UA damodels.

MatrikonOPC has developed the OPC UA Embedded Server Software DevelopmeKit (SDK) specically to facilitate the creation of intelligent networked devices adoes this by enabling the integration of a fully compliant high-performance OPC server directly into the device. This type of solution, which is scalable over eadevice class, is unique.

 “OPC UA provides a method

for secure and reliable

exchange of data and being

the world’s most popular

open connectivity standard,

it will play a direct role in

helping make industry 4.0 a

reality.” 

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Conclusion

Controlling the ow of materials, goods and information, enabling faster decision-making, and a simplication ofreporting are all benets that organizations can expect from the move to Industry 4.0. Intelligent materials will informmachines how they need to be processed; maintenance and repair will be directly initiated by the components of theintelligent factory plant; and rigid production lines will be transformed into modular, efcient systems.

Ultimately, the entire lifecycle of a product could be fully documented. Whilst a fully functioning Industry 4.0 may be afuturistic concept at this stage, progress already happening and will gradually lead to a comprehensive transformationand major changes at every enterprise level. OPC UA is expected to be critical for this success, enabling the exchangedata across all levels of an organization.

More information about the solutions described in this whitepaper:

MatrikonOPC Universal Connectivity Server

MatrikonOPC Universal Connectivity Server (UCS) is a single OPC Server that provides connectivity to multiple devicprotocols and APIs. This OPC Server now enables companies to provide secure connectivity to every major control systand application on the market in one powerful OPC Server.

http://www.matrikonopc.com/drivers/universal-connectivity-server/index.aspx

MatrikonOPC UA Embedded Server Software Development Kit

The OPC UA Embedded Server SDK from MatrikonOPC is a software development kit that allows you to quickly and easadd an OPC UA Server to your embedded product. Our scalable, standards based SDK can be integrated into every clafrom discrete sensors and actuators to programmable controllers and beyond. Add real value to your product by enabldirect point and click conguration, management and monitoring from any OPC UA Client.

http://www.matrikonopc.com/opc-ua/embedded/sdk.aspx

OPC

MatrikonOPC Universal Con nectivity Server (UCS) is a s ingle OPC Server that enables the mu ltiple

communications protocols to communicate with data sources in a real-time and secure manner

across multiple platforms.

Plug-ins

MatrikonOPC Universal Connectivity Server

Event Engine

SCADA

SCADAHMI   Historian

ERPTrendingEnterpriseHistorian

    O   P    C   U   A

    O

   P    C   U   A

    P    C    B   a   s   e    d    O    C    P    U    A

MES

Control Network

Operations Network

Business Network

    E   m    b   e    d    d   e    d    O    P    C    U    A

MatrikonOPC OPC UA Embedded Server Software Development Kit (SDK)

Use the MatrikonOPC OPC UA Embedded Server Software Developme nt Kit (SDK) to enable your device todirectly connect to the enterprise with native OPC UA connectivity.

EmbeddedOPC UA Servers PLC Smart

SensorDrivesVision

Systems

 

Copyright © Matrikon International 2014

Toll Free: 1-877- MATRIKON (1-877-628-7456)

Tel: +1 (780) 945-4099

Email: info@MatrikonOPC.com

Web: www.MatrikonOPC.com

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