Connectivity

OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is a platform-independent, standardized communication protocol that enables flexible, secure and scalable data transfer between different automation technology systems. It offers a standardized and manufacturer-independent solution for communication between devices, controllers, MES systems (Manufacturing Execution Systems), SCADA systems (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and other applications. OPC UA ensures seamless integration of different devices and software solutions and supports communication across different networks and protocols. It enables both real-time communication and access to historical data, while offering high security standards such as encryption and authentication to ensure data integrity and confidentiality.

OPC UA (Unified Architecture) is based on a client-server model where the OPC UA server provides access to its data and resources and the OPC UA client serves as the recipient of this data. The server is responsible for the provision and management of data objects, while the client creates and processes this data. This clear separation of roles enables flexible and scalable communication between the systems.

The OPC UA system architecture sees clients and servers as interacting partners, whereby each system can act as both a client and a server. This means that a system can provide and receive data at the same time, which results in a high degree of flexibility. A single OPC UA system can contain multiple clients and servers, enabling even greater scalability and interoperability between different devices and applications.

The APROL runtime server offers both client and server functionalities, which enables particularly flexible and versatile communication within an automation system. This dual functionality allows the APROL runtime server to interact in a variety of scenarios, exchange data and seamlessly integrate different automation processes.

OPC HDA (Historical Data Access) enables access to historical data recorded in the past and is particularly useful for analyzing trends and long-term monitoring of systems. The APROL runtime server provides OPC HDA functionality to enable access to historical process data so that users can track and analyze past events, measured values and alarms.

OPC is largely based on Microsoft's DCOM specification (Distributed Component Object Model), which means that communication via OPC is generally structured according to DCOM. This technology enables communication between different devices and applications, but there are limitations when it comes to operation across firewalls or domain boundaries. However, it is also possible to communicate OPC data across routers and firewalls without a tunnel, even if the OPC server and the OPC client are not in the same domain. In this case, authentication takes place via the local user table. One disadvantage of this approach is that an identical local user must exist on both end devices (server and client), which is used to handle the OPC or DCOM communication. This means that the username and password must match on both end devices, which can be impractical in many scenarios. It is also advisable to restrict the DCOM communication ports in order to increase security. This can be done via a Windows registry entry.

Parameterization in the CaeManager engineering tool
Various fieldbus protocols are integrated and parameterized directly in APROL's CaeManager central engineering tool. This tool enables efficient and user-friendly management of system configuration and parameterization.

Rule-based gateway editor in CaeManager
The CaeManager offers a rule-based gateway editor to simplify driver configuration. This editor facilitates the creation and customization of gateways by providing an intuitive, rule-based interface for configuring the communication protocols. This allows users to adjust the parameters and settings for communication between different devices and systems faster and more precisely.

Use gateway I/O as hardware I/O
The input and output data supplied by the gateway (gateway I/O), which originate from fieldbus modules and interface cards, is supported just as fully as the conventional I/O on the X20 system modules. This flexibility makes it possible to use gateway I/O in the same way as physical hardware I/O for control and processing, which simplifies the integration and further processing of data.

ANSI-C programming supports any protocols
Another feature of CaeManager that should be emphasized is the ability to implement any protocols. This includes, for example, scale interfaces or counter interfaces. By using ANSI C for complete programming of the fieldbus modules and interface cards, customized communication protocols can be easily implemented, making the CaeManager an extremely flexible tool for system integration.

For communication between different control systems and devices, the system offers a range of standard drivers at the controller level for seamless integration and interoperability.

These standard drivers ensure comprehensive connectivity and facilitate the integration of and communication between field devices with various control systems.

A large number of Ethernet-based standard drivers are available for the connectivity of control computers and their integration into automation systems.