Industry 4.

0
The Role of OPC UA in a Smart Factory

Executive Summary

The term Industry 4.0 is hugely popular at the moment, and with
good reason. The reference to the great industrial revolutions of the
past reveals the importance attributed to the role to be played by
a Factory of the Future, with its interconnected components and
systems.

This whitepaper explains the meaning behind the term Industry 4.0,
outlines the operation mode of the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA)
and sheds light on how both are connected. Readers will also learn
what challenges can be mastered with OPC to use the pioneering
but also complex technology, which is part of Industry 4.0.

Importance of Industry 4.0

Whether you ask manufacturers or users, the term Industry 4.0 and the future
it promises to afford have an almost galvanizing effect on the automation
industry. Industry 4.0 envisions the fourth stage of the industrial revolution
thanks to a new revolution kick-started by a system encompassing smart
factories, intelligent machines and networked processes. The first industrial
revolution saw the mechanisation of production using water and steam power;
the second introduced mass production with the help of electric power; the
third revolution was digital, witnessing the use of electronics and IT to further
automate production.
Driven by the Internet, the real and virtual worlds are coming closer together to
form an Internet of Things. In the future, industrial production will be characterised
by the strong individualisation of products via highly flexible production, the
extensive integration of customers and business partners in business and valueadded processes, and the connection of production and high-quality services.

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.

In the Factory of the Future, all components will control the production process
autonomously something made possible thanks to their interconnectivity.
Whether those components are people, machines, equipment or systems:
everything is set to be interconnected, to collect information and to share it.
Therefore, future components will automatically communicate if they are in need
of servicing.
In order to successfully realise the concept of Industry 4.0 or Integrated
Industry, there are a few challenges that first must be overcome. While industry
is on the cusp of the latest industrial revolution, interconnectivity is the critical
lynchpin that will enable it. 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.

OPC UA and Embedded

OPC stands for Open Connectivity and it is the worlds most widely used
standardised data exchange process for automation technology. The standard
collects and transports data in a common form from various devices, control
systems, and applications across an organization.
OPC is the dominant communication standard in the industrial markets because
of its simple approach to structuring and abstracting process data. The design
of this standard enables almost all industrial data to be mapped to the OPC data
structure.
The evolution of OPC, OPC UA, leverages a service-oriented architecture (SOA)
with platform-independent protocols and built-in security mechanisms. OPC UA
applications are easily written in any environment, which allows it to be fully
scalable, running on anything from the microcontroller level all the way up to
enterprise server farms.
The usage scenarios for OPC UA are not limited to the PC level: thanks to
the flexibility of OPC UA, applications can also be developed for non-Windows
platforms such as Linux and for embedded systems running on RTOS (Real Time
Operating System) or even bare metal environments which dont involve an
operating system at all.

This field of application on an embedded level is important, since a large number

of sensors and low-level devices generate data that is essential to analyse. With
todays automation systems and as Industry 4.0 dawns, users must be able to
show the behavior of processes and installations in real time in order to better
understand them and maximise their profitability. Devices are connected to other
devices and applications to the user, all of which must be configured so that they
forward data generated. This configuration is so complex that many installations
only 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 almost
any application can be created, enabling the industrial devices of a company to all
be connected. This provides users with distinct advantages in terms of efficiency,
cost and operation of their systems. OPC UA already connects from the enterprise
level to embedded systems of automation components.

The Role of OPC UA within Industry 4.0

OPC UA provides a method
for secure and reliable
exchange of data and being
the worlds most popular
open connectivity standard,
it will play a direct role in
helping make industry 4.0 a
reality.

DA is a widespread solution for data connectivity, OPC UA provides a method for

secure and reliable exchange of data and being the worlds most popular open
connectivity standard, it will play a direct role in helping make Industry 4.0 a
reality.
OPC UA is architected for platform independence and is time durable; as a result,
it supports the requirements of Industry 4.0. In addition, OPC UA facilitates the
integration of invisible components in the permanent data exchange of the factory
of the future, giving OPC UA an important role in the Internet of Things.
Embedded OPC UA technology enables open connectivity on devices, sensors and
controllers and delivers clear advantages for enterprises. Thanks to the data it
provides, end-users benefit from faster decision-making, and the integrated
enterprise architecture becomes a reality. The concept of this integrated industry
is at the heart of Industry 4.0.
OPC Classic, as the predecessor to OPC UA, established an open data connectivity
revolution that broke down the proprietary connectivity barriers between
management and control systems themselves and between management and
control systems and the rest of the enterprise. Now, OPC UA extends this concept
further thanks to its platform and operating system independence, and flexible
data modeling capabilities. These allow UA to natively represent data from virtually
any data source on one side, while preserving the data context and presenting it
to consumers in a format they can use best. This effectively abstracts the physical
layer devices by faithfully representing data structures via consistent UA data
models.
MatrikonOPC has developed the OPC UA Embedded Server Software Development
Kit (SDK) specifically to facilitate the creation of intelligent networked devices and
does this by enabling the integration of a fully compliant high-performance OPC UA
server directly into the device. This type of solution, which is scalable over each
device class, is unique.

Conclusion
Controlling the flow of materials, goods and information, enabling faster decision-making, and a simplification of
reporting are all benefits that organizations can expect from the move to Industry 4.0. Intelligent materials will inform
machines how they need to be processed; maintenance and repair will be directly initiated by the components of the
intelligent factory plant; and rigid production lines will be transformed into modular, efficient systems.
Ultimately, the entire lifecycle of a product could be fully documented. Whilst a fully functioning Industry 4.0 may be a
futuristic concept at this stage, progress already happening and will gradually lead to a comprehensive transformation
and major changes at every enterprise level. OPC UA is expected to be critical for this success, enabling the exchange of
data 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 devices,
protocols and APIs. This OPC Server now enables companies to provide secure connectivity to every major control system
and 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 easily
add an OPC UA Server to your embedded product. Our scalable, standards based SDK can be integrated into every class,
from discrete sensors and actuators to programmable controllers and beyond. Add real value to your product by enabling
direct point and click configuration, management and monitoring from any OPC UA Client.

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

Enterprise
Historian

MES

ERP
Business Network

OPC UA

PC Based OCP UA

OPC

Trending

SCADA
HMI

SCADA

Historian

OPC UA

Operations Network

Event Engine

Control Network

Embedded OPC UA

Plug-ins

MatrikonOPC Universal Connectivity Server

Embedded
OPC UA Servers

PLC

Vision

Systems

Smart

Sensor

MatrikonOPC OPC UA Embedded Server Software Development Kit (SDK)

MatrikonOPC Universal Connectivity Server (UCS) is a single OPC Server that enables the multiple
communications protocols to communicate with data sources in a real-time and secure manner
across multiple platforms.

Drives

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

Copyright Matrikon International 2014

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