Easy accessing of centralised data

January 2006 System Integration & Control Systems Design

Device and system inter-connectivity and data centralisation have become very real requirements in industry today. To address these requirements, the OPC foundation was formed to promote a standard to facilitate simple inter-connectivity of systems. www.opcfoundation.org

The OPC Foundation specification is used to develop OPC server and OPC client interface software. OPC server software is generally a standalone program whereas an OPC client is usually an integral part of an application such as a scada or a Data Historian. All OPC clients should be able to communicate with all OPC servers. In simple terms, the OPC server program installed on a computer on the network, with the correct device licence installed, serves the device's tag values to any application, on the network, with an OPC client interface.

* Install the OPC server program.

* Create and configure your OPC server project and install the correct driver licences for the various PLC types to be accessed.

* Configure the tags for which values are required. This also allows the OPC client to browse the required tags. An Excel spreadsheet (CSV) may be used for bulk import of tags.

* Some OPC servers have a very useful built-in OPC client tool for testing and viewing the tag values.

* OPC server is generally a read and write interface.

* Numerous PLC driver licences may be installed on one OPC server allowing direct connection to numerous PLC makes and models.

* Numerous PLCs of the same type may be connected and licensed with only one driver licence, ie, one Siemens suite licence will allow connection to the whole range of Siemens PLC in that suite, thus keeping costs down.

* Some OPC's servers run for 2 hours at a time for testing purposes which is very useful to ensure functionality before purchasing a driver licence.

* When you download the OPC server, at no charge, you will receive all the drivers available for this OPC server. These include drivers for most PLCs, DCSs, and devices with Modbus or DDE interfaces (all run for 2 hours at a time for testing).

* Some OPC servers have a Wonderware InTouch driver which can also import tags defined in the Wonderware InTouch project.

* OPC Connectivity may be used for many applications. Other OPC-based software programs and tools include Redundant OPC Server manager, OPC server linking and bridging software and OPC Client-based SMS and GPRS alarm and data transmission software for remote monitoring and datalogging.

For more information contact Neil Upfold, eTX Data Services, 031 764 2099, [email protected], www.kepware.co.za

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