UAF: a generic OPC unified architecture framework

Wim Pessemier; Geert Deconinck; Gert Raskin; Philippe Saey; Hans Van Winckel

doi:10.1117/12.926523

24 September 2012 UAF: a generic OPC unified architecture framework

Wim Pessemier, Geert Deconinck, Gert Raskin, Philippe Saey, Hans Van Winckel

Proceedings Volume 8451, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy II; 84510P (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926523
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

As an emerging Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) specically designed for industrial automation and process control, the OPC Unied Architecture specication should be regarded as an attractive candidate for controlling scientic instrumentation. Even though an industry-backed standard such as OPC UA can oer substantial added value to these projects, its inherent complexity poses an important obstacle for adopting the technology. Building OPC UA applications requires considerable eort, even when taking advantage of a COTS Software Development Kit (SDK). The OPC Unied Architecture Framework (UAF) attempts to reduce this burden by introducing an abstraction layer between the SDK and the application code in order to achieve a better separation of the technical and the functional concerns. True to its industrial origin, the primary requirement of the framework is to maintain interoperability by staying close to the standard specications, and by expecting the minimum compliance from other OPC UA servers and clients. UAF can therefore be regarded as a software framework to quickly and comfortably develop and deploy OPC UA-based applications, while remaining compatible to third party OPC UA-compliant toolkits, servers (such as PLCs) and clients (such as SCADA software). In the rst phase, as covered by this paper, only the client-side of UAF has been tackled in order to transparently handle discovery, session management, subscriptions, monitored items etc. We describe the design principles and internal architecture of our open-source software project, the rst results of the framework running at the Mercator Telescope, and we give a preview of the planned server-side implementation.

Citation Download Citation

Wim Pessemier, Geert Deconinck, Gert Raskin, Philippe Saey, and Hans Van Winckel "UAF: a generic OPC unified architecture framework", Proc. SPIE 8451, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy II, 84510P (24 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926523

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available