OPC UA

OPC UA support with Simulink Real-Time and Speedgoat real-time target machines allows your control algorithms and simulation models to exchange data with external OPC UA-enabled devices and systems in industrial plants. OPC UA is a communication standard for IoT and Industry 4.0, allowing seamless interoperability between applications, devices, machines, and IT systems. Data exchange from the sensor to the cloud empowers users to simulate and test applications on the plant, the operation, and the enterprise level.

Vision and control applications in manufacturing and other sectors such as recycling, pharma and chemicals, and oil and gas use OPC UA. Most controllers from Siemens, Beckhoff and Phoenix Contact, and Microsoft's Azure cloud support this protocol.

Speedgoat provides Simulink driver blocks for OPC UA client and server operation on the system's Ethernet interfaces.

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About OPC UA

OPC UA is an Ethernet communication protocol based on a service-oriented client-server architecture. Nodes of different node classes represent all information in the server, for example, objects, variables, and methods. The node has various attributes such as name, value, and unit, depending on the class. Nodes can be derived from other node definitions, they can have references to one another, and they are part of a node tree whose structure is determined by the information model used. Clients typically connect to servers to read machine data, write parameters, call methods, request historical data, check alarms, or transfer files.

Selection Guide

All the Ethernet ports support OPC UA. One port can handle the data transmission of multiple OPC UA clients and servers configured in the real-time application. Each OPC UA station requires a runtime license. OPC UA support is available with MATLAB R2020b and later.

The following native implementations are available:

Product	Supported machines
OPC UA Client interface	All
OPC UA Server interface	All

Speedgoat real-time target machines are equipped with onboard Ethernet controllers that support OPC UA. In addition, OPC UA is compatible with the following Ethernet I/O modules:

Product	Number of ports	Supported machines
IO710	1 port	Performance
IO715	4 ports	Performance, Mobile, and Baseline
IO791	2 ports	Baseline and Unit

Most of the Ethernet interfaces (both onboard and on I/O modules) also support various protocols, such as Modbus TCP, DNP3, EtherCAT Master, MQTT,TCP/IP, Real-time UDP, PTP, and XCP over Ethernet.