TwinCAT OPC UA Server

The TwinCAT OPC UA Server provides the functionality of the OPC Unified Architecture (UA) specification. In addition to data access techniques UA also specifies the data coding and the transport protocols. This enables platform-independence and therefore integration of the UA interface into small embedded devices. Secured mechanisms for authentication and data encryption are directly included for the exchange of complex data. The system enables secured data communication between two end points (e.g. visualisation and control) in a heterogeneous network. The product includes an OPC UA server and an OPC UA client. The UA server offers data exchange of TwinCAT variables and also calling of ADS methods. It offers the data in accordance with the specification of the common working group of the PLCopen and the OPC Foundation which realised interoperability access at a semantic level. The UA client enables communication out of the PLC by using function blocks to communicate to other UA servers. As a result, third-party products can easily be integrated.

Besides the Unified Architecture DA (Data Access) interface, the product now also offers an HA (Historical Access) interface. With HA, the TwinCAT OPC UA server offers the possibility to provide a number of historical data and/or event sources. After establishing a connection to the UA HA server, the OPC UA client can also read up on the data recorded by the server in the past. The TwinCAT PLC and I/O variables are available as sources to the OPC UA HA server. The sampling rate, the size of the data buffer and the internal data archive are specified separately for each variable by a comment during the declaration of the variables. Buffering in RAM or also persistent storage in a database is available as an internal data archive.

Technical data	TwinCAT OPC UA Server	TwinCAT OPC UA Server CE
Target system	Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista, Windows 7 PC (x86-compatible)	Windows CE, CE devices
Min. TwinCAT level	TwinCAT I/O

Ordering information
TwinCAT OPC UA Server	licence for using the OPC UA Server for accessing TwinCAT
TwinCAT OPC UA Server CE	licence for using the OPC UA Server for accessing TwinCAT on Windows CE platforms

System
Ethernet TCP/IP	For further Ethernet TCP/IP products please see the system overview.