Aggregating OPC UA servers for monitoring manufacturing systems and mobile work machines

Abstract

An aggregating server providing data access to multiple data sources is a software architecture that is often applied in industrial applications. This paper presents a design of an aggregating server based on OPC UA technology and tests it with two different experimental applications, one about production control of a flexible manufacturing system and another about remote monitoring of mobile work machines. The presented design enables transparent access to the data in the address space of the aggregating server through utilization of address space transformations. The transformations can be either configured with rules or be programmed. Feasibility of the design of the aggregating server and the applications was evaluated with experimental implementations containing both simulated devices and real work machines.