Towards a Modelica OPC UA Library for Industrial Automation

Abstract

Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is often named as a prospective enabler for future automation systems integrations, as for example envisioned in the German Initiative Industrie 4.0. The DLR OPC UA Modelica library connects OPC UA with the Modelica world. There are two main goals: First, OPC UA server capabilities for emulating the communication interface of (physical) hardware components in order to create component simulations, e.g., for virtual commissioning. Second, OPC UA client capabilities for interacting with real-world hardware components, e.g., for process visualization and monitoring or interactive simulation and control purposes. The library works on Windows and Linux platforms. It is tested using the Modelica environments Dymola and OpenModelica.