Plug-and-play consumer electronics products continue to drive expectations for similar plug-and-play functionality in industrial automation. OPC has long collaborated with other consortia and standards organizations to standardize information models for data exchange, allowing OPC to become the generic communication mechanism for information modeling activities.
The big example is OPC's collaboration with several organizations as part of the Field Device Integration (FDI) initiative, designed to attack the problem of how to configure devices across an industrial network. OPC works with Foundation Fieldbus, Hart, PROFIBUS/PROFINET, FDT, and other organizations to evolve the next generation of standards from the existing Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) and Field Device Tool (FDT) standards. OPC acts as the neutral party, a transport mechanism on top of existing standards and protocols.
另一个示例是IEC 61131-3的OPC UA。OPC正在与PLCOPEN合作，以在OPC UA服务器地址空间上实现IEC 61131-3控制系统编程的标准。相应的OPC UA对象类型是从PLC中功能块的声明和功能块实例中相应的OPC UA对象创建的。这意味着，无论使用哪种控制器和OPC UA服务器，控制程序始终在地址空间中相同的对象结构中实现。
With OPC, information models from other standards bodies or consortia only need to define what information needs to be exchanged, without getting bogged down by how the information must be exchanged. The how is handled by OPC UA.
For more information, visitwww.opcfoundation.org。
