Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Aggregation of Info Model
Aggregation of Info Model
net/publication/283882805
CITATIONS READS
15 2,822
5 authors, including:
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
All content following this page was uploaded by Suprateek Banerjee on 21 January 2017.
Prof. Dr.-Ing Daniel Großmann, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. Dirk Schulz, Dipl.-Inform. (FH) Roland
Markus Bregulla, M.Sc. Suprateek Banerjee Braun
TH Ingolstadt ABB Corporate Research Center Germany
Esplanade 10 Wallstadter Str. 59
D-85049 Ingolstadt 68526 Ladenburg
Daniel.grossmann@thi.de Dirk.schulz@de.abb.com
Consumer Consumer
(Client) (Client) Dev. Dev. Dev. Dev. Dev. Dev.
2. System architecture
5.1. Implementation
1) There are two ways of aggregating servers into
the aggregation server. The first method is to include the
server uris into a locally saved ServerUris.xml file.
When the aggregation server is first started, it always
reads this file to aggregate the servers, the Uris of which
have been listed in this file. This maps to the
configuration that is explained in section 2.4 above. The
second method is to aggregate a server with OPC UA
discovery. The aggregation server contains a node
Figure 6. Aggregated Server Information Model. Available Servers in its address space which contains
nodes corresponding to the discovered OPC UA servers
in the same system (by default). This Available Servers
5. Prototype node also contains a Discover Now method which when
called, prompts for an IP address or machine name as
A prototype was developed as a proof of concept argument. Upon providing a valid IP address or name
implementation of the proposed architecture. The and the method called, the Available Servers node is
prototype is still work-in-progress and is in its refreshed with new nodes corresponding to the OPC UA
preliminary stage, however it does successfully servers running in the target machine with the provided
showcase the basic idea outlined in this paper. The IP address. All of the discovered server nodes within the
aggregation server prototype developed was used to Available Servers node contain a method node
aggregate three FDI Servers along with sample OPC UA Aggregate Server, which when called prompts a check
servers provided in the OPC UA software development box with the name Remember Me. If this method is
kit (fig.Figure 7). After the aggregation, the resulting called, the corresponding information model of the
address space structure of the aggregation server was underlying server will be aggregated into that of the
observed with the help of the UA Expert OPC UA aggregation server. If the check box is checked the
Client. The UA Expert client was used to test the server uri will be added to the locally saved
functionalities of the aggregation server. The original ServerUris.xml file if it is already not present in the
same. The aggregation server need not be stopped in and live values of the aggregated server node could be
order to aggregate servers using the discovery method. observed by subscribing to the proxy node in the
That is, aggregation is possible dynamically. aggregating server. When the FDI Client was connected
2) Read: When the Aggregation Server receives a to the aggregation server, three different information
read request for one of its nodes, the aggregation node models corresponding to the three underlying FDI
manager refers its mapping dictionaries and forwards the servers could be rendered and visualized in the client
read request to the actual node in the underlying server without any changes necessary. The additional sample
(resolved with the help of the mapping dictionaries)via servers that were also integrated along with the FDI
the corresponding OPC UA client session object for that servers did not affect the functioning of the FDI client.
aggregated server. The response thus obtained from the All of these tests were also made using UA Expert OPC
aggregated server is forwarded to the external OPC UA UA client providing similar results.
client which had made the initial read request.
3) Write: The procedure is similar to the read 6. Outlook
request and in this case the original node in the
aggregated server is written to. Collaboration of distributed intelligent units is one of
4) Subscribe/unsubscribe: This also follows a the foundations of Industry 4.0 [7]. Meshed
similar methodology as above and the original node in communication, often referred to as Internet of Things, is
the underlying server is subscribed/unsubscribed to, via the result. While communication is vital for Industry 4.0
the corresponding OPC UA client present within the the authors are confident, that meshed communication
aggregation server. When the value of a monitored item may not be necessary in all cases, apart from the high
in the aggregated server changes, the OPC UA client in complexity and security questions that come with
the aggregated server is notified. Upon receiving the meshed communication. Therefore, the authors propose
notification the aggregation node manager updates the an Internet of Platforms in which aggregation platforms
value of the corresponding proxy node, with the help of talk to each other. Each aggregation platform
the bi-directional mapping dictionaries. This value encapsulates a set of devices, subsystems or entire
change in the proxy node of the aggregation server in systems making the resulting connections easier to
turn triggers a data change notification in the external oversee and to handle from a security point of view.
OPC UA client subscribed to this particular proxy node. With features such as discovery and dynamic
5) In case of the FDI servers, the type comparison aggregation, the ecosystem of connected aggregation
was done with respect to the value attributes platforms can change over time, adopting new system
Manufacturer, DeviceRevision and Model of each of the structures. The mentioned concept of aggregation of
underlying type nodes (section 2.5). If this algorithm OPC UA servers is a first step into this direction.
returns true, this means that both are the essentially same
type and need not be integrated, and an entry is made in References
the mapping dictionaries.
6) In order to test mapping of instances, an [1] IEC 62769-1 CDV: Field Device Integration (FDI),
instance mapping rule node was added to the aggregated Technical Specification - Part 1: Overview. IEC, 2013.
server. A NodeIdValues node contains the information [2] IEC 62541-1: OPC UA Specification – Part 1: Concepts.
(identifiers and namespaces) about the nodes with fixed IEC, 2010.
NodeIds in a specific xml file format. The aggregation [3] Imtiaz, J.; Jasperneite, J.: Scalability of OPC-UA down
node manager then refers to this information (by saving to the chip level enables “Internet of Things”, 11th IEEE
it offline) each time it has to assign a new node id to a International Conference on ”, Industrial Informatics
new proxy node. (INDIN), pp.500-505, July 2013. Bochum.
[4] IEC 62541-3: OPC UA Specification – Part 3: Address
5.2. Results Space Model. IEC, 2010.
The prototype of the aggregation server can aggregate [5] IEC 62541-5: OPC UA Specification – Part 5:
all types of OPC UA servers. It is not restricted to any Information Model. IEC, 2011.
particular integration platform. It was successfully tested [6] IEC 62769-5 CDV: Field Device Integration (FDI),
with 3 different FDI Servers as well as OPC UA sample Technical Specification - Part 5: FDI Information Model.
servers. All servers were successfully integrated into a IEC, 2013.
single information model. Runtime dynamic aggregation [3] Promotorengruppe Kommunikation der Forschungsunion
was also possible with the help of OPC UA discovery. Wirtschaft – Wissenschaft (Hrsg.): Umsetzungs-
Read requests displayed the attribute values from the empfehlungen für das Zukunftsprojekt Industrie 4.0.
underlying server. Write requests could write the values April 2013
to the node in the aggregated server. Subscribe and
unsubscribe requests were also handled appropriately