Vertical data integration
For operations at your plant or facility to be carried out in an effectively and continuous way, industrial communications are structures according to a different model in two areas: a horizontal architecture that ensures communications between physical devices at the plant, like inputs and outputs, operator panels, etc., and a vertical architecture where the information flow is produced from and to physical devices at the plant and higher-level systems like HMI, SCADA, MES, ERP…
Transferring all the interchanged information between field-level devices to perform a correct production control requires a protocol in order to ensure the full transmission of information, and consequently a suitable decision making.
OPC is the interoperability standard for the secure and reliable data interchange in the industrial automation environment. The demand from the industry to establish a direct communication between the field technology and the different Business Intelligence applications useful for industrial processes (ERP, SCADAs, MES…) brought the creation of OPC.
However, the evolution of technology and industrial networks promoted the need to adopt the OPC standard to the new reality, thus creating the OPC-UA (Open Platform Communication – Unified Architecture), simplifying the communication between systems and process in distributed or multi-platform environments.
In addition to the benefits of the previous version – hardware abstraction, easy integration and simple change adoption – OPC-UA provides:
- Unified Access. It integrates different existing OPC specifications (DA, A&E, HDA…)
- Via Internet and firewalls. OPC UA uses any TCP port available, offering a high-level communication protocol already integrated in the industry.
- Secure by design. It includes a digital certificate technology that adopts multiple security features such as authentication, cryptography, etc.
- Supports any operating system. With .NET or Java technology, it fosters a standardized communications environment.
- Data reliability. It implements configurable latency times, error detection, etc.
Since there is a wide range of heterogeneous systems that must interchange information, from Industrial Communications by Logitek we can help you to integrate:
Audit and diagnostics of control networks
The complexity of an industrial communication network is obvious:
- Multiple physical media involved: Ethernet, twisted pair cable, coax, fibre optic, wireless communications, etc.
- Diverse communication protocols: RS232, Profibus, Modbus, Devicenet…
- Systems operating with different architectures: elements in buses, trees, stars or redundant rings…
- High availability requirements: communications delays non noticeable can lead to the machine to stop.
- Devices with proprietary protocols: difficult integration.
- Lack of security: networks that do not envisage access protection or modifications.
At Industrial Communications by Logitek we have the necessary tools and experience to diagnose the communications between the different systems in the existing networks.
Support for the design and commissioning of OPC platforms
Sometimes the necessary architectures to integrate information from different systems are very complex – in particular when the systems are in separate domains. These situations require the definition of communication architecture able to ensure a reliable and secure data delivery.
At Industrial Communications by Logitek we know the usual challenges associated to data communication in complex architectures and we can help you to find the best solution according to your needs.
Data flow optimization in complex architectures
It may sound amazing, but it is commonplace in the industry not being able to achieve the required stability on industrial communications – and also the difficult diagnostics of the existing challenges.
The professional team at Industrial Communications by Logitek specializes in the design of communication models for different operations and has the necessary experience to perform the network diagnostics in full operation, identifying specific requirements that prevent inefficiencies.
Integration of electronic devices with proprietary protocols in monitoring systems
On an ideal industrial environment, all the elements would use standard communication protocols. This would ease hugely the integration of distinct systems, which is the goal of a standard protocol like OPC.
Unfortunately, not all electronic devices use standard communication protocols, but proprietary protocols for data interchange.
In this scenario, from Industrial Communications by Logitek we can offer tools to implement gateways able to translate that proprietary protocol and convert it into OPC. Therefore, it can be integrated on any management, monitoring or historian system.
