Hi opencontrol List,

How could I recognize that an SCADA system is a real OPC Compliant? The point is, if enought to have an OPC certificate in which vendor prove that they are selling a OPC compliant scada. I would to know if there is any test (software) that i can use in order to make sure that the scada system that i am using in my application is an OPC compliant product.

On the other hand, an OPC Compliant scada means that it has to include both OPC Server/Client or just one of these? Should I trust scada vendors????

thanks in advance
angel

 

Go to http://www.citect.com and contact them I have found them to be pretty reliable over the years. You could also contact Omron. They have a cheap powerful SCADA that is OPC compliant.

 

Hi!

Look at this website: http://www.opcfoundation.org/

You will be able to see which company that has OP compliant client/servers and i think that there is also some testing program to download.

Best Regards

Mathias Lindgren

 

Hi,

OPC Foundation has set up compliance test only for servers. To find out about results of compliance test go to http://www.opcfoundation.org/05_products/05_self_cert.asp there all tested servers are listed. Check if the server you are interested in is listed there and compare the version and so on. OPC compliance testing is based on "self-certification" procedure, i.e. OPC Foundation members can download the test client run the test and set the results (after succesfully passing ;-) ) to OPC Foundation, which will publish the result. If you are not a member you can not download the compliance test client and chekc the server. You still have other ways to check: - Download one of the numerous Sample Clients or - use a commercialy available Test client.

You can find information about that either at

http://www.opcconnect.com/index.php or www.opcfoundation.com

Regards,

Frank

 

Hi,

so far as my experience are, most products which are 'OPC Compliant' working well.

Client/Server problem:
Most hardware vendors in our marked are selling OPC server to they products (e.g. interface cards). This server is nothing else as a gateway between vendor hardware and OPC.
To talk to this OPC server you need a OPC client, lets say your SCADA or even a EXCEL sheet.

To make it more complicated you can use OPC technology as a gateway between differend automation worlds (e.g. AB, Modicon and Siemens in one project). But hold in mind, OPC is not a real time application.
For the example above you would need 3 OPC servers (or perhapes ohe which can communicate to all worlds?!) and a OPC client for managing the communikation.
Some OPC servers on the marked knows DX, that means, they can talk from server to server without an OPC client between.

You see, many things to watch at for using OPC as a possibility.

Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Konni ([email protected])

 

Hi
I am sure you could pretty much trust SCADA Vendors, they don't purposely mislead.
However before purchasing a SCADA package make sure that it offers your requirements.
OPC comes in different specifications: OPC DA Server or Client, OPC HDA Server, OPC A&E Server, and not all SCADA's provide all of them. Also some will offer Server as well as Client options, be aware of this.
I am a completely biased Siemens user (lets be clear) and am currently using their new release of WinCC, Version 6. This package has all the above features if purchased with their Connectivity Pack (this activates the HDA + A&E features).

Regards
Philip

 

You can visit www.opcfoundation.org to find out which ones have been tested and certified. They also have some software you can use to test.

Also, a vendor doesn't have to include a server and a client. Some vendors use only the client OPC libraries as part of their application. That is, they install the client DLL OPC libraries when they develope their system which. That allows them to connect to a specific OPC Server and transmit data.

It also doesn't mean they will work for every OPC Server either.

 

It's quite an informative website, unfortunately it doesn't work well in the latest mozilla browser, i think it was designed for viewing with internet explorer version 4 or later


> Look at this website: http://www.opcfoundation.org/

 

Like many said, if it is OPC compliant they are listed on the OPC Foundation's site. This works great. My experience with OPC very good.

Here are some notes though:

1. Some features are optional, some features are mandatory. A very good feature that a server should support is the tag browser interface. If it doesn't I would not buy it even if compliant.

2. Some clients I have seen (not listed as compliant) appears to require optional features and therefore don't work well with some servers even if the servers are compliant. Therefore you should really INSIST on compliant software to avoid this type of surprises.

3. Clients implement OPC in different ways. Some applications have OPC like a driver that map OPC into their intermediate proprietary database. This is one extra step to get it on the screen. You are required to come up with a name for the tag in their database etc. However, other clients allows you to put a value direct from the OPC server straight onto the screen or into the ActiveX component without having to go through an intermediate database. Both schemes are OPC compliant, but the latter to me is much easier to use.

4. OPC does not define semantics. OPC servers for different device and different protocols have different ways of saying a loop is in manual. You always need to do some conversion. Therefore, as far as possible use only a single protocol in your plant.

Jonas Berge SMAR
==================
[email protected]
www.smar.com

 

Hi Philip,

do you still use Siemens as your control layer in the organisation? What do you think would happen with the Moore DCS (Siemens) product in a few years time?

Regards,
Fanie