Toolbox EGD Configuration and OPC

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Thread Starter

alirabieali

dears

I need to connect with mark vi using matrikon opc, but I need to know the configuration in toolbox for EGD.
 
alirabieali,

I believe Matrikon have specific instructions for using their produce with a GE Mark VI. Remember that the Mark VI communicates with GE HMIs over the UDH (Unit Data Highway) using EGD (Ethernet Global Database) for the <i>data and commands</i>. (Alarms and events are communicated using a proprietary protocol that I don't believe Matrikon has cracked yet.) So, I imagine the Matrikon software has to be capable of converting EGD to OPC, and vice versa. And, any data or commands you want to view/send using OPC will have to be configured on the EGD pages in the Mark VI in order to be available to the OPC software.

There used to be a Matrikon employee that lurked around control.com for a while, but we haven't heard much from that individual lately.

Still, Matrikon will probably have specific instructions about connecting their software (using Ethernet) and for configuring data/commands in the Mark VI (using Toolbox) in order to be able to communicate via the PC running the OPC server software.

I believe that some more recent versions of CIMPLICITY have OPC capability, but I'm not certain which ones. If so, the Project Workbench would have to be properly configured as well as the Mark VI, using Toolbox).

There is another poster on control.com who's very knowledgeable about GE HMIs, and he may chime in and help with more--or more correct--information.

Hope this helps!
 
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thanks a lot.
from my reading in OPC manual i noticed that all talking about the producer at EGD network

my question is the configuration of producer only is enough?
or i shall to identify the network adapter from create network adapter and the producer after that i configure the EGD pages for this adapter? so when i configure the OPC i can put the IP address of this adapter and then the communication completed.
 
It doesn't seem there's anyone currently responding to control.com posts with experience interfacing Matrikon OPC servers to Mark VI turbine control panels.

You should contact Matrikon with questions about configuring/connecting their product to a Mark VI. They would have the best answer(s) to your question(s) if no one is responding and you need an immediate answer.
 
Hello,

I'm currently trying to find an OPC solution to the EGD protocol and made some tests with the Matrikon server. They offer two solutions that can be used for communicating with MKVI.
There's one MKVI communication suite that (as I understood from a Matrikon employee directly) can communicate directly with the TCI/GSM protocols, no EGD involved.

The second one is their EGD OPC Server, that can consume and produce EGD exchanges very easy. (I also tried the Kepware solution which I personally find a bit friendlier but they are pretty much the same).

The only detail I'm having trouble right now, is that these EGD OPC Servers don't have the signature field implemented. This field is an optional value used by EGD when using a configuration server, such as the SDB. My problem comes when I want to PRODUCE exchanges from the OPC Server, they are sent with a signature value of Zero (0) by default and there is no option to modify this value (used Wireshark to see this). If I want to produce in the SDB domain, as far as I understand I need to be in accordance as the SDB dictates to the controllers the signature should be, if not they discard it as bad data.

For the consuming part, the OPC servers do not evaluate signature, so there is no problem there.

Hope this is helpful and if anyone knows a workaround for the signature issue I'll be thankful to here from you.
 
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Normally, the exchange signature is managed automatically. The major signature must be incremented when the exchange content changes in any way other than additions to the end. If you are using the EGD Device Editor to configure EGD for a device and the device signature changes only when the manufacturer updates the configuration, you may need to manually set the signature To edit exchange signatures and configuration time, set Layout Mode to Manual.
 
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