To help users implement Open Process Automation (OPA) systems, Yokogawa Electric Corp. released Aug. 13 its OpreX Open Automation System Integration (SI) Kit and OpreX OPC UA Management Package. OPA allows users to select and integrate preferred components by providing configuration and application portability and interoperability by components from different suppliers. This lets them optimize costs and deploy new technologies more easily in system construction projects by using devices and applications that comply with the Open Process Automation Standard (O-PAS).
Yokogawa reports the process industries are typically burdened with the high costs of integrating and operating multiple proprietary systems for production control, including manufacturing execution systems (MES), distributed control systems (DCS), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and human-machine interfaces (HMI). To reduce these expenses and complexity with interoperable process control, the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) developed the O-PAS standard that’s already being field tested.
OPA systems require devices and applications to be O-PAS compliant, and these products must operate as distributed control nodes (DCNs). Also, OPA products and services must use OPC UA networking. To meet these emerging needs, Yokogawa developed:
- OpreX Open Automation SI Kit provides the necessary functionality for enabling DCN components in OPA systems. They make devices accessible as DCNs by creating data structures compatible with the O-PAS information model.
- OpreX OPC UA Management Package software provides useful services for managing OPC UA-based applications that run on OPA systems, such as communication authentication to ensure security, an alias name resolution service for tag names, and the management of alarm parameter settings.
This system integration kit and software package will be integrated into OPA system components such as open PLCs and industrial PCs, enabling them to function as O-PAS DCNs. Serving as the OPA System Integrator, Yokogawa will use this software and other system management tools to provide customers with O-PAS process control systems that are open, interoperable and cyber-secure, even while using hardware and software components from a variety of suppliers.
As a proactive OPAF member, Yokogawa has jointly built and operated OPA system testbeds with end-users to develop, test, and improve OPA technology. This enabled it to develop the core software for building an OPA system, evaluate compatibility in field tests, and release them as products.
