Basic Concepts of OPC

OPC

OPC stands for Open Platform Communications. OPC is the name for standardized software interfaces that enable the exchange of data between the applications of a wide variety of manufacturers in automation technology.

OPC is a standard that defines manufacturer-independent interfaces for industrial applications using COM/DCOM technology. The OPC standard was conceived specially for the process control level. OPC servers enable access to different data sources (such as process control systems, programmable logic controllers, and temperature sensors) and thus provide process data that can be requested by OPC clients.

The Plant Connectivity component is an OPC client that can communicate with OPC servers. In this way, the exchange of data between applications is considerably simplified. OPC clients and OPC servers are currently PC-based systems on which a Microsoft operating system runs.

For more information about OPC settings, see the Web pages of the OPC Foundation at https://opcfoundation.org/Information published on non-SAP site.

OPC Standards

The OPC Foundation provides a series of freely accessible OPC standards. These contain interface descriptions for different areas of automation technology. These interfaces enable the efficient exchange of data between the software components of different manufacturers.

Plant Connectivity supports the following OPC standards with its own agents:

  • OPC Data Access 2.05a or 3.0

  • OPC Alarms and Events 1.10

  • OPC Historical Data Access 1.20

  • OPC Unified Architecture (1.03 Specification)