Since the OPC Router Release 4.27, users can access the UA Cloud Library via the OPC Router. Developed by a Joint Working Group of the OPC Foundation, the library supports the implementation of Industry 4.0 and digitalisation. At inray, we have actively participated in this development and contributed our part to digitalisation.
What is the UA Cloud Library?
The UA Cloud Library is a central library available on the Internet where Companion Specifications (CS) can be uploaded and provided to others. Many of the CS have been developed and published by the Joint Working Groups of the OPC Foundation. Several experts from different industries and application areas worked together to provide a standardized data structure for many machines and systems. Additionally, it is possible to create and upload individual Companion Specifications. Users and software clients can access the UA Cloud Library.
The UA Cloud Library has 251 active users, 67 information models and all VDMA companion specifications are now available. That makes the UA Cloud Library a perfect starting point for your next industrial IoT project.
Erich Barnstedt, Chief Architect Standards & Consortia, Azure Edge + Platform
European Microsoft Innovation Center GmbH
How was the UA Cloud Library developed?
The OPC Foundation
The UA Cloud Library was developed in cooperation with the OPC Foundation within one of the Joint Working Groups. The OPC Foundation has been responsible for the OPC standard since 1994 and published the first version of the communication standard in 1996. Currently, the association has almost 700 members, with many global companies in the automation industry, such as Siemens, Microsoft, inray or SAP. Many of these companies actively participate in further developing and disseminating the OPC Standard, in the so-called Joint Working Groups of the OPC Foundation.
The Joint Working Group
Within these Joint Working Groups, several industries and experts work to improve the OPC communication standard even further. inray has participated in the working groups from the beginning and has actively contributed to shape the new standard. The Companion Specifications developed in these working groups create a simple implementation in practice for many use cases.
inray was also part of the OPC Day hosted by the OPC Foundation. In cooperation with Microsoft, the UA Cloud Library was introduced and demonstrated in practice with the help of the OPC Router. In the video, you can find our speech at the OPC Day 2022.
Why do I need the UA Cloud Library?
Using the UA Cloud Library, it is possible to load and implement the required Companion Specifications in a library. Not only human users but also software clients can use these technical specifications for their respective systems. Software clients will receive the data model via the UA Cloud Library during the setup. Therefore, they can load these CS from the library and use them for in-house data exchange. The UA Cloud Library also provides the option of including your own CS in the library and making it available in the cloud.
Who is the UA Cloud Library for?
For in-house machine data acquisition, it is reasonable to use a standardized data structure when exchanging OPC UA data. Based on this standard, all machines and systems of a company can distribute, process and evaluate OPC UA data. Creating a structure of this kind can be very time-consuming and is therefore only recommended for more machines and systems. The UA Cloud Library can additionally be hosted as an own instance to share the own CS for the own company worldwide.
Small companies
The UA Cloud Library is ideal for smaller companies or those not wishing to build their own structure. It provides a variety of data models created in the Joint Working Groups by various companies for different use cases. The suitable structure for the company can be easily downloaded and implemented via the library in order to digitalize the data exchange. As a result, a proper structure is available in the UA Cloud Library for each company.
Larger companies
Larger companies also benefit from the UA Cloud Library. Companion Specifications already available in the library can also apply to environments with many machines and systems. It can also be recommendable to create an in-house Companion Specification. The invested time will pay off because the own CS will then perfectly fit the own needs. This data structure can then be published in the UA Cloud Library and is available for all machines and systems or even for other plants worldwide.
With the UA Cloud Library, you can upload operational information to the Cloud Library in advance. IT experts can also build their analytics pipeline in advance. That way, you only must worry about the connection.
Erich Barnstedt, Chief Architect Standards & Consortia, Azure Edge + Platform
European Microsoft Innovation Center GmbH
The UA Cloud Library and the OPC Router
The OPC Router is one of the first software products to offer the implementation of the UA Cloud Library. As simple as ever, the required Companion Specifications can be made available via drag & drop.
Using the OPC Server of the OPC Router, access to the UA Cloud Library is easy to implement. Once created and connected, the OPC UA Server can provide the necessary CS. After the OPC UA Server has automatically implemented the required CS, the objects contained in the library can be connected via drag & drop.