Integration of Sensors, Controllers and Instruments Using a Novel OPC Architecture

Area of Science:

• Automation and Control Systems
• Industrial Communication Protocols
• Educational Technology

Background:

• The Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) protocol, established in the 1990s, offers open connectivity for monitoring and automation.
• OPC is widely adopted across industrial facilities, building automation, energy management, and engineering education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel, four-layered OPC-based architecture for implementing automation systems in research, development (R&D), and educational settings.
• To foster systematic design and implementation of automation systems utilizing OPC communication.

Main Methods:

• A conceptual framework structured into four functional layers for categorizing automation system components.
• Development and experimental validation of the proposed architecture in four distinct applications.

Main Results:

• The proposed OPC-based architecture demonstrates open connectivity, reliability, scalability, and flexibility.
• Successful experimental applications include smart microgrid automation, photobioreactor facilities, a network-accessible industrial laboratory, and a hardware-in-the-loop educational platform.

Conclusions:

• The architecture effectively supports interoperability across diverse domains, proving its capability for varied automation tasks.
• The reported experimental cases validate the architecture's practical implementation and effectiveness in R&D and educational contexts.