I discuss the importance of interoperability of applications and the role of standards–specifically OPC UA and CCOM, an asset information standard from MIMOSA. I also throw in a description of students I met who compete in FIRST Robotics and a tip for cultivating innovation.
Open Process Automation and IT/OT Convergence. Thursday, the last day of the ARC Forum, is not always all that well attended. The 2017 edition witnessed two sessions that held the attention of the later departing attendees. These two attracted a reasonably good attendance.
I didn’t do the IT/OT one, but I had great interest in the Open Process Automation Forum (Open DCS?).
This was my 20th ARC Forum. My first Forum featured another open control series of meetings on Thursday morning—The Open Modular Architecture Controller group. That group of engineers and managers sought to specify a PLC based upon the computing standards of the time. The culmination of that effort was a CompactPCI chassis cobbled together by an entrepreneur. It was not picked up. Meanwhile OMAC pivoted when end user companies principally P&G and Nestle moved the focus to packaging machines. The goal became machines that used standard states and HMI in order to reduce training time for operators as they moved from machine to machine.
ExxonMobil appeared at the Forum last year with an idea. It wished to reduce the cost to deploy and eventually upgrade its control systems. It had worked with Lockheed Martin to devise a plan from the avionics industry (FACE).
This session at the Forum updated attendees with progress. It has formed under The Open Group as the Open Process Automation Forum. Although driven by ExxonMobil initially, the goal is to form a broad alliance of owner/operators, end users, systems integrators, and suppliers developing this new automation platform.
Many people at the conference relate this effort to the old OMAC work. They see the end game as a customer trying to drive down the cost of the system. Especially a customer who faces two problems: the immediate problem of upgrading old technology; the long range cost of upgrading technology to newer levels.
Another way to view this initiative is more altruistic in the sense of driving disruptive change in the market for all users using standards.
I am conflicted in trying to understand the dynamics of the situation. As a proponent of standards, I applaud the effort to find ways to implement standards and interoperability. Interoperability has been proven in many industries as a driver for business growth. The idea of decoupling hardware and software holds great promise for future upgrades.
But if, in effect, the customers simply wish to drive automation components and software to commodity level, then I see problems. Such ideas have killed entire industries in the past.
I also look at the old PC technology when there many players developing cards for the PC bus to add on to an “IBM PC.” But over time, technology enabled chip manufacturers to incorporate all those features into the main CPU and the industry returned to basically a single source for a computer.
Predictions? I’m not making any right now. However…
This process is now more than a year old, and yet, the theme of the Forum in Orlando was a plea for participation. There were few other owner/operators. Even though almost all major suppliers have signed on, only two (Schneider Electric and Yokogawa) appear to be active. The leaders have put forth an ambitious timing plan. The group is going to have to build a critical mass of participants quickly.
One more point. There is an age-old tension between an end-user wishing to reduce procurement costs by being able to competitively bid everything. However that means that someone must assemble all the components. On the other hand, end user companies also like partnerships with suppliers for joint development and better service.
By decoupling end user from supplier, something or someone must fill the gap. That would be the system integrator, I guess.
There are many questions.
Without further comment, I’ll leave you with the Open Process Automation Forum’s Vision Statement.
Composed of a broad group of end users, product suppliers, systems integrators, and academics, the Forum will create a technologically appropriate open process automation architecture and specifications along with business guidance for its adoption and use.
Interoperability, standardization, and collaboration were the key words for OPC Foundation in 2016. Tom Burke, OPC Foundation President, recently recapped a busy 2016 for the Foundation. Adoption of OPC UA has been gaining momentum in the market. Collaboration with other groups is growing. And the technology is finally beginning to show significant use beyond industrial automation.
Burke says, “It has been a very exciting year. We have seen record growth in adoption of the OPC UA technology across multiple domains and vertical markets. The OPC Foundation policy of being truly open has expanded the reach of the OPC technology. The specifications are available to everyone, the technology is open sourced, and now we have opened up our certification labs to non-members.”
The OPC Foundation byline since the beginning has been recognized as the “The Interoperability Standard for Industrial Automation.” With the significant international membership growth and adoption of the OPC UA technology across multiple vertical markets the byline of the OPC Foundation has been ratified as “The Industrial Interoperability Standard.” This byline recognizes the case that OPC is no longer just for automation.
OPC UA specifications and technology are actively being deployed across global boundaries supplying the key infrastructure for everything related to the Internet of Everything (IIoT, Industrie 4.0, China 2025, IIC, M2M…); inclusive of:
In May 2016, BSI (German Federal Office for Information Security) conducted a thorough security analysis of OPC UA and found it exceeded the security requirements for Industrie 4.0.
Collaboration with numerous organizations beyond industrial automation is the strategy and path forward to allow information integration from the embedded world to the cloud.
New members and new products are emerging as end users are looking for information solutions for IIoT, and the OPC UA technology is well-positioned to address the needs of the Internet of Everything.
Numerous organizations continue to partner with the OPC Foundation and/or develop companion specifications for their respective information models to seamlessly plug into OPC UA.
Organizations announcing releases of their companion specifications in 2016 for the OPC UA technology included:
• AutomationML
• PLCopen
• AIM
• VDMA: Injection Molding (status: release candidate)
• VDMA: Vision Cameras (status: in foundation)
• VDMA: Robotics, starting with the help of KUKA (status: in preparation)
VDMA is very active standardizing on OPC UA information models and expects to rollout a multitude of additional information models in 2017, leveraging OPC UA information integration communication as it’s strategy for seamless information integration and interoperability.
Board of Directors
Board members are elected as individuals for a two-year term. Elected to new 2-year terms were: Russ Agrusa, (ICONICS), Veronika Schmid-Lutz (SAP), Stefan Hoppe (Beckhoff) (also VP of OPC Foundation), and Matthias Damm (Ascolab). Also on the OPC Foundation Board of Directors are Thomas Burke (OPC Foundation), Thomas Hahn (Siemens) (also VP of OPC Foundation), Matt Vasey (Microsoft), and Ziad Kaakani (Honeywell) (also Treasurer of OPC Foundation), and Shinji Oda (Yokogawa).
A useful Internet of Things (IoT) requires interoperability; and, interoperability requires testing to assure that thing work together. Here is news of a test lab for IPv6.
The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), an independent provider of broad-based testing and standards conformance services for the networking industry, has announced the launch of the Internet of Things (IoT) IP Testing Services. Created to offer custom Internet Protocol (IP) test services for IoT products specific to home environments, industrial networks, smart cities, and connected cars, the group will help improve IoT interoperability, reducing time-to-market and enhancing the customer experience. The IoT IP Testing Services will also offer testing for the IPv6 Ready IoT Logo launching in Spring 2017.
“As the world becomes increasingly connected and demand for IoT devices grows, companies are facing the challenge of how best to ensure interoperability, functionality, and security, while maximizing quality of experience for customers,” said Timothy Winters, Senior Executive, Software and IP networking, UNH-IOL. “The UNH-IOL IoT IP Testing Services provide a competitive advantage by enabling emerging IoT companies to validate their devices through trusted, third-party interoperability testing.”
One of the first labs approved to issue the IPv6 Forum’s IPv6 Ready logo, UNH-IOL’s IoT IP Testing Services deliver access to a multimillion-dollar test bed, custom IP testing services, and an array of networking experts with more than 60 years of combined experience in IPv6 protocols and testing. Emerging loT companies will gain competitive benefits from the group’s services, such as increased confidence in interoperability between security functionality, and accelerated market deployment cycles.
“Operators’ networks will need to evolve in order to address the coming IoT opportunity, and consider how security will play a role in IoT configuration agility and smart service flexibility for vertical industries,” said Lancen LaChance, Vice President Product Management, GlobalSign. “Ensuring IoT device security and identity is essential, as illustrated by recent DDoS attacks. By having their devices validated through the IoT IP Testing Services, IoT device manufacturers can be certain their products are optimized for and compliant with operator security requirements and changing network conditions.”
The IPv6 Forum is developing an IPv6 Ready Logo specifically for the IoT market. The logo validates basic IPv6 functionality, addressing privacy, and domain name system (DNS) services. This extensible service will have the ability to address future security request for comments (RFCs) such as data transport layer security (DTLS), Lightweight IKEv2, and simple certificate enrollment protocol (SCEP). Beginning in spring 2017, the IoT IP Testing Services will begin offering testing for the IPv6 Ready Logo to companies demonstrating verified protocol implementation and validated interoperability between IPv6 products. The IPv6 Ready Logo serves as a marketing Logo l, giving consumers the confidence of interoperability when purchasing new devices.
“Ensuring IoT devices operate correctly in different settings is essential for IoT manufacturers to meet new customer demand,” said David Blaine, Lead Software Engineer, Hayward Industries, Inc. “From TVs to game consoles to thermostats, there is an influx of consumer-based IoT products already reaching the marketplace. With access to extensive test beds at the UNH-IOL, manufacturers can ensure their products function as designed in the environments in which they will be deployed.”
For more information on the IPv6 Ready logo or the IoT IP Testing Services, please visit http://bit.ly/IoTIPTestingServices.
For additional information, please view the UNH-IOL IoT IP Testing Services Press Conference.
About the UNH-IOL
Founded in 1988, the UNH-IOL provides independent, broad-based interoperability and standards conformance testing for data, telecommunications and storage networking products and technologies. Combining extensive staff experience, standards-bodies participation and a 28,000+ square foot facility, the UNH-IOL helps companies efficiently and cost effectively deliver products to the market.
The war is over and we have won. The war of handheld communication devices loose in the wilds of a plant, that is. Remember only a few years ago–like maybe two–when there was much angst in the media (except from me) about bringing handheld mobile communication into the plant? Now vendors are tripping all over themselves bringing out cool new toys to help maintenance, operations, and engineering do their jobs.
Here is a new tool from ABB. ABB has taken the next step with its Field Information Manager – the first FDI based Device Management tool in the market, with the introduction of its Field Information Manager 1.1 Handheld Edition. This easy-to-use software is now available for sale. The Handheld Edition makes it possible for the user to do configuration, parametrization and diagnosis of the HART instruments in many locations – in the field, at the back of the panel / junction box or in the instrumentation laboratory.
The Field Information Manager is designed to help users be more efficient in the configuration and management of their smart devices. Users do not need to invest in proprietary handheld terminal hardware; this eliminates the extra expense of proprietary hardware and significantly reduces lifecycle maintenance costs. The Field Information Manager can be installed on any Windows tablet / laptop / computer, thereby multiple instrumentation programs can be installed on a single machine. It is very quick to install and saves time for instrument and service technicians. Users can get started in less than three minutes, and can download all needed packages and files at www.abb.com/fieldinfo at any time.
Production technology vendors are really getting wise to the modern world about online stores. Field Information Manager Store and Print device configuration allows easy transfer of parameters from one device to another and eliminates manual recording of parameters.
Other key features of the Field Information Manager Handheld Edition include: Interoperability based on FDI components Online and offline parametrization Documentation of parameters and settings Novel concepts for ease of use and navigation with touch support ABB instrumentation FDI Device Packages ready to download Generic HART Device Package for all HART devices Supports installed base – DD/EDD files Visit www.abb.com/fieldinfo to learn more.
