The OPC Foundation, ODVA and Sercos International have announced a collaboration to develop a new generation of motion technology for industry. This new motion technology will be initially published as OPC UA Motion, with subsequent updates to the Sercos technology and the CIP Motion technology for EtherNet/IP.

This development will provide a flexible architecture for distributing motion control features between controllers and drives, based on a common information model for motion devices such as PLCs / motion controllers, standard drives / frequency converters, positioning drives, servo drives, motion encoders, motor starters, and power supplies.

To begin the work, a new OPC UA Motion Working Group (WG) was launched on May 18th. The new Motion WG is tasked with specifying the motion facet of FLC to enable inter-vendor operation for motion automation. Many well-known industrial automation manufacturers in the field of motion control are represented within this WG to ensure a uniform, worldwide, and coordinated standard for motion automation in discrete and process manufacturing. This new motion specification will use PubSub, with and without TSN network access, and can be combined with OPC UA Safety to support all relevant use cases for centralized and non-centralized motion solution concepts.

In order to provide end users with a best-in-class solution, the FLC Initiative selected motion solutions backed by proven technologies from established organizations: as a result, CIP Motion and Sercos specifications have been determined to be solutions on which to base OPC UA Motion. In turn, ODVA and Sercos International are committed to building upon their existing collaborations with the OPC Foundation and to providing end users of their technologies, EtherNet/IP and Sercos, with an expanded solution set as well as improved motion technology. The CIP Motion and Sercos specifications will be used and may be changed or extended for:

• Adaptation to OPC UA & FLC system architecture
• Innovation to cover Industrie 4.0 and digitalization use cases
• Modern concepts of data modelling and real time requirements

The FLC Initiative – with its Architecture & Infrastructure (A&I) and Safety Working Groups – aims to deliver a harmonized solution for motion automation applications including safe motion functionality. In addition, cooperation is planned with the existing VDMA/OPC Foundation joint WG for electrical power train systems.

News report by ODVA.