The goal of the OPC UA Cloud initiative is to recommend, harmonize, and steer the activities of individual technical working groups and create best practices, an overall reference architecture, as well as open-source reference implementations, combining the output of the individual working groups.

The OPC UA information modeling framework turns data into information. With complete object-oriented capabilities, even the most complex multi-level structures can be modeled and extended. Industry experts weigh in on OPC UA as the interoperability standard for secure, reliable exchange of data in industrial automation.

Digital Transformation (DX) is a goal for manufacturers with advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, along with augmented and virtual reality, adding new possibilities. But the overall focus for industrial networks is still on speed of deployment, enhanced visibility and flexible, resilient software-defined operation.

By leveraging machine and production data, companies can leverage smart manufacturing solutions to optimize business operations, forecast parts usage, assess supplier quality, and adopt preventive maintenance, thereby improving efficiency and maintaining market competitiveness.

Virtualization technology has dramatically changed the way IT resources are used, but the benefits of virtualization have yet to benefit industrial operations in any significant way. In this article, the authors describe the benefits manufacturers can expect to see by virtualizing industrial automation control (IACS) systems and solutions to get…

An OMSPE sensor network concept enables EtherNet/IP connectivity from sensor to controller and compute. It also enhances the current DLR protocol with new linear network discovery and commissioning functions to simplify the OMSPE sensor network discovery, commissioning, and diagnosis.

5G technology features make it capable of supporting the requirements of factory control systems for real-time determinism and six nines (99.9999%) availability. Yet the real-world experience of most mobile handset users is weak or nonexistent, and of occasional and unpredictable dropped connections. This article looks at the realistic prospect that…

When building machines for automation, the same block of IP addresses is often used for each machine. If there are multiple machines with duplicate IP addresses, it can create an issue and NAT routers are used. 1:1 NAT tables can be set up, so multiple systems can be accessed from…

In the era of smart grids, protocol gateways play a key role in smooth data flow between different systems. Because of the various communication protocols used among the different subsystems that make up the electrical grid, effective protocol conversion and seamless data communication are essential.

Addressing the critical role of managing battery power in the exploding world of IoT devices, optimizing ship and sleep mode is one of the best ways to improve battery efficiency. The MAX16163 solution from ADI enables a design with a more precise control over those functions.