OPC Unified Architecture

Next Generation Standard Interface

With the new Unified Architecture (UA) the OPC Foundation follows today’s and future requirements of industrial communication needs. Based on the functionality of all previous OPC Specifications (DA, A+E, HDA, Commands, Complex Data) the new defined standard is completely realized using a service oriented architecture (SOA). This new approach is platform independent, scalable and high-performance. The use in small devices of process and measurement technology with their specialized operating systems is just as well possible as the use in enterprise applications on Unix/Linux machines or Mainframes.

The rich information model can represent complex relationships of data and its semantics. Specially designed transport protocols offer highest communication speed and interoperability.

Furthermore OPC UA provides security mechanisms like authentification, authorization, encryption and data integrity based on the latest cryptographic standards such as PKI, AES, and SHA.

For further technical details on OPC Unified Architecture see the following sections:

Technical Overview

Motivation and Innovation

Fundamental Concepts

Base Services and Access Mechanisms

Data and Meta Model

Security Concept

Protocols and Network Bindings

Programming Languages and Stacks

Applications

Specifications

Enhancements

Whitepaper, OPC Unified Architecture – Technical Overview, can be found here.