It is assumed that basic concepts of OPC UA information modelling and <other specifications> are understood in this document. This document will use these concepts to describe the PROFINET GSD Generic Information Model. This functional Information Model is created using information found in GSDML Device description files, comprising elements of already existing IO Data and Parameter descriptions as well as additional vendor specific Data Object elements especially added for OPC UA data modelling purposes. For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in OPC 10000-1, OPC 10000-3, OPC 10000-4, OPC 10000-5, OPC 10000-7, OPC 10000-100, … as well as the following apply.

Note that OPC UA terms and terms defined in this document are italicized in the document.

The General Station Description (GSD) is the definition of certain properties of PROFINET Devices which are of interest for engineering tools, such as IO Data, IO Channels, Parameters and Alarms. The format defined for the GSD is the GSDML.

The General Station Description Markup Language is an XML-based description language for PROFINET Devices (see [GSDML]).

Data, which a Device cyclically receives from the Controller and which controls the Device application or the peripherals.

Data, which a Device cyclically sends to the Controller.

For Devices, all Input and Output Data (cyclic transmission).

An IO Channel is an entity of the Submodule where digital or analogue electric signals are generated (output) or converted into digital values (input). A Submodule’s IO Data may be organized using several IO Channels.

Acyclic Data about errors, maintenance status, application specific process alarms, incidents like pull/plug, updates and the like yielded by the Device.

Initial setting written to a Device with a parameter record during its start-up phase.

Access to Parameters via the “Base Mode” as described in [PDP], sec. 6.2.3. Requests and replies are transmitted by use of the “Acyclic Data Exchange” mechanism of the communication system, which usually implies writing and reading PROFINET records.

Additional data value (sensor data as ambient temperature, welding current, and the like) or Parameter which is yielded by a Device. The data value can either be read from a Submodule using the associated PROFINET record index or obtained as Parameter using BMP Access. Vendors might allow write access to certain data values (see 6.7).

A Device is a separate addressable unit exchanging IO Data with a Controller. Devices are usually configured by the Controller and may also generate acyclic data like Alarms or diagnostic information. A Device may consist of several modules and Submodules. The IO Data, the Parameters, the Alarms, and the Data Objects of a Device are described in the GSDML file.

A Controller is a host running a program which reads and writes the IO Data of one or more Devices.

A PN Submodule is the consumer or the provider of one Telegram and the addressable endpoint for PROFINET access.

An Application Relation contains the communication channels for cyclic data exchange (IO Data CR), acyclic data exchange (Record data CR) and alarms (Alarm CR). These CR’s are established by the Controller during the start-up phase of the Device using the configuration data created by the engineering tool.

The NameOfStation is the name of the communication interface determined by the configuration assigned to the Device by the Controller. One Device can have more than one communication interface.

APIApplication Process Identifier

CRCommunication Relation

IPInternet Protocol

MESManufacturing Execution System

PESAPPROFIenergy Service Access Point

PNPROFINET

SCADASupervisory Control and Data Acquisition

TCPTransmission Control Protocol

XMLExtensible Markup Language

Node definitions are specified using tables (see Table 2).

Attributes are defined by providing the Attribute name and a value, or a description of the value.

References are defined by providing the ReferenceType name, the BrowseName of the TargetNode and its NodeClass.

• If the TargetNode is a component of the Node being defined in the table the Attributes of the composed Node are defined in the same row of the table.
• The DataType is only specified for Variables; “[<number>]” indicates a single-dimensional array, for multi-dimensional arrays the expression is repeated for each dimension (e.g. [2][3] for a two-dimensional array). For all arrays the ArrayDimensions is set as identified by <number> values. If no <number> is set, the corresponding dimension is set to 0, indicating an unknown size. If no number is provided at all the ArrayDimensions can be omitted. If no brackets are provided, it identifies a scalar DataType and the ValueRank is set to the corresponding value (see OPC 10000-3). In addition, ArrayDimensions is set to null or is omitted. If it can be Any or ScalarOrOneDimension, the value is put into “{<value>}”, so either “{Any}” or “{ScalarOrOneDimension}” and the ValueRank is set to the corresponding value (see OPC 10000-3) and the ArrayDimensions is set to null or is omitted. Examples are given in Table 1.

Table 1 – Examples of DataTypes

Notation	DataType	ValueRank	ArrayDimensions	Description
0:Int32	0:Int32	-1	omitted or null	A scalar Int32.
0:Int32[]	0:Int32	1	omitted or {0}	Single-dimensional array of Int32 with an unknown size.
0:Int32[][]	0:Int32	2	omitted or {0,0}	Two-dimensional array of Int32 with unknown sizes for both dimensions.
0:Int32[3][]	0:Int32	2	{3,0}	Two-dimensional array of Int32 with a size of 3 for the first dimension and an unknown size for the second dimension.
0:Int32[5][3]	0:Int32	2	{5,3}	Two-dimensional array of Int32 with a size of 5 for the first dimension and a size of 3 for the second dimension.
0:Int32{Any}	0:Int32	-2	omitted or null	An Int32 where it is unknown if it is scalar or array with any number of dimensions.
0:Int32{ScalarOrOneDimension}	0:Int32	-3	omitted or null	An Int32 where it is either a single-dimensional array or a scalar.

• The TypeDefinition is specified for Objects and Variables.
• The TypeDefinition column specifies a symbolic name for a NodeId, i.e. the specified Node points with a HasTypeDefinition Reference to the corresponding Node.
• The ModellingRule of the referenced component is provided by specifying the symbolic name of the rule in the ModellingRule column. In the AddressSpace, the Node shall use a HasModellingRule Reference to point to the corresponding ModellingRule Object.

If the NodeId of a DataType is provided, the symbolic name of the Node representing the DataType shall be used.

Note that if a symbolic name of a different namespace is used, it is prefixed by the NamespaceIndex (see 3.4.2.2).

Nodes of all other NodeClasses cannot be defined in the same table; therefore, only the used ReferenceType, their NodeClass and their BrowseName are specified. A reference to another part of this document points to their definition. Table 2 illustrates the table. If no components are provided, the DataType, TypeDefinition and Other columns may be omitted and only a Comment column is introduced to point to the Node definition.

Each Type Node or well-known Instance Node defined shall have one or more ConformanceUnits defined in 11.1 that require the Node to be in the AddressSpace.

The relations between Nodes and ConformanceUnits are defined at the end of the tables defining Nodes, one row per ConformanceUnit. The ConformanceUnits are reflected in the Category element for the Node definition in the UANodeSet (see OPC 10000-6).

The list of ConformanceUnits in the UANodeSet allows Servers to optimize resource consumption by using a list of supported ConformanceUnits to select a subset of the Nodes in an Information Model.

When a Node is selected in this way, all dependencies implied by the References are also selected.

Dependencies exist if the Node is the source of HasTypeDefinition, HasInterface, HasAddIn or any HierarchicalReference. Dependencies also exist if the Node is the target of a HasSubtype Reference. For Variables and VariableTypes, the value of the DataType Attribute is a dependency. For DataType Nodes, any DataTypes referenced in the DataTypeDefinition Attribute are also dependencies.

For additional details see OPC 10000-5.

Table 2 – Type Definition Table

Attribute	Value
Attribute name	Attribute value. If it is an optional Attribute that is not set “--” is used.
References	NodeClass	BrowseName	DataType	TypeDefinition	Other
ReferenceType name	NodeClass of the target Node.	BrowseName of the target Node.	DataType of the referenced Node, only applicable for Variables.	TypeDefinition of the referenced Node, only applicable for Variables and Objects.	Additional characteristics of the TargetNode such as the ModellingRule or AccessLevel.
NOTE Notes referencing footnotes of the table content.
Conformance Units
Name of ConformanceUnit, one row per ConformanceUnit

Components of Nodes can be complex that is containing components by themselves. The TypeDefinition, NodeClass and DataType can be derived from the type definitions, and the symbolic name can be created as defined in 3.4.3.1. Therefore, those containing components are not explicitly specified; they are implicitly specified by the type definitions.

The Other column defines additional characteristics of the Node. Examples of characteristics that can appear in this column are show in Table 3.

Table 3 – Examples of Other characteristics

Name	Short Name	Description
0:Mandatory	M	The Node has the Mandatory ModellingRule.
0:Optional	O	The Node has the Optional ModellingRule.
0:MandatoryPlaceholder	MP	The Node has the MandatoryPlaceholder ModellingRule.
0:OptionalPlaceholder	OP	The Node has the OptionalPlaceholder ModellingRule.
ReadOnly	RO	The Node AccessLevel has the CurrentRead bit set but not the CurrentWrite bit.
ReadWrite	RW	The Node AccessLevel has the CurrentRead and CurrentWrite bits set.
WriteOnly	WO	The Node AccessLevel has the CurrentWrite bit set but not the CurrentRead bit.

If multiple characteristics are defined they are separated by commas. The name or the short name may be used.

To provide information about additional References, the format as shown in Table 4 is used.

Table 4 – <some>Type additional References

SourceBrowsePath	Reference Type	Is Forward	TargetBrowsePath
SourceBrowsePath is always relative to the TypeDefinition. Multiple elements are defined as separate rows of a nested table.	ReferenceType name	True = forward Reference.	TargetBrowsePath points to another Node, which can be a well-known instance or a TypeDefinition. You can use BrowsePaths here as well, which is either relative to the TypeDefinition or absolute. If absolute, the first entry needs to refer to a type or well-known instance, uniquely identified within a namespace by the BrowseName.

References can be to any other Node.

To provide information about sub-components, the format as shown in Table 5 is used.

Table 5 – <some>Type additional subcomponents

BrowsePath	References	NodeClass	BrowseName	DataType	TypeDefinition	Others
BrowsePath is always relative to the TypeDefinition. Multiple elements are defined as separate rows of a nested table	NOTE Same as for Table 2

The type definition table provides columns to specify the values for required Node Attributes for InstanceDeclarations. To provide information about additional Attributes, the format as shown in Table 6 is used.

Table 6 – <some>Type Attribute values for child Nodes

BrowsePath

<Attribute name> Attribute

BrowsePath is always relative to the TypeDefinition. Multiple elements are defined as separate rows of a nested table

The values of attributes are converted to text by adapting the reversible JSON encoding rules defined in OPC 10000-6. If the JSON encoding of a value is a JSON string or a JSON number then that value is entered in the value field. Double quotes are not included. If the DataType includes a NamespaceIndex (QualifiedNames, NodeIds or ExpandedNodeIds) then the notation used for BrowseNames is used. If the value is an Enumeration the name of the enumeration value is entered. If the value is a Structure then a sequence of name and value pairs is entered. Each pair is followed by a newline. The name is followed by a colon. The names are the names of the fields in the DataTypeDefinition. If the value is an array of non-structures then a sequence of values is entered where each value is followed by a newline. If the value is an array of Structures or a Structure with fields that are arrays or with nested Structures then the complete JSON array or JSON object is entered.

There can be multiple columns to define more than one Attribute.

The NodeIds of all Nodes described in this standard are only symbolic names. Annex A defines the actual NodeIds.

The symbolic name of each Node defined in this document is its BrowseName, or, when it is part of another Node, the BrowseName of the other Node, a “.”, and the BrowseName of itself. In this case “part of” means that the whole has a HasProperty or HasComponent Reference to its part. Since all Nodes not being part of another Node have a unique name in this document, the symbolic name is unique.

The NamespaceUri for all NodeIds defined in this document is defined in Annex A. The NamespaceIndex for this NamespaceUri is vendor-specific and depends on the position of the NamespaceUri in the server namespace table.

Note that this document not only defines concrete Nodes, but also requires that some Nodes shall be generated, for example one for each Session running on the Server. The NodeIds of those Nodes are Server-specific, including the namespace. But the NamespaceIndex of those Nodes cannot be the NamespaceIndex used for the Nodes defined in this document, because they are not defined by this document but generated by the Server.

The text part of the BrowseNames for all Nodes defined in this document is specified in the tables defining the Nodes. The NamespaceUri for all BrowseNames defined in this document is defined in 12.2.

For InstanceDeclarations of NodeClass Object and Variable that are placeholders (OptionalPlaceholder and MandatoryPlaceholder ModellingRule), the BrowseName and the DisplayName are enclosed in angle brackets (<>) as recommended in OPC 10000-3.

If a BrowseName is not defined by this document, a namespace index prefix is added to the BrowseName (e.g., prefix '0' leading to ‘0:EngineeringUnits’ or prefix '2' leading to ‘2:DeviceRevision’). This is typically necessary if a Property of another specification is overwritten or used in the OPC UA types defined in this document. Table 57 provides a list of namespaces and their indexes as used in this document.

The Attributes of Nodes, their DataTypes and descriptions are defined in OPC 10000-3. Attributes not marked as optional are mandatory and shall be provided by a Server. The following tables define if the Attribute value is defined by this document or if it is server-specific.

For all Nodes specified in this document, the Attributes named in Table 7 shall be set as specified in the table.

Table 7 – Common Node Attributes

Attribute	Value
DisplayName	The DisplayName is a LocalizedText. Each Server shall provide the DisplayName identical to the BrowseName of the Node for the LocaleId “en” unless specified differently in the specification. Whether the Server provides translated names for other LocaleIds is server-specific.
Description	Optionally a server-specific description is provided.
NodeClass	Shall reflect the NodeClass of the Node.
NodeId	The NodeId is described by BrowseNames as defined in 3.4.2.1.
WriteMask	Optionally the WriteMask Attribute can be provided. If the WriteMask Attribute is provided, it shall set all non-server-specific Attributes to not writable. For example, the Description Attribute may be set to writable since a Server may provide a server-specific description for the Node. The NodeId shall not be writable, because it is defined for each Node in this document.
UserWriteMask	Optionally the UserWriteMask Attribute can be provided. The same rules as for the WriteMask Attribute apply.
RolePermissions	Optionally server-specific role permissions can be provided.
UserRolePermissions	Optionally the role permissions of the current Session can be provided. The value is server-specific and depends on the RolePermissions Attribute (if provided) and the current Session.
AccessRestrictions	Optionally server-specific access restrictions can be provided.

For all Objects specified in this document, the Attributes named in Table 8 shall be set as specified in the Table 8. The definitions for the Attributes can be found in OPC 10000-3.

Table 8 – Common Object Attributes

Attribute	Value
EventNotifier	Whether the Node can be used to subscribe to Events or not is server-specific.

For all Variables specified in this document, the Attributes named in Table 9 shall be set as specified in the table. The definitions for the Attributes can be found in OPC 10000-3.

Table 9 – Common Variable Attributes

Attribute	Value
MinimumSamplingInterval	Optionally, a server-specific minimum sampling interval is provided.
AccessLevel	The access level for Variables used for type definitions is server-specific, for all other Variables defined in this document, the access level shall allow reading; other settings are server-specific.
UserAccessLevel	The value for the UserAccessLevel Attribute is server-specific. It is assumed that all Variables can be accessed by at least one user.
Value	For Variables used as InstanceDeclarations, the value is server-specific; otherwise it shall represent the value described in the text.
ArrayDimensions	If the ValueRank does not identify an array of a specific dimension (i.e. ValueRank <= 0) the ArrayDimensions can either be set to null or the Attribute is missing. This behaviour is server-specific. If the ValueRank specifies an array of a specific dimension (i.e. ValueRank > 0) then the ArrayDimensions Attribute shall be specified in the table defining the Variable.
Historizing	The value for the Historizing Attribute is server-specific.
AccessLevelEx	If the AccessLevelEx Attribute is provided, it shall have the bits 8, 9, and 10 set to 0, meaning that read and write operations on an individual Variable are atomic, and arrays can be partly written.

For all VariableTypes specified in this document, the Attributes named in Table 10 shall be set as specified in the table. The definitions for the Attributes can be found in OPC 10000-3.

Table 10 – Common VariableType Attributes

Attributes	Value
Value	Optionally a server-specific default value can be provided.
ArrayDimensions	If the ValueRank does not identify an array of a specific dimension (i.e. ValueRank <= 0) the ArrayDimensions can either be set to null or the Attribute is missing. This behaviour is server-specific. If the ValueRank specifies an array of a specific dimension (i.e. ValueRank > 0) then the ArrayDimensions Attribute shall be specified in the table defining the VariableType.

For all Methods specified in this document, the Attributes named in Table 11 shall be set as specified in the table. The definitions for the Attributes can be found in OPC 10000-3.

Table 11 – Common Method Attributes

Attributes	Value
Executable	All Methods defined in this document shall be executable (Executable Attribute set to “True”), unless it is defined differently in the Method definition.
UserExecutable	The value of the UserExecutable Attribute is server-specific. It is assumed that all Methods can be executed by at least one user.

OPC 10000-3 differentiates between different kinds of Structures. The following conventions explain, how these Structures shall be defined.

The first kind are Structures without optional fields where none of the fields allows subtype (except fields with abstract DataTypes). Its definition is in Table 12.

Table 12 – Structures without optional fields where none of the fields allow subtypes

Name	Type	Description
<someStructure>	structure	Subtype of <someParentStructure> defined in …
SP1	0:Byte[]	Setpoint 1
SP2	0:Byte[]	Setpoint 2

The second kind are Structures with optional fields where none of the fields allows subtypes (except fields with abstract DataTypes). Its definition is in Table 13.

Structures with fields that are optional have an “Optional” column. Fields that are optional have True set, otherwise False.

Table 13 – Structures with optional fields

Name	Type	Description	Optional
<someStructure>	structure	Subtype of <someParentStructure> defined in …
SP1	0:Byte[]	Setpoint 1	False
Optional Field_1	0:String	Some Text	True

The third kind are Structures without optional fields where one or more of the fields allow subtypes. Its definition is in Table 14.

Structures with fields that allow subtypes have an “Allow Subtypes” column. Fields that allow subtypes have True set, otherwise False. Fields with abstract DataTypes can always be subtyped.

Table 14 – Structures where one or more of the fields allow subtypes

Name	Type	Description	AllowSubtypes
<someStructure>	structure	Subtype of <someParentStructure> defined in …
SP1	0:Byte[]	Setpoint 1	False
Allow Subtypes	0:ByteString	Some Bytestring	True

Fields with abstract DataTypes shall have True in the “Allow Subtypes” column. It is not allowed to add both columns to combine optional fields and fields that allow subtypes in one structure.