When starting a project in OfflineEngineering, a Controls Engineer needs access to product information for the AutomationComponents that have been selected. Traditionally, this information is available on the vendor’s website, on a storage medium provided by the vendor or included in the vendor’s engineering tool.
Typically, the product information contains an Information Model of the AutomationComponent that can be used for starting the configuration and supplemental documentation, like user manuals, drawings, pictures, firmware files or even software tools that are useful for understanding and using the product.
In OPC UA FX, the information of the AutomationComponent product contains the Asset and functional structure, (pre-configured) DataSets, capabilities, and the property name defined in OPC 10000-81.
In the Information Model, there can be variations depending on the type of the AutomationComponent:
- for a controller product, the functional structure is typically empty;
- for IO and field devices, the functional structure is typically defined.
In the case of a modular device, that asset structure contains some flexibility, e.g., connectors and slots that can be attached to a defined set of modules. A Descriptor with product information is usually created by the AutomationComponent vendor. It contains the vendor’s digital signature, which makes it possible to validate the integrity of the content and, if a Public Key Infrastructure is in place, to check the authenticity and trust of the creator of the Descriptor.
For accessing a Descriptor with product information, the vendor could make it available on the vendor’s website, include it in the database of the vendor’s engineering tool or deliver it on a storage medium together with the physical AutomationComponent.
There is also the possibility of getting the Descriptor for the AutomationComponent product from an online AutomationComponent. The OPC UA FX Information Model defines a folder Descriptors in the AutomationComponentType, which can contain instances of AcDescriptorType. AcDescriptorType is fully defined in OPC 10000-81.
An example of a Descriptor for a product can be seen in Figure 9.
