Using ControlGroups to expose functionality. – OPC Unified Architecture - Part 81: UAFX Connecting Devices and Information Model

D.3.7.5 Using ControlGroups to expose functionality.

ControlGroups can be used to expose functionality that is required to be used as a group. This example describes a pair of controllers that are part of a cascade control application (see Figure D.31). For a cascade control application, the PID controller is required to get feedback from the other controller as well as providing a setpoint to the other controller. This requires bidirectional communication.

In this example Controller B comes with preconfigured DataSets, one for the publisher and one for the subscriber.

Figure D.31 - ControlGroup cascade Controller example

A ControlGroup can be created to indicate that if using the PID in cascade mode then the corresponding input variable and output variable are to be used.

The communication between Controller A and Controller B could be setup by the ConnectionManager in Controller A, it would see the ControlGroup and would utilize the preconfigured Dataset that are described in the ControlGroup.