Yokogawa launches OpreX Open Automation SI Kit and OpreX OPC UA Management package for open process automation systems

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announced that it has developed the OpreX™ Open Automation SI Kit and the OpreX OPC UA Management Package, both of which will play important roles in the implementation of Open Process Automation™ (OPA) systems. The products will be available from today as part of the OpreX Control and Safety lineup. By providing configuration and application portability and interoperability across components from different suppliers, OPA systems allow end users to select and integrate best-in-class components. With these products, customers will be able to more easily optimize overall costs and deploy the latest technology in system construction projects by adopting devices and applications that comply with the Open Process Automation Standard (O-PAS™).

Development background. Most process industries are burdened with integrating multiple proprietary systems for production control in almost every process plant and facility, including manufacturing execution systems, distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and their respective human-machine interfaces. This can result in elevated capital costs and operating costs. To solve this issue, the Open Process Automation™ Forum (OPAF) was formed and has developed the O-PAS standard to enable a new generation of process control systems using the latest in IT/OT technologies and improved cyber security. Field tests to operate plant equipment using this standard have already begun.

OPA systems require devices and applications to be O-PAS compliant, and these products must have a mechanism that allows them to be operated as distributed control nodes (DCNs). In addition, products and services are also needed to facilitate the integrated management of OPC UA^*-based applications that run on these OPA systems. To meet these emerging needs, Yokogawa has developed the OpreX Open Automation SI Kit and the OpreX OPC UA Management Package.

Product features. The following software products are essential building blocks of an OPA system:

• OpreX Open Automation SI Kit
  The Open Automation SI Kit is a set of tools that provides the necessary functionality for enabling DCN components within OPA systems. These components make devices accessible as DCNs by creating data structures compatible with the O-PAS information model.
• OpreX OPC UA Management Package
  This software provides useful services for managing OPC UA-based applications that run on OPA systems, such as communication authentication to ensure security, an alias name resolution service for tag names, and the management of alarm parameter settings.

This system integration kit and software package will be integrated into OPA system components such as open PLCs and industrial PCs, enabling them to function as O-PAS DCNs. Serving as the OPA System Integrator, Yokogawa will use this software and other system management tools to provide customers with O-PAS process control systems that are open, highly interoperable, and highly secure using hardware and software components from a variety of suppliers.

As a proactive member of the Open Process Automation™ Forum, Yokogawa has jointly built and operated OPA system test beds with customers to develop, test, and improve the OPA technology. Through these activities, the company has developed the core software technologies necessary for building an OPA system, evaluated their compatibility in field tests, and is now releasing them as products. Yokogawa will continue to enhance and expand its products and engineering services to support the evolution and development of OPA systems.

* OPC UA is the interoperability standard for the secure and reliable exchange of data in the industrial automation space and in other industries. It is recognized as a communication standard for Industry 4.0, benefitting from high security and scalability without hardware or OS dependence.

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