OPC UA Model Synchronization for Hierarchical Smart Factory Semantics
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In smart factories, different information models created within various industrial control and software systems often do not match in schema, leading to inconsistencies and high maintenance costs due to manual re-engineering efforts when information semantics change.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a model generator and synchronization engine using the OPC UA standard to automate the synchronization of information models across hierarchical systems, ensuring near real-time updates and zero engineering effort by utilizing timestamps and acknowledgments for node-wise synchronization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual engineering of information models is used to connect systems at different hierarchical levels, then information consistency can be maintained, but the cost and time for maintaining consistent information becomes very high
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic self-synchronization of information models across hierarchical levels. The OPC UA server automatically detects changes in information models at child levels and propagates them to parent levels without manual intervention. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for continuous manual engineering efforts to maintain information consistency across the smart factory hierarchy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the OPC UA server continuously monitors for changes in information models at lower hierarchical levels. When changes are detected, the system automatically triggers synchronization processes to update parent levels. This closed-loop feedback ensures information consistency is maintained dynamically without requiring constant manual intervention.
2Adaptability or versatility
If information semantics are changed at the bottom level devices, then the system can adapt to new requirements, but significant re-engineering effort is required at the cloud level
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional top-down model propagation approach. Instead of requiring changes at the cloud level to propagate downward, the system automatically detects changes at bottom-level devices and propagates them upward to the cloud. This inversion eliminates the need for significant re-engineering effort at the cloud level when adapting to new requirements at the device level.
Solution Approach 2:
The OPC UA server acts as an intermediary between bottom-level devices and the cloud. It automatically manages the propagation of information model changes between these levels, handling the complexity of synchronization and adaptation. This intermediary absorbs the re-engineering complexity, allowing bottom-level devices to adapt freely while maintaining cloud-level consistency automatically.
3Productivity
If data exchange occurs on already established information models, then communication between hierarchical levels can proceed, but inconsistencies arise when different systems create individual information models
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal information model synchronization mechanism using OPC UA that works across all hierarchical levels and different industrial systems. The OPC UA server provides a universal platform that can handle information model exchange between diverse systems (PLCs, SCADA, historians, cloud applications), ensuring both productivity and consistency simultaneously through standardized protocols and automatic synchronization.
Data Source
AI summary
System and method for synchronizing information model changes between hierarchical systems of a smart factory are disclosed. A model generator instantiates objects for an aggregated information model for each of a plurality of subsystems in the smart factory based on an OPC UA standardized model. A synchronization engine maintains a global timestamp variable for a last successful synchronization performed by a parent OPC UA server for syncing to a second aggregated information model instance stored in a lower level OPC UA server. Model nodes are annotated with a node-wise timestamp in response to a modification to the node. All nodes subject to modification are pushed to a priority queue as a serialized node set format having annotation extensions that include synchronization-relevant data. The first and second aggregated information model are synchronized by updating nodes with the synchronization-relevant data.