Analysis of the OPC UA communication standard applied to control systems architecture

The thesis offers an in-depth analysis on the OPC-UA communication protocol. In particular, we want to study and analyze the possibility of implementing this protocol on automatic machines currently on the market by effectively replacing the entire M2M communication architecture, or in any case by offering the possibility of creating a standard communication system in the Business layer of the hierarchy of the levels of communication. In order to propose OPC-UA as a new communication system, the first part of the following thesis focuses on research and study of the protocol. In fact, thanks to the collection of data sheets, publications and other documentation available from seminars held in the past years by industry experts, who define the characteristics and properties of the standard, it was possible to fully learn the principle of operation. Based on the study of this standard regulated by the IEC 62541 standard, specific tests were carried out on a test bench made with PLC of the main vendors currently on the market to test the potential of OPC-UA, thus giving a technical aspect to the second part of the following elaborate. By considering the limitations imposed by software developers on the implementation of OPC-UA in the development environments of their PLCs, it was therefore possible to write software codes that tested the dynamism, scalability and communication performance between PLCs of different vendors connected together. Finally, the results of the communication tests between the various platforms have been collected in tables and reported at the end of this document with the aim of evaluating and giving a technical response, followed by personal considerations, on the effective implementability of OPC-UA in the industry.