EtherCAT and OPC UA: Hand in hand for Industrie 4.0 and IoT

11/2015 | Since the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) and the OPC Foundation (OPCF) decided to work together on common interfaces for Industrie 4.0 and IoT, the specification work is in full process. The goal of the cooperation is the consistent communication between EtherCAT and OPC UA.

Industrie 4.0 and IoT demand continuous communication through all layers and levels within the digital factory and into the Cloud. Since the ETG and OPCF announced their cooperation earlier this year, both organizations work on an interface which integrates existing devices and machines into an Industrie 4.0 conformant communication, on the basis of the EtherCAT communication. The report of the Plattform Industrie 4.0, in which the reference architecture proposes an encapsulation of the devices and their networking. The real-time communication information from the EtherCAT networks are made available for the Industrie 4.0 components and Cloud services through the defined mapping on the OPC UA information model. Security measurements protect the encapsulated machine or the single device from non-authorized manipulation.

Please find the full press release in English, German and Japanese language within the Press Section.