ARM Community: ARM & Embedded Labs: Redefining Industrial Automation Systems at EW 2011 - ARM Community

If you’re in Nuremberg at Embedded World next week be sure to drop by the ARM stand (hall10, booth 343) to see how ARM and Embedded Labs are redefining the architecture of industrial automation systems. For many years the industrial automation market has dreamt of a new era of smart devices, where every device in the system can freely communicate at all levels of the enterprise. Leveraging the power of the ARM Cortex-M3 processor and OPC-UA, Embedded Labs have made this dream a reality.

What is OPC-UA and why is it important?
OPC-UA is a communications standard from the OPC Foundation that is gaining traction not only in the industrial automation industry, but also in building automation and smart grid applications. OPC-UA was designed from the ground up to be multi-platform and enables seamless communication between all components of an automation system and the enterprise.

In the industrial automation systems of today, end users need to visualise the behaviour of their processes and installations in real time to better understand them and maximise their cost-effectiveness. Devices are connected to the end user via other devices and applications that must all be configured in order to pass information up the chain. This configuration is complex enough that many installations expose only a small amount of the available information to the end user.

If every device was intelligent and on the network, a smart device so to speak, end users could have access to all of the available information at any given time. Sounds like an ideal world but until now there have been two barriers to achieving this goal.

The first barrier was that different devices spoke different languages and none of these were compatible with those spoken by enterprise systems and visualisation software applications. OPC-UA has solved this problem by providing a single language that all of the high end systems speak already and that has the potential to be embedded in every device.

The second problem was that excellent as OPC-UA is, all that functionality came at a cost and that cost was the need for expensive electronics. This cost and complexity raised the bar too high for many typical devices in an automation system. Embedded Labs have solved this problem with an implementation of OPC-UA for the ARM Cortex-M3 processor.

The Cortex-M3 and OPC-UA
Embedded Labs has been a long time cheerleader for Cortex-M3 processor-based microcontrollers as we are continually astounded at the raw processing power available at such low cost. We immediately recognised that UA could be a “killer app” for the Cortex-M3 processor in the industrial automation, building automation and smart grid markets.
In early 2009 we began the complex task of creating from first principles a software platform that would enable OPC-UA on a single chip Cortex-M3 processor-based microcontroller. We wanted to create a platform that was a first class OPC-UA citizen with true interoperability with the widest array of clients possible. I’m happy to say we have achieved our goal.

With Embedded Labs’ software and a Cortex-M3 processor-based microcontroller a device manufacturer can for the first time produce an OPC-UA enabled smart device without adding unacceptable cost and complexity to their product.

The Impending Revolution
The next few years are sure to be an exciting time as OPC-UA on the Cortex-M3 processor is set to revolutionise how machines share data in industrial automation systems and beyond. The changes that are coming will give end users much greater control over their installations than ever before and present many opportunities for them to achieve greater efficiencies and cost savings.

I recently met up with ARM to discuss OPC-UA, you can see our conversation below.



What changes do you want to see in how machines share data in industrial automation systems?


Guest Partner Blogger:

Liam Power is co-founder and Technical Director of Embedded Labs based in Waterford, Ireland. He has a BEng(Hons) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Cardiff University and an MSc in Computational Science from University College Dublin. Liam is the OPC Foundation country representative for Ireland while also serving on the OPC Foundation Technical Advisory Council and the OPC Compliance Working Group. Embedded Labs is a leading developer of embedded OPC-UA products and solutions.

ARM welcomes its wealth of Partners in the ARM Connected Community (CC) to submit guest blogs to be published on our multiple community blogs. If interested in participating please submit email inquiries to Tell.Us@arm.com.

The ARM Connected Community (CC) is an extensive ecosystem covering all aspects of ARM-based design, from chip implementation through to system and device design. The CC provides a platform for collaborative innovation, with multiple types of forums for members to work with one another, and with customers, to solve industry challenges, all with the purpose of enabling designers to focus on differentiating features and an accelerated time-to-market for ARM powered solutions.