A Novel Smart Production Line Data Perception System Based on OPC UA

With the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), traditional manufacturing is undergoing an upgrade and transformation to smart manufacturing. In order to achieve intelligent management and control of production process, data perception (DP) is the primary problem to be investigated during the transformation of current production line (PL). However, due to the numerous equipment types, heterogeneous communication protocols and interfaces, the cyber system and the physical world are severely separated, resulting in the phenomenon of information islands. In this paper, we propose a novel DP system architecture for smart production line (SPL) based on OPC UA, which is compatible with multiple device system protocols as well as provides a unified interaction interface for data-driven applications. Data collection and result feedback based on the protocol mapping and conversion are realized by flexibly utilizing two communication patterns of OPC UA, namely client-server (CS) and publish-subscribe (PubSub). The local and cloud case studies strongly verify the feasibility and prospect of the DP system.