Industry news

Machine vision model based on OPC UA released by VDMA

The OPC Foundation vision for creation of globally harmonized information models via OPC UA Companion Specifcations reaches its frst milestone and demonstrates path forward to true semantic interoperability.

THE OPC FOUNDATION HAS ANNOUNCED the release of the frst global OPC UA Machine Vision Part 1 Companion Specifcation whose development was hosted by the VDMA Machine Vision Initiative. The OPC Foundation is also proud to announce that this is the frst OPC UA Companion Specifcation developed via close international collaboration between multinational Machine Vision related standards bodies including the American AIA, Chinese CMVU, European VDMA and EMVA, and Japanese JIIA.

The value of the OPC UA Machine Vision Part 1 Companion Specifcation is that it describes an abstraction of a generic vision system via a common digital representation (digital twin). This enables other systems to easily and seamlessly interact with any given physical vision system without having to deal with the challenges ‘custom’ information models and interfaces create.

In addition, the value of the OPC UA companion specifcation being internationally accepted is that it enables 3rd Party systems from around the world to work seamlessly together across the shop foor and vertically throughout the enterprise.

This common OPC UA based model: • Helps make semantic interoperability possible • Provides end-users with maximum choice for finding best-fit components and solutions • Creates new opportunities for vendors looking to expand their markets.

A test implementation of the OPC UA companion specification was successfully completed and was presented to a large audience of automotive engineering experts at a major OPC UA automotive industry event in Germany. A hardware demonstrator is being developed and will be soon showcased at major trade shows in Germany.

Sharing his views on interoperability, Dr. Horst Heinol-Heikkinen, Managing Director of ASENTICS and VDMA board member said: “Wouldn’t it be great, if machines could communicate in a direct way with each other? This idea is at the core of the Industry 4.0 movement to create the smart factory of the future. This goal of reaching “interoperability” is the new core competence that must distinguish our future products in a connected world of Industrial IoT – but even more, the acting people and organizations involved.”

System model of OPC Machine Vision.

Heinol-Heikkinen concluded, "I am proud that Machine Vision plays a pioneering role and as one of the frst VDMA divisions, is presenting the release of an OPC UA Companion Specifcation to the public, thanks to the extraordinary commitment and cooperation by the core working group members who worked very hard and made it possible.”

Stefan Hoppe, President and Executive Director of the OPC Foundation commented: “The OPC Foundation truly appreciate the results of the joint VDMA Machine Vision Initiative working group – Machine Vision has taken a decisive step forward into the Industrie4.0 era that is second to none."

“Beyond the work done to adopt OPC UA as the interoperability platform for Machine Vision, we applaud the joint working group for embracing the spirit of interorganizational collaboration on a global scale with G3. This ‘big thinking’ aligns well with a key OPC Foundation focus on encouraging organizations to work together to reduce the vast number of overlapping ‘custom’ information models into a harmonized set of OPC UA Companion Specifcations which will beneft end-users and vendors around the world by lowering the barriers to true interoperability,” he added.

The OPC Foundation encourages organizations to work to reduce the vast number of overlapping ‘custom’ information models into a harmonized set of OPC UA Companion Specifcations which will beneft end-users and vendors around the world by lowering the barriers to true interoperability.

New initiatives announced by Industrial Internet Consortium

A series of liasons, testbeds and challenges focussing on the IIoT in action are targeting vertical markets including global mining, geospatial applications, smart buildings and a new negotiation automation testbed.

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) working with other trade groups have announced a series of programs to help further the development of the industrial internet.

Under the agreements, the IIC will work together with industry partners to align efforts designed to maximize interoperability, portability, security and privacy for the industrial internet.

Global Mining

Under an agreement, the IIC and the Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG) will work together to align efforts to maximize interoperability, portability, security and privacy for the industrial internet.

Joint activities between the IIC and GMG will include: • Identifying and sharing IIoT best practices • Collaborating on standardization • Collaborating on interoperability in mining through the two organizations respective committees, working groups and task groups • Collaborating in IIoT adoption by co-creating reference architectures, methodologies and guidelines • Participating in a joint workshop to exchange ideas and information

“Emerging technologies are changing the way centuries-old industries operate,” said Dr. Mark Dunn, IIC Liaison Offcer and Principal Research Engineer, Coal Mining Research Program, CSIRO Energy. “In the mining domain, adding sensors and internet connectivity to vehicles, machinery and people is increasing mine safety, enhancing productivity and improving our use of global natural resources.”

Open Geospatial Consortium

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) announced they have agreed to a liaison to work together to advance their shared interests.

“OGC recognizes the important work the IIC is doing in industries such as smart cities, energy, government and others,” said Nadine Alameh, CEO, OGC. “We are looking forward to our collaboration with the IIC as together we explore ways geospatial information can help to further the adoption of the industrial internet.”

System model of OPC Machine Vision.

“Through its liaison program, IIC is accelerating the digital transformation and its adoption by building industry ecosystems across verticals,” said Wael William Diab, Chair of the IIC Liaison Working Group and Secretary of the IIC Steering Committee. “We are excited to partner with the OGC who bring a tremendous expertise in the application of geospatial data across industries.”

Smart Buildings Challenge

The Smart Buildings Challenge, a program designed to give smart building technology suppliers the ability to collaborate with customers to create targeted, outcome-based solutions for smart buildings. The Challenge presents contestants with a set of smart building problems faced by building operators and investors, as well as a set of parameters required of the solutions.

Technology suppliers will develop solution proposals, alone or with partners, and compete to deploy pilot implementations to fulfll the requirements outlined by the challenge. A jury will select the winners from the pool of entries at the end of the Challenge. Prizes for winners will include the opportunity to deliver a live Proof of Concept in a shopping mall supported by Deka and ECE.

The Smart Buildings Challenge is one of the IoT Challenges co-organized with the Trusted IoT Alliance. The Challenges are open to the industry vendors, organizations, teams and individuals worldwide and are designed to advance and validate industrial IoT applications and solutions.

Negotiation Automation Testbed

A Negotiation Automation Platform Testbed is being led by IIC member NEC Corporation with support from IIC members Kabuku Inc., Fraunhofer IOSB and Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI).

The IIC Negotiation Automation Platform Testbed will use a variety of AI infrastructure technologies, which automatically negotiate with each other, in order to fnd mutually agreeable contract terms. In the future, the testbed aims to promote standardization activities that support the growth of AI throughout society.

“In a manufacturing use case, automatic negotiation on conditions for the trading of products benefts both buyers and sellers,” said IIC Testbed Lead Dr. Satoshi Morinaga, Research Fellow, NEC. “It enables buyers to be fexible with their demands by expressing their procurement requirements within a range and sellers can expand opportunities for orders and profts by making full use of their assets.