VDMA Machine Vision and OPC Foundation Start Developing a Companion Specification
FRANKFURT — "We want to make machine vision fit for Industry 4.0 and for the factory of the future. We are aiming at straightforward integration of machine vision systems into production control and IT systems via OPC Unified Architecture," says Dr. Klaus-Henning Noffz, CEO of Silicon Software and in charge of standardization issues at the Board of VDMA Machine Vision. In the course of the AUTOMATICA trade fair VDMA Machine Vision and the OPC Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the preparation of an OPC UA Machine Vision Companion Specification.
The resolution was preceded by an international study under the lead of VDMA Machine Vision last summer. It was aimed at showing which standards are important to prepare the sector for the future. "Camera interfaces and standards for communication and networking of various machine vision components within the system are already there, tremendously facilitating the work of systems integrators. What is missing is a generic interface for machine vision systems at user level," says Dr. Horst Heinol-Heikkinen, Managing Director of ASENTICS and board member of VDMA Machine Vision. VDMA Machine Vision wants to address this topic by introducing an OPC UA Machine Vision Companion Specification. First discussions have already been initiated on which information, data, functions and services should be integrated into a production network and mapped in OPC UA.