Against the background of the rapid evolution and networking capabilities of 5G, this paper evaluates the possibility of integrating OPC UA in it, focusing mainly on ways to support use cases involving OPC UA FX and field-level communications (FLC), which have more demanding requirements in terms of network performance, functionality, and operation. It looks at the overall architecture, relevant interfaces, information model, procedures, and other crucial aspects of integrating OPC UA and 5G. In addition, technical schemes (including transport mapping, QoS mapping, and management plane mapping) are analyzed in detail to provide a better understanding of how integration of OPC UA and 5G could work in actual practice. The analysis reveals a need to integrate the ICT and OT domains, which in turn calls for interfaces between the OPC UA and 5G systems and exchangeable parameters as prerequisites for providing good-quality communication services.
The OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is a widely accepted cross-platform, open-source industry standard that provides a framework for industrial interoperability by enabling secure, reliable communication among devices, controllers, machines, and systems of different manufacturers via the same interface. It is now already being adopted by mainstream equipment manufacturers to support communication between controllers and devices and from devices and controllers to the cloud. As 5G and its networking capabilities evolve and grow, OPC UA has potential for more comprehensive use in the industrial domain while also taking advantage of the greater flexibility offered by mobile communication technologies.
OPC UA Field Exchange (OPC UA FX), based on the existing OPC UA framework, is used for field-level communication. It enables cross-vendor interoperability in an open, unified, standardized Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) communication solution that broadens OPC UA to include field-level communication and addresses the full range of use cases in process and factory automation. OPC UA FX covers automation components (serving as a basic model for controllers, de- vices and so on), offline configuration, communication mech- anism (including Connection management, bootstrapping, device deployment, etc.).
OPC UA is a platform-independent standard that is used for communication among various types of devices and systems in the industrial domain. In order to integrate OPC UA FX with the 5G system, it is important to understand the core principles of the OPC UA, since the 5G system is the medium for establishing and maintaining connectivity between the components and various automation functions represented by FunctionalEntities (FEs).
This report provides an overview of OPC UA FX and then investigates how it could be integrated with 5G and assesses its technology readiness level. The following aspects are addressed:
The analysis reveals a need to integrate the ICT and OT domains, which in turn calls for interfaces between the OPC UA and 5G systems and exchangeable parameters as prerequisites for providing good-quality communication services. 5G-ACIA and the OPC Foundation have shared their thoughts on the possibility of collaborating to complete this ongoing project and agreed that it is only the first step toward integration and further study is required. It is important to develop the OPC UA FX and 3GPP specifications further as a prerequisite for more detailed work.
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