Achieving interoperability using low-cost middleware OPC UA wrapping structure. Case study in the water industry

Abstract

The Internet of Things means a connected world. When reaching the industrial level, the automation equipment present a large life cycle and the systems are many times conceived using proprietary protocols. Bringing interoperability to local automation is often a difficult task and changes in the functional structures, particularly in the case of critical infrastructures like the water industry, have to be of the lowest possible magnitude. The paper proposes a low-cost middleware OPC UA wrapping structure in order to assure interoperability of the local automation. The solution is also offering the possibility to monitor and control the local system, to create a local historian and to further implement control algorithms for existing structures or to optimize existing tags packaging for further Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) integration without modifying the local software. The developments were tested in real scenarios, a case study in the water industry being presented.