Siemens Ecosystem.

Siemens is, indisputably, one of the most present automation hardware and software manufacturers at the European level. Practically all factories and facilities in Spain have, to a greater or lesser extent, some component of their installation from this brand. Its presence over the last 40 or 50 years and its extensive portfolio means that we can find everything from drives to PLCs, IT infrastructure or industrial management software anywhere.

As a manufacturer with such a presence, it is obvious that many automation and systems integration projects require communicating some of its elements with the other systems of the installation. To do this, we must explain that all communication with the field elements will be resolved through the use of OPC Servers. OPC Router is not software designed for these communications as it is already very well resolved with solutions such as KEPServerEX.

Thus, in this specific post we will discuss how OPC Router allows connecting the main Siemens control and management tools with all the other systems of an installation.

I Integration with Old or S7 Range PLCs

Example architecture: KEPServerEX + OPC plugin + SQL plugin

Siemens PLCs are the most common in our industries. Almost everyone has had to fight with S7-200, S7-300, S7-400 or S7-1200. But not only that, 20 or 25 years after the first PLC of the S7 range, we still find S5 PLCs working – the classic, if it works don’t touch it -.

To communicate with all of them, we will need an OPC Server such as KEPSeverEX that is capable of acquiring information from them through its specific driver and serving that information in OPC DA or OPC UA.

To give a practical example, once we have the PLC data in this protocol, with OPC Router we can use the OPC plugin and send that data to a historization system using the SQL plugin.

I Integration with LOGO!.

Example architecture: KEPServerEX + OPC plugin + MQTT plugin.

LOGO! is a new range of low-cost controllers from Siemens very focused on being practical and simple. Without being so powerful, they are designed for simple automations or for home automation.

These new controllers, report the information upstream through Modbus. That is why, to integrate that information with other systems, we will once again require an OPC Server with a Modbus driver to transform that data into OPC.

Thus, the path is the same as in the previous case, the OPC plugin of OPC Router will communicate with the OPC Server to send the information wherever it is needed, to an IoT cloud platform via MQTT, for example.

I Integration with S7-1500 PLCs.

Example architecture: OPC plugin + REST plugin.

Unlike the previous equipment, the Siemens S7-1500 PLC is an OPC UA Server, so from OPC Router we can acquire information from it directly without the need for an intermediate OPC Server. From the point of view of robustness and scalability, it will always be more robust to use an OPC Server to centralize and optimize the traffic of communications between the process and the systems. OPC Servers always make architectures more secure.

However, from a technical point of view, for this range of PLCs we can communicate directly since they have the possibility of being OPC UA Servers themselves. With this data, we can send it, for example, to an energy management system that requires the data to be sent via REST API.

I Integration with WINCC.

• Example architecture 1: OPC plugin + InfluxDB plugin.
• Example architecture 1: OPC Server plugin + Domino printer plugin.

Siemens is not only a hardware manufacturer, but also has software solutions for industrial monitoring and control. Among these solutions, WINCC Professional and WINCC OA stand out mainly. In addition, through its different modules and libraries it is possible to add additional functionalities to the classic SCADA ones.

Currently, many of the projects in which there is WINCC it is necessary to communicate it with equipment and systems that are not from the Siemens family. For this, OPC Router is the tool that allows us to open WINCC to all other manufacturers.

In this specific case, we have two architecture options.

1. The first consists of enabling the option in WINCC that it is an OPC Server. Once enabled, through the OPC plugin we can send or request the information we want. For example, with this architecture we could save information from WINCC in an Influx database.
2. The second scenario is where we do not want or cannot enable WINCC as an OPC Server. In this case, what we should do is give that function to OPC Router through its OPC Server plugin. In this case, it will be WINCC through its connectivity drivers who will communicate with OPC Router to acquire the information. An example of use would be a scenario where WINCC has to communicate directly to a printer to transmit the codes that must be put on the labels.

I Integration with Mindsphere.

Example architecture: SQL plugin + MQTT plugin.

Mindsphere is the Siemens cloud Iot platform. This platform, based on the AWS cloud, seeks to analyze the data sent to it from an installation or factory to draw conclusions and valuable information for decision making.

That is why, to extract useful resolutions, the most normal thing is that it should not only receive data from the installed Siemens devices, but also from all the other equipment and systems present in the installation.

The protocol that allows sending data to Mindsphere is MQTT, as also happens in other cloud platforms. Thus, with OPC Router we can integrate all the information from the other elements in Mindsphere through its MQTT plugin. For example, we could send to Mindsphere all the new records that are made in an SQL database.

As we said at the beginning of this post, Siemens is a manufacturer widely used in Spain and where everyone, to a greater or lesser extent, has had to integrate one or more of its elements into their systems. Like any manufacturer, Siemens makes it very easy to interconnect between its elements, but it is difficult to open its tools to other systems. That is why OPC Router is a great solution to facilitate all these projects. If you think it can be of help in these or other projects integrating various systems, do not hesitate to get in contact with us!

You can consult all the posts in this series:

https://www.comunicacionesindustrialeslogitek.com/opc-router-podemos-integrarlo-todo/

https://www.comunicacionesindustrialeslogitek.com/opc-router-podemos-integrarlo-todo-ii/

https://www.comunicacionesindustrialeslogitek.com/opc-router-podemos-integrarlo-todo-iii/

https://www.comunicacionesindustrialeslogitek.com/opc-router-podemos-integrarlo-todo-iv/