Configuring OPC UA signals

You can use the OPC UA protocol to establish communication between signals from Mechatronics Concept Designer (MCD) and signals from an external interface. You can then exchange data between MCD and the external interface, and use control signals during cosimulations to test external signals using MCD's physics simulations and 3D visualizations.

To use the OPC UA protocol, you must

1. Set up the OPC UA environment.
2. Create a signal adapter in MCD.
3. Configure the interface using the External Signal Configuration command with the Add New Server option.
4. Map your signals using the Signal Mapping command.

To more quickly establish communications, you can

• Import and export subscriptions.
• Edit subscription attributes, such as lifetime count.
• Create multiple subscriptions for one server.
• Select one subscription for multiple signals.

After you create a subscription, assign a tag to the subscription to monitor the signal as it updates based on the publishing interval.

Array-type signals

You can use basic and array-type signals to transfer data using the array name, data type, class, and IO type. To more quickly develop cosimulations you can import and export signals in the array data type using tag files in .csv format.

You can create a user-defined one-dimensional, or multidimensional array consisting of basic data types.

You can also map a custom node to control array signals using the OPC UA protocol. In the Tags group, right-click an array and select Add Custom Node to control individual axes under the same channel. You can use the NameSpaceIndex to address the node by editing the identifier's suffix.

After you add the custom node, you can use the Signal Adapter command to create the Mechatronics Concept Designer signals.

• String — Establish signals using a one-dimensional or multidimensional array. To more quickly develop cosimulations, import and export signals in the array data type using tag files in .csv format.
• Wstring — Establish signals to exchange a format character set.

Security and authentication

When you use the External Signal Configuration command to establish the OPC UA protocol, you can implement industry security standards to ensure that your connection to external interfaces is secure and that all users who can access the data exchanged between MCD and external interfaces are authenticated.

When you add a new server, you can:

• Specify an anonymous or a password-protected certificate in the New Application Instance Certificate dialog box.
• Select a security certificate to enable interfacing with password-protected external software using the Open Certificate Location option.
• Review communication statuses in the server information table for any security issues identified by the external software.

Do the following in the OPC UA Server dialog box:

• Select an anonymous or password-protected certificate.
• View the certificate of a selected endpoint to check its security settings.

Virtual commissioning use case examples

You can access more Mechatronics Concept Designer examples, such as configuring OPC signals with a virtual human-machine interface (HMI). You can reference examples to assist in robotic development, such as:

• Establishing software-in-loop commissioning using various protocols.
• Testing hardware-in-loop signal controllers.
• Integrating a robot controller with a Designcenter NX model and Mechatronics Concept Designer signals.

Where do I find it?

Configuring OPC UA signals

Application	Mechatronics Concept Designer
Command	External Signal Configuration, Signal Mapping

Accessing virtual commissioning examples

Application	Mechatronics Concept Designer
Directory path	%USER_BASE_DIR%\mechatronics\virtualcommissioning_examples\OPCUA folder

Related tasks

• Configure an OPC UA server

Related reference

• External Signal Configuration dialog box — OPC UA tab
• New Application Instance Certificate dialog box
• OPC UA Server dialog box