HEIDENHAIN TNC 620 User Manual page 462

10
10.9 OPC UA NC Server (options 56 to 61)
Introduction
Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA)
describes a collection of specifications. These specifications
are used to standardize machine-to-machine communication
(M2M) in the field of industrial automation. OPC UA enables the
data exchange across operating systems between products from
different manufacturers, e.g. between a HEIDENHAIN control system
and third-party software. Thus, OPC UA has become the data
exchange standard for secure, reliable, manufacturer- and platform-
independent industrial communication over the last years.
For OPC UA-based communication, the HEIDENHAIN control
provides the OPC UA NC Server. For each OPC UA client to be
connected, you need one of the six available software options (56 to
61).
Both standard and custom software can be used with the
OPC UA NC Server. Compared to other established interfaces,
significantly less development effort is required for OPC UA
connection, thanks to the uniform communication technology.
The OPC UA NC Server allows you to access the data and functions
of the HEIDENHAIN NC information model exposed in the server
address space.
The control supports the following OPC UA functions:
Write and read variables
Subscribe to value changes
Run methods
Subscribe to events
File system access to the TNC: drive
File system access to the PLC: drive (a corresponding permission
is required)
Further information: "Application development", Page 465
IT Security
In 2016, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)
published a security analysis related to OPC UA. The specification
analysis performed by the BSI determined that OPC UA provides a
high level of security as compared to most other industrial protocols.
HEIDENHAIN follows the BSI recommendations and provides
SignAndEncrypt, which exclusively features up-to-date IT security
profiles. For this purpose, OPC UA-based industrial applications and
the OPC UA NC Server exchange certificates for authentication.
In addition, any transferred data is encrypted. This effectively
prevents messages between the communication partners from
being intercepted or altered.
Among others, the HEROS Connection Assistant function supports
you when setting up the certificates.
Further information: "Setting up the connection", Page 463
462
HEROS functions | OPC UA NC Server (options 56 to 61)
HEIDENHAIN | TNC 620 | User's Manual for Setup, Testing and Running NC Programs | 01/2022