OPC is and Open Platform Communication protocol. In general, OPC specifies the communication of real-time plant data between control devices from different manufacturers. OPC was designed to provide a common bridge for Windows-based software applications and process control hardware, such as PLC, HMI, SCADA, and DCS. Every most popular PLC and SCADA manufacturer created their own OPC servers to access their devices remotely.

Downtime Reduction School student will have an opportunity to get familiar with this technology and get a feel for its performance. The purpose of the future development by Downtime Reduction is to have remote help-desk capable of providing remote access to any industrial electronics of any old and new customers. In this case, the OPC server will be required to be installed at the client site.

The following topics will be covered in this course:

Content

• 1. Introduction to OPC
• 2. Matrikon OPC
• 2.1 Introduction to Matrikon
• 2.2 Overview of Matrikon OPC Tools
• 2.3 Downloading and Installing Matrikon OPC Tools
• 2.4 Tutorial Overview
• Step 1: Creating Sample Data in Excel
• Step 2: Configuring the DDE Server
• 2.4 Configuring OPC Explorer
• 2.5 Adding and Validating Tags
• 2.6 Configuring OPC Data Manager
• 2.7 Troubleshooting
• 2.7.1 Problems and Solutions
• 2.8  Remote Program ID
• 3. Remote Access
• 3.1 Introduction to TeamViewer
• 3.2 LogMeIn
• 3.3  TeamViewer vs LogMeIn
• 4. OPC to Web