Does anyone here have experience or knowledge in solutions for integrating a .NET based software application with communication protocols that would allow it to read and write to memory registers in a PLC?
Background Info
The company I am working for has developed a software application in C# and they want to be able to send and receive events to and from process control systems. Basically they need to change the state of a boolean register in a PLC or read/write an integer, float , string etc within the PLC.
My background is in process automation so I am assisting them with the integration from this perspective and will be developing the PLC and SCADA code.
My Suggestion
I have suggested that they roll an OPC client software module into their application which will talk to something like a Matrikon or Kepware OPC server. This would then allow interoperability with multiple branded PLCs and would eliminate the requirement for added software development and testing each time a new PLC model or brand was integrated with the software application.
There will be numerous projects with this software and there may be multiple brands and models of PLCs to integrate in the future so I want to go for the OPC server with the most comprehensive device support.
Any thoughts you may have are appreciated.
Background Info
The company I am working for has developed a software application in C# and they want to be able to send and receive events to and from process control systems. Basically they need to change the state of a boolean register in a PLC or read/write an integer, float , string etc within the PLC.
My background is in process automation so I am assisting them with the integration from this perspective and will be developing the PLC and SCADA code.
My Suggestion
I have suggested that they roll an OPC client software module into their application which will talk to something like a Matrikon or Kepware OPC server. This would then allow interoperability with multiple branded PLCs and would eliminate the requirement for added software development and testing each time a new PLC model or brand was integrated with the software application.
- Does this sound like a 'best practice' type solution?
- Are there other options that may be worth investigating?
- I am leaning towards Matrikon as far as an OPC software package goes, has anyone had experience with OPC servers such as Matrikon and Kepware?
- Can you recommend any other brands that are worth considering?
There will be numerous projects with this software and there may be multiple brands and models of PLCs to integrate in the future so I want to go for the OPC server with the most comprehensive device support.
Any thoughts you may have are appreciated.
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