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OPC Collector

  • Updated

The OPC Collector currently connects to OPC UA servers for logging UA data into the Historian.

 Status

 

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Sessions - This panel contains status information for all the sessions configured on this server.

  • Total Sessions: - Number of sessions configured on the local server.

 

  • Total Groups: - Number of groups in all sessions (each session must have at least one).

 

  • Total Tags: - Number of tags configured in all groups.

 

  • Tags Logging: - Of the total tags, this is the number of tags currently being logged.

 

  • Error: - Total number of tags with errors.

Session - Provides status information about the selected session on the right.

  • Name: - A general name defined for the selected session.

 

  • Logging: - True/False if the session is started.

 

  • Historian: - Name of the Historian machine where the data is to be stored.

 

  • Dataset: - Name of the Dataset where the data is to be stored on the Historian machine. All groups in a session go to the same Dataset.

 

  • Type: - The type of OPC Collector for this session (currently OPC UA only).

 

  • Host: - The address of the OPC UA server ( machine name, domain name or IP address).

 

  • Port: - The port the server is listening on.

 

 

The right side will have a tile for each session configured. Each tile will have a circle in the upper left with a stop square or start triangle for controlling the logging of the session. Hovering over the tile with the cursor will display the right-arrow to click or double-click the tile to open the groups.

Groups

 

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Groups - Each session can have multiple groups. A group allows segregation of the tags to provide a hierarchy or to allow different "Sample Intervals".

  • Total Groups: - Number of groups in this session.

 

  • Total Tags: - Total number of tags in the groups of this session.

 

  • Errors: - Number of tags with errors in this session.

Group - Provides status information about the selected group on the right.

  • Name: - A general name defined for the selected group.

 

  • Sample Interval: - Frequency at which the tags can update if the value or quality changes.

 

  • Normalize Timestamps: - True/False if the timestamps are being normalized. Normalization will be 1/2 the Sample Interval, up to 1 second resolution.

The right side will have a tile for each group in the session. Hovering over the tile with the cursor will display the right-arrow to click or double-click the tile to open the group to display active logging.

 

Tags - A grid showing the selected tag group with TVQs (timestamp, value, and quality) of the tags shown. The grid updates every 5 seconds and does not display every change.

 

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Filter Tags: - Type any part of an entry in the "Columns in filter" columns to filter the list of tags below. Multiple entries can be entered, separated by a space.

Modify Grid - Opens the column selection dialog for display and filtering.

Columns

Columns in filter: - Select the columns the "Filter Tags" should search through when filtering list.

Columns shown: - Select the columns to display on the Tags' tab.

 

Configuration - Create and edit OPC UA log sessions.

Sessions - This panel provides a list of all configured log sessions. Each session has a status control for starting and stopping and must have at least one group of configured tags. A group allows segregation of the tags to provide a hierarchy or to allow different "Sample Intervals".

  • New Session - Clicking this button will create a blank session and the first group with 0 tags.

 

  • New Group - Clicking this button will create an additional group in the currently selected session.

 

  • Remove - The "Remove" button will prompt to confirm the deletion of a selected group or session.

Session Settings - These settings are visible anytime a Session is selected in the "Sessions" panel above.

  • Name: - A general name defined for the selected session.

 

  • Historian: - The name or IP address of the computer where the Historian is located.

 

  • DataSet: - The drop down will show DataSets available in the above Historian. Typing in a new name will cause the Collector to create a new DataSet in the above Historian with default settings.

 

  • New File - When tags are renamed or removed, check this box to create a new file in the Historian without the removed tags.

OPC Server

  • Host Name: - The name or IP address of the OPC UA server.

 

  • Host Port: - The port to access the above server. This port number is available in the OPC UA server documentation or settings.

 

Group Settings - These settings are visible anytime a Group is selected in the "Sessions" panel above.

  • Name: - A general name for the selected group.

 

  • Sample Interval: - The Sample Interval in seconds for the group in the specified OPC Server. Data will never be returned from the OPC server faster than the update rate.
    Example time format: dd.hh:mm:ss.fff     (days.hours:minutes:seconds.fractional seconds) .

 

  • Normalize Times: - Checking this box will round the incoming timestamp from the OPC server to one half the Sample Interval, up to 1 second. A Sample Interval of 00:10:00 will normalize to 00:00:01. A Sample interval of 00:00:01 will normalize to 00:00:00.500.

 

  • Deadband Type: - When deadband is other than 0, forces the value to change by a percent or an absolute value before sent to the Historian.

    • Absolute - When a new value is received from the OPC server, it must have changed from the previously logged value by more than the specified amount.  If it did not increase or decrease by more than the specified value it will be ignored.

    • Percent - Optional - Not supported by all OPC UA servers.

      • For this type of deadband, the deadbandValue is defined as the percentage of the EURange. That is, it applies only to AnalogItems with an EURange Property that defines the typical value range for the item. This range shall be multiplied with the deadbandValue and then compared to the actual value change to determine the need for a data change notification. The following pseudo-code shows how the deadband is calculated:DataChange if (absolute value of (last cached value - current value) > (deadbandValue/100.0) * ((high–low) of EURange)))

The range of the deadbandValue is from 0.0 to 100.0 Percent.

 

Tag Settings - These settings are visible anytime a tag is selected in the "Tags" panel to the right.

  • Canary Tag Name: - The name of the trend that is used in the Enterprise Historian. One or more additional elements separated by periods may also be added before the final trend name. These elements will be displayed in a hierarchical fashion in the tag browser. For example: 'Unit 1.Boiler.Pressure' - will have branch nodes 'Unit1' and under that 'Boiler' which will contain the trend called 'Pressure'.  Placing a "\" backslash in front of any period will prevent the period from creating a new branch.

    Each name must be unique, whether by the name or by the hierarchical branches.

 

  • OPC Node ID: - The OPC Node ID is defined by the OPC server and is completely OPC server dependent.

 

  • Type: - The data type to pass or convert to in the Enterprise Historian. Some of the large data types cannot be converted if their value is greater than the range of the new data type. The supported types are:

  • ServerDefault - Passes the same data type as defined in the OPC server

  • I1 - 1-byte integer

  • UI1 - unsigned 1-byte integer

  • I2 - 2-byte integer

  • UI2 - unsigned 2-byte integer

  • I4 - 4-byte integer

  • UI4 - unsigned 4-byte integer

  • I8 - 8-byte integer

  • UI8 - unsigned 8-byte integer

  • R4 - 4-byte floating point

  • R8 - 8-byte floating point

  • BOOL - 2-byte boolean

  • STRING - string

 

  • Deadband: - When "Deadband Type" (configured in the group settings) is Absolute the difference between the last cached value and the current value must be greater than the entered value. If "Deadband Type" of Percent is supported, this value should be 0.0 to 100.0 Percent and is calculated as in the Percent description above.

 

  • Transform: - Incoming values are represented with the words "Value" and "Quality" when used in the transform.
    Quality can be set to keywords in single quotes or numerical values: 'Good' (192), 'Bad' (0), 'NoData' (32768).

    • Examples:

    • Value * 10 (would multiply by 10)

    • Value = Value * 10, Quality = 'Bad' (would multiply by 10 and set the quality to bad)

    • Quality = If(Value > 100, 'Bad', Quality) (would set the quality to bad if the value is greater than 100, but not change the value)

 

  • Logical Operators: or, ||, and, &&

  • Relational Operators: =, ==, !=, <>, <, <=, >, >=

  • Math Operators: +, -, *, /, %

  • Bitwise Operators:& (bitwise and), | (bitwise or), ^(bitwise xor), << (left shift), >>(right shift)

  • Unary Operators: !, not, -, ~ (bitwise not)

  • Primary Operators: ( )

  • Values:Integers, Floating point numbers, Scientific notation, Dates and Times, Booleans, Strings

  • Functions:  

 

 

 

Name Description Usage Result
Abs Returns the absolute value of a specified number. Abs(-1) 1M
Acos Returns the angle whose cosine is the specified number. Acos(1) 0d
Asin Returns the angle whose sine is the specified number. Asin(0) 0d
Atan Returns the angle whose tangent is the specified number. Atan(0) 0d
Ceiling Returns the smallest integer greater than or equal to the specified number. Ceiling(1.5) 2d
Cos Returns the cosine of the specified angle. Cos(0) 1d
Exp Returns e raised to the specified power. Exp(0) 1d
Floor Returns the largest integer less than or equal to the specified number. Floor(1.5) 1d
IEEERemainder Returns the remainder resulting from the division of a specified number by another specified number. IEEERemainder(3, 2) -1d
Log Returns the logarithm of a specified number. Log(1, 10) 0d
Log10 Returns the base 10 logarithm of a specified number. Log10(1) 0d
Max Returns the larger of two specified numbers. Max(1, 2) 2
Min Returns the smaller of two numbers. Min(1, 2) 1
Pow Returns a specified number raised to the specified power. Pow(3, 2) 9d
Round Rounds a value to the nearest integer or specified number of decimal places. The mid number behavior can be changed by using EvaluateOption.RoundAwayFromZero during the construction of the Expression object. Round(3.222, 2) 3.22d
Sign Returns a value indicating the sign of a number. Sign(-10) -1
Sin Returns the sine of the specified angle. Sin(0) 0d
Sqrt Returns the square root of a specified number. Sqrt(4) 2d
Tan Returns the tangent of the specified angle. Tan(0) 0d
Truncate Calculates the integral part of a number. Truncate(1.7) 1

 

It also includes other general purpose ones.

 

Name Description Usage Result
in Returns whether an element is in a set of values. in(1 + 1, 1, 2, 3) true
if Returns a value based on a condition. if(3 % 2 = 1, 'value is true', 'value is false') 'value is true'

 

 

  • Description - When supported by the OPC UA server this field will populate if the "Description" Tag Property column is added. Text can also be entered into the field or a Node ID to an OPC tag.

 

Tags - Shows a grid containing the tags for the selected group or all groups if a session is selected.

  • New - Adds a blank tag row to the grid. Tag information can then be added under the "Tag Settings" panel on the left.

 

  • Browse - Opens the Add Tags browse window for the selected OPC UA server.

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Name Prefix: - Contains text to be placed in front of the tag name to create the Name field in the tags grid. It can also contain additional fields separated by a period ('.'). For example, it might contain 'MyBranch.Unit 1.Tag 001', which will store the data in the dataset with a node - 'MyBranch' with node 'Unit 1' under it containing the tag - 'Tag 001'.  To have an embedded period in a tag name place a backslash in front of the period.  In our example 'MyBranch.Unit 1\.Tag 001', the node - 'MyBranch' would then contain the tag - 'Unit 1. Tag 001'

Prepend Browse Path: - Each node in the OPC server browse path will be placed in the path with a dot (.) between each one. The result will be that the trend will have the same node structure as it does in the OPC server.

 

  • Remove - When 1 or more tags are selected in the grid, click the "Remove" button to delete them from the group.

 

  • Copy - Copies any cells selected in the grid.

 

  • Paste - Pastes copied cells starting at the currently selected cell.

 

  • Paste New - Pastes copied cells into the same location of new blank tag rows.

 

  • Tag Properties - Pops out a panel for selecting or adding custom tag properties to the tags in the group. Once Added and Applied a new column is shown for each property.

 

  • Filter Tags: - Type any part of an entry in any column to filter the list of tags below. Multiple entries can be entered, separated by a space.

 

  • Errors Only - Hides all tag rows except the ones with errors. A new column is added displaying the error message for each tag.

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