Automatic address space generation for an OPC UA server of a flexible manufacturing system

The paper introduces generalized algorithms for the automatic generation of the address space structure for an UA server. First the generalized address space generation scheme for an OPC UA server is described. Afterwards we present the specialized algorithms for the generation of the type nodes, of object and variable nodes and for the method nodes. Finally the additional references are added to the fully meshed address space. Two basic ideas of the algorithms are: the splitting of the nodes into groups and the sequential addition of the groups to the address space, and the naming of a main reference for every target node. The algorithms have been applied for an aggregating UA server which models the devices of a flexible manufacturing system. The main advantages are: shorter development time, easier maintenance and the possibility to add nodes to the address space in both online and offline mode.