Configure Power Operation as an OPC-DA Client

Before you begin configuring OPC communications with Power Operation, refer to the online help files in these locations:

  • In the DriverReferenceHelp.chm help file (located in the Power Operation Bin folder), see the OPC Driver section.
  • In the citectscada.chm help file (also in the Bin folder), see Using OPC Server DA.

You can configure Power Operation to act as an OPC-DA client. In this mode, it will draw data from an OPC server, such as the one Matrikon OPC Explorer uses.

NOTE: We used Matrikon in our tests and validation, but you may have one of the many other OPC products. The information in this document is specific to Matrikon products. Thus, the screens you see in your OPC client software may not be the same as the instructions below.

To create OPC tags in Power Operation:

  1. Launch Matrikon Explorer to see tags that are available. Select the OPC Server to which you want to connect.

    2. For this example, we are using Matrikon.OPC.Simulation.1

  2. Connect to the Server Matrikon.OPC.Simulation.1 on the remote computer.
  3. Click Add Tags to display the Tag Entry tab:
  4. Right click the Random folder (under Available Items…), and select Add All Items.
  5. Select File > Update and return.

    6. Matrikon Explorer displays a list of tags that it is regularly updating, similar to the list illustrated in this screen. To change the update rate (shown in the lower right-hand corner), right-click the group folder and choose properties.

  6. Create a project: from the Power Operation Studio Projects window, add the project.
  7. Change to the Topology window. Click Edit, then add the following items: Choose from the drop down link each of the items:
    • Cluster
    • Network Addresses
    • I/O Servers
  8. Add a board: on the Topology window, select Components & Mapping. Then click the drop down link, and choose Boards. Add the information for the board.

    9. NOTE: Type the IP address of the remote OPC Server in the Special Opt field. The address field is used to specify the update interval in milliseconds. Type zero (0) here to use the default value.

  9. Create a port: from the Topology window, Components & Mapping, click the drop down link, and choose Ports. Add the port information.
  10. Create an I/O device that references the OPC Server name: from the Topology window, choose I/O Devices. Be sure to use OPC for the Protocol.
  11. Create the variable tags: from the System Model tab, choose Variables.
    1. Add a tag name.
    2. Use the OPC I/O device you created earlier.
    3. The address is the tag name given by the OPC server.

    12. One example in this case is Random.Int1, as shown in Matrikon Explorer display earlier.

  12. Compile and run the project.
  13. You can display the newly created Power Operation OPC tag values on a graphics page.

Performance Note: Using the setup described previous with the default refresh rate (0), test results show that approximately 50,000 tags can be updated in less than one second . This was on a computer with an Intel Pentium dual-core processor running at 2.8 GHZ and 2 GB of RAM.