U-CON Protocol OPC Server

Part #OPC-UCNPS-NADL $795 Email a FriendNeed more Information?
Part #OPC-UCNPS-NART $495 Free Demo
Note: Complete Edition allows unlimited development and runtime capabilities on a single PC.
Runtime Edition allows unlimited runtime capabilities on a single PC.

Overview

Overview
U-CON Protocol OPC Server

U-CON Protocol OPC Server Diagram

U-CON, the User-Configurable Protocol Server.

How often have you needed to get that last piece of data from a bar code scanner, scale, or other industrial device but have been hindered by the lack of a communication driver? Now there is a solution!

The U-CON Protocol Server enables you to quickly and easily develop communications drivers for nearly any serial and Ethernet device.

The U-CON Protocol Server integrates all of the features and functions that you depend on for your own driver projects. Features such as OPC 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 support with tag browsing, automatic tag database generation, DDE support, NT service support, channel diagnostics, and event logging are included. U-CON Protocol Server also supports other features such as modem support, communication port configuration, standard error handling features with configurable retries and timeouts, and OPC diagnostics. Once you develop a communications driver profile, users can make changes to common settings such as serial port number or device ID without changing the project profile.

The U-CON Protocol Server is based upon the same technology found in our Industry leading OPC Server, KEPServerEX. With U-CON you can get all of the benefits of a true multi-threaded 32-bit environment without the need to learn the intricacies of Microsoft Windows development.

U-CON Steps to Success

Features

Features

General

General Driver Features

General

  • Multi-threaded design ensures optimum performance
  • Scalable, with support for up to 100 concurrent serial port and network interface card (NIC) configurations
  • Built-in Ethernet Encapsulation for device/terminal server connections
  • Error recovery, adjustable timeouts, write optimizations
  • Robust communication diagnostics system w/ protocol display
  • Runs as a service under Windows NT/XP/2000/2003
  • Full Time On-line operation allows on the fly changes
  • Dialup modem features for serial device connections
  • Supports direct scaling of device data which allows raw device data to be converted to engineering units for OPC client applications
  • Free downloadable demo with all features
  • OPC/DDE server component tested & maintained by Kepware

OPC

  • Supports OPC 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 Data Access Specifications
  • Includes OPC 2.0 Automation Interface and comprehensive Visual Basic examples

DDE

  • AdvancedDDE supports RSView32 and Cimplicity
  • FastDDE and SuiteLink Support Wonderware FactorySuite 2000
  • CF-Text supports all DDE aware applications
  • NetDDE supports shared network access to device data

Actions

Available actions include:

With each of these actions, U-CON provides a wide range of formatting options allowing data to be sent and received in packed binary, ASCII, ASCII Hex, and simple text formats.

  • Write Character
  • Write Device ID
  • Write String
  • Write Checksum
  • Write Tag Data
  • Transmit Message
  • Read Message
  • Test Byte
  • Test Device ID
  • Test Checksum
  • Jump to Step
  • Update Tag

Protocol

Protocol Requirements

Programming experience is not required to use U-CON.

U-CON Protocol OPC Server Use its menu driven interface, a basic understanding of device communications, and the protocol documentation of the target device to create reliable connections to your serial and Ethernet devices.


If you need help We can review the device protocol to determine if a U-CON profile can be created. Kepware Engineers are available for consultation and profile development. Please contact Kepware for assistance.

The U-CON's transaction editor uses a menu driven interface, which allows the configuration of read & write transactions (data packets) to establish runtime communications with the device. After you create these transactions upload them as Tags in our reliable and field proven OPC/DDE server.
User Configurable Driver for KEPServerEX OPC Server

Tags

Creating Read / Write Transactions

The development of a custom communication profile begins by defining the tags or data that needs to be read from or written to a serial device. After the tags have been defined the next step is to define the transactions needed to communicate with the device. The transaction editor provides a wide range of tools and actions that can be used to build the messages that will be sent to a device. Additional actions allow the responses from the device to be processed and turned into tag data available to your OPC client applications.

1st Step

Defining Tags

The first step is to define the tags required by your OPC application.

2nd Step

Defining the Transactions

The next step is to define the transactions that read or write data from your tags.

Final Step

Testing your Profile

Finally use the diagnostic view and OPC Quick Client to test your driver profile.

Required

Required Software and Hardware

Supported Operating Systems

  • Windows NT
  • Windows 2000
  • Windows XP

PC Hardware

Minimum
  • 400 Mhz Pentium CPU
  • 128 Megs of RAM
  • 100 Megs of Free Hard Drive Space

Recommended
  • 600 Mhz Pentium CPU
  • 512 Megs of RAM
  • 100 Megs of Free Hard Drive Space

Hardware Requirements

  • For Device and Hardware Requirements see the Device Manufacture's requirements.
  • Hardware Accessories