User Configurable (U-CON) Protocol OPC Server

Overview

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

General

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

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.

	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.