Malvern
Instruments is pleased to announce its participation in the newly-formed
OPC Analyzer Device Integration Working Group. The group has been constituted
to develop a common method for data exchange and an analyzer data model for
process and laboratory analyzers. It comprises interested members of the OPC
Foundation, an organisation dedicated to ensuring interoperability in automation
via open standards.
Both instrument manufacturers and industrial users of analytical instrumentation
are represented on the Working Group which currently comprises: ABB ; Abbott
; Arla Foods Global IT ; BRL Consulting ; CAS ; GlaxoSmithKline ; Malvern Process
Systems ; Mettler-Toledo Autochem, Inc. ; OPC Foundation ; Pfizer Inc ; Siemens
nv ; Software Toolbox, Inc. ; and Umetrics.
Oliver Schmitt, Business Line Manager for Malvern Process Systems feels that
working in close co-operation with all parties is extremely important. “With
the current focus on process optimization, and with initiatives such as PAT
pushing forward analyzer integration, it is vital that we develop the standard
interfaces needed to achieve co-ordination and control of systems from different
companies,” he said. “Right now there are no standard solutions,
but as a leader in on-line particle size analysis across the process industries,
Malvern looks forward to playing an active role in their development.”
The Working Group is adopting OPC-UA (Unified Architecture) as the basis for
the Analyzer Device Integration (ADI) standard and aims to define a compatible
data model. OPC-UA has the advantages of being a platform-neutral standard designed
to support complex data types and object models; it can achieve high speed data
transfers and has broad industry support beyond simply process automation.