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OPC UA Client vTool#

The OPC UA Client vTool allows you to use the data output of other vTools in your recipe as input for the next step in your machine vision environment using the OPC UA standard.

You can add as many input pins as you like via the nodemap of the OPC UA Client vTool. The data types of the inputs don't have to be identical (see note below on allowed data types and pin type mapping).

OPC UA Client vTool

运作原理#

The OPC UA standard offers a simple and standardized way to exchange data and information between machines, independent of platform and manufacturer. With the OPC UA Client vTool, you can publish the results of your image processing pipeline to an OPC UA Server to ensure smooth and efficient data exchange.

Data Type Mapping#

The OPC UA Client accepts the following data types as input which are mapped to the corresponding OPC UA data types:

Valid Input Pin Data Type OPC UA Data Type
Boolean Boolean
Integer Int64
Float Double
String String

Adding Input Pins#

Configuration Guidelines

  • For OPC UA NodeIds, only the IdType String is supported. The allowed character set is ASCII.
  • Currently, only the default namespace (Index 0) is supported.
  • Invalid configuration strings aren't flagged as errors but no input pins are created.
  • If you change the configuration, e.g., by adding another pin or changing the configuration of an existing pin, all connections are lost. Basler recommends creating all required pins first and adding the connections afterwards.
  • If you leave the server address blank, no data can be transmitted. Currently, there is no error message for this.
  • Server authentication isn't supported.
  • If the connection to the server is lost during runtime, data is lost. An attempt to reconnect to the server is made every 30 seconds.
  • Reconnection doesn't occur in the background. This means that data processing is interrupted for 1 to 2 seconds while attempts are made to reconnect.
  1. Select the OPC UA Client vTool in the Workbench.
  2. 打开 Features - All 窗格。
  3. Go to the vTool group.
  4. In the Server Address field, enter the IP address of the OPC UA server.
    You only have to specify the server address once.
  5. Execute the Input Pin Add command.
  6. In the Input Pin Configuration field, enter the configuration of the input pin you want to add. Use the following syntax: <MyPinName>.Type=<MyPinType>.EndPointNode='<OpcUaNodeIdentifier>'
    where:
    <MyPinName>: Name of the new input pin
    <MyPinType>: Data type of the new input pin (allowed values are: Boolean, Float, Integer, and String)
    '<OpcUaNodeIdentifier>': Name of the OPC UA node, e.g., ExposureEnd
  7. Press Enter.
    The new pin appears in the vTool.
  8. Repeat step 5 to 7 to add more pins.

Configuration Example#

Assume you want to create an input pin with the name Exposure and the data type Integer that connects to a node called ExposureEnd on your OPC UA server. To do this, enter the following string:

Exposure.Type=Integer.EndPointNode='ExposureEnd'

Further Information#

If you have questions about the OPC UA Client vTool or have suggestions for improving it or adding new functionalities, you can contact Basler Support.