IEC TR 62541-1:2016
(Main)OPC unified architecture - Part 1: Overview and concepts
OPC unified architecture - Part 1: Overview and concepts
IEC TR 62541-1:2016(E) is a Technical Report and presents the concepts and overview of the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA). Reading this document is helpful to understand the remaining parts of this multi-part document set. Each of the other parts is briefly explained along with a suggested reading order. This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition of IEC TR 62541-1, published in 2010. This edition includes no technical changes with respect to the previous edition but includes updates to reflect changes or additions in normative parts of IEC 62541.
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IEC TR 62541-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2016-10
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
OPC unified architecture –
Part 1: Overview and concepts
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.
IEC Central Office Tel.: +41 22 919 02 11
3, rue de Varembé Fax: +41 22 919 03 00
CH-1211 Geneva 20 info@iec.ch
Switzerland www.iec.ch
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.
About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigenda or an amendment might have been published.
IEC Catalogue - webstore.iec.ch/catalogue Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
The stand-alone application for consulting the entire The world's leading online dictionary of electronic and
bibliographical information on IEC International Standards, electrical terms containing 20 000 terms and definitions in
Technical Specifications, Technical Reports and other English and French, with equivalent terms in 15 additional
documents. Available for PC, Mac OS, Android Tablets and languages. Also known as the International Electrotechnical
iPad. Vocabulary (IEV) online.
IEC publications search - www.iec.ch/searchpub IEC Glossary - std.iec.ch/glossary
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a 65 000 electrotechnical terminology entries in English and
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical French extracted from the Terms and Definitions clause of
committee,…). It also gives information on projects, replaced IEC publications issued since 2002. Some entries have been
and withdrawn publications. collected from earlier publications of IEC TC 37, 77, 86 and
CISPR.
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also once a month by email. need further assistance, please contact the Customer Service
Centre: csc@iec.ch.
IEC TR 62541-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2016-10
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
OPC unified architecture –
Part 1: Overview and concepts
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 25.040.40; 35.100.01 ISBN 978-2-8322-3640-6
– 2 – IEC TR 62541-1:2016 © IEC 2016
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references. 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations . 6
3.1 Terms and definitions . 6
3.2 Abbreviations . 10
4 Structure of the OPC UA series . 10
4.1 Specification organization. 10
4.2 Core specification parts . 11
4.3 Access Type specification parts . 12
4.4 Utility specification parts. 12
5 IEC 62541 standards – Overview . 13
5.1 UA scope . 13
5.2 General . 13
5.3 Design goals . 13
5.4 Integrated models and services . 15
5.4.1 Security model . 15
5.4.2 Integrated AddressSpace model . 16
5.4.3 Integrated object model . 16
5.4.4 Integrated services . 17
5.5 Sessions . 17
5.6 Redundancy . 17
6 Systems concepts . 17
6.1 Overview. 17
6.2 OPC UA Clients . 18
6.3 OPC UA Servers . 19
6.3.1 General . 19
6.3.2 Real objects . 19
6.3.3 OPC UA Server application . 19
6.3.4 OPC UA AddressSpace . 20
6.3.5 Publisher/subscriber entities . 20
6.3.6 OPC UA Service Interface . 20
6.3.7 Server to Server interactions . 21
7 Service Sets . 22
7.1 General . 22
7.2 Discovery Service Set . 22
7.3 SecureChannel Service Set . 22
7.4 Session Service Set . 23
7.5 NodeManagement Service Set . 23
7.6 View Service Set . 24
7.7 Query Service Set . 24
7.8 Attribute Service Set . 24
7.9 Method Service Set . 24
7.10 MonitoredItem Service Set . 24
7.11 Subscription Service Set . 25
Bibliography . 26
Figure 1 – OPC UA Specification organization . 11
Figure 2 – OPC UA Target applications . 14
Figure 3 – OPC UA System architecture . 18
Figure 4 – OPC UA Client architecture . 18
Figure 5 – OPC UA Server architecture . 19
Figure 6 – Peer-to-peer interactions between Servers . 21
Figure 7 – Chained Server example . 22
Figure 8 – SecureChannel and Session Services . 23
– 4 – IEC TR 62541-1:2016 © IEC 2016
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
OPC UNIFIED ARCHITECTURE –
Part 1: Overview and concepts
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for
example "state of the art".
IEC TR 62541-1, which is a technical report, has been prepared by subcommittee 65E:
Devices and integration in enterprise systems, of IEC technical committee 65: Industrial-
process measurement, control and automation.
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
65E/414/DTR 65E/463/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the
report on voting indicated in the above table.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition of IEC TR 62541-1, published in
2010.
This edition includes no technical changes with respect to the previous edition but includes
updates to reflect changes or additions in normative parts of IEC 62541.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
Throughout this document and the referenced othe
...
IEC TR 62541-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2016-10
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
OPC unified architecture –
Part 1: Overview and concepts
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.
IEC Central Office Tel.: +41 22 919 02 11
3, rue de Varembé Fax: +41 22 919 03 00
CH-1211 Geneva 20 info@iec.ch
Switzerland www.iec.ch
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.
About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigenda or an amendment might have been published.
IEC Catalogue - webstore.iec.ch/catalogue Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
The stand-alone application for consulting the entire The world's leading online dictionary of electronic and
bibliographical information on IEC International Standards, electrical terms containing 20 000 terms and definitions in
Technical Specifications, Technical Reports and other English and French, with equivalent terms in 15 additional
documents. Available for PC, Mac OS, Android Tablets and languages. Also known as the International Electrotechnical
iPad. Vocabulary (IEV) online.
IEC publications search - www.iec.ch/searchpub IEC Glossary - std.iec.ch/glossary
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a 65 000 electrotechnical terminology entries in English and
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical French extracted from the Terms and Definitions clause of
committee,…). It also gives information on projects, replaced IEC publications issued since 2002. Some entries have been
and withdrawn publications. collected from earlier publications of IEC TC 37, 77, 86 and
CISPR.
IEC Just Published - webstore.iec.ch/justpublished
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published IEC Customer Service Centre - webstore.iec.ch/csc
details all new publications released. Available online and If you wish to give us your feedback on this publication or
also once a month by email. need further assistance, please contact the Customer Service
Centre: csc@iec.ch.
IEC TR 62541-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2016-10
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
OPC unified architecture –
Part 1: Overview and concepts
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 25.040.40; 35.100.01 ISBN 978-2-8322-3640-6
– 2 – IEC TR 62541-1:2016 © IEC 2016
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references. 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations . 6
3.1 Terms and definitions . 6
3.2 Abbreviations . 10
4 Structure of the OPC UA series . 10
4.1 Specification organization. 10
4.2 Core specification parts . 11
4.3 Access Type specification parts . 12
4.4 Utility specification parts. 12
5 IEC 62541 standards – Overview . 13
5.1 UA scope . 13
5.2 General . 13
5.3 Design goals . 13
5.4 Integrated models and services . 15
5.4.1 Security model . 15
5.4.2 Integrated AddressSpace model . 16
5.4.3 Integrated object model . 16
5.4.4 Integrated services . 17
5.5 Sessions . 17
5.6 Redundancy . 17
6 Systems concepts . 17
6.1 Overview. 17
6.2 OPC UA Clients . 18
6.3 OPC UA Servers . 19
6.3.1 General . 19
6.3.2 Real objects . 19
6.3.3 OPC UA Server application . 19
6.3.4 OPC UA AddressSpace . 20
6.3.5 Publisher/subscriber entities . 20
6.3.6 OPC UA Service Interface . 20
6.3.7 Server to Server interactions . 21
7 Service Sets . 22
7.1 General . 22
7.2 Discovery Service Set . 22
7.3 SecureChannel Service Set . 22
7.4 Session Service Set . 23
7.5 NodeManagement Service Set . 23
7.6 View Service Set . 24
7.7 Query Service Set . 24
7.8 Attribute Service Set . 24
7.9 Method Service Set . 24
7.10 MonitoredItem Service Set . 24
7.11 Subscription Service Set . 25
Bibliography . 26
Figure 1 – OPC UA Specification organization . 11
Figure 2 – OPC UA Target applications . 14
Figure 3 – OPC UA System architecture . 18
Figure 4 – OPC UA Client architecture . 18
Figure 5 – OPC UA Server architecture . 19
Figure 6 – Peer-to-peer interactions between Servers . 21
Figure 7 – Chained Server example . 22
Figure 8 – SecureChannel and Session Services . 23
– 4 – IEC TR 62541-1:2016 © IEC 2016
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
OPC UNIFIED ARCHITECTURE –
Part 1: Overview and concepts
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for
example "state of the art".
IEC TR 62541-1, which is a technical report, has been prepared by subcommittee 65E:
Devices and integration in enterprise systems, of IEC technical committee 65: Industrial-
process measurement, control and automation.
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
65E/414/DTR 65E/463/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the
report on voting indicated in the above table.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition of IEC TR 62541-1, published in
2010.
This edition includes no technical changes with respect to the previous edition but includes
updates to reflect changes or additions in n
...
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