Siemens Industrial Edge
Siemens Industrial Edge offers an open and flexible platform for integrating IT applications directly into industrial automation systems. For OPC Router customers, this means a simplified way to collect, process, and securely exchange data directly at the source—that is, at the machine or plant. The platform enables the native integration of IT into automation without having to interrupt the production process. By supporting industrial protocols such as PROFINET, OPC UA, and Ethernet/IP, OPC Router customers can efficiently collect and process their data in real time, which is particularly useful when implementing AI services.
This edge computing solution expands the capabilities of industrial automation by providing a secure runtime environment for edge applications, based on high-level languages and the Docker IT standard. This enables powerful local data processing and analysis directly at the automation level, leading to optimized operational workflows, reduced costs, and increased plant availability
Siemens and its partners offer a wide range of hardware components that comply with industry standards and are specifically designed for use in industrial environments. These hardware solutions include, among others, SIMATIC controllers, HMI devices with integrated edge functionality, industrial PCs, and virtualized systems. In addition, certified edge devices from partners in the Siemens Industrial Edge Ecosystem are available.
For OPC Router customers, this offers the advantage that the OPC Router can be installed and managed via the Siemens Industrial Edge central management platform. This makes it easy to deploy and manage the OPC Router on individual plants, leading to more efficient use of resources and improved scalability. Centralized management also simplifies the updating and maintenance of OPC Router installations by allowing software changes to be implemented centrally and distributed to the various plants.
Preparation and Requirements
To install the OPC Router with Siemens Industrial Edge, you need access to a Siemens Industrial Edge hub, an instance of Industrial Edge Management, and at least one device (x86_64) assigned to it.
Currently, the OPC Router application is available only for devices with x86_64 architecture.
To install OPC Router via Siemens Industrial Edge, you must also purchase the demo version or a license from the Siemens Industrial Edge Marketplace. The OPC Router application should then appear in your application library in the Industrial Edge Hub .
Installing the OPC Router on Siemens Industrial Edge
In the Industrial Edge Hub , navigate to the Library (1) and select OPC Router (2).
There, select the Siemens Industrial Edge Management instances (1) on which you want to make the OPC Router application available. By clicking Copy latest version to IEM(s) (2), the management instances are instructed to copy the OPC Router application from the Industrial Edge Hub; this process may take a few minutes (15–30 minutes).
For the next step, a user with permissions to install applications on devices for Industrial Edge Management is required.
Navigate to your Siemens Industrial Edge Management instance. Once the import process into your Industrial Edge Management instance is complete, you can find the OPC Router (2) under the Catalog (1) and select it to install it on a device connected to the instance.
Click Install (1) to install the OPC Router on a device.
The OPC Router application for Siemens Industrial Edge has no alternative configurations; click Next (1).
Now select the device(s) on which you want to install the OPC Router (1). Then click Install Now (2) or one of the other installation options.
If the device meets the necessary requirements, you can now begin the installation by clicking Install (1).
The job list displays the current status of the installation process. Once the installation is complete, a notification will also appear.
If the OPC Router is uninstalled from a device, all data stored in volumes on that device, as well as the project configuration and licensing information, will be lost. However, when updating the OPC Router version, the data remains intact.
Now establish a connection to the web interface of the device on which you installed the OPC Router. Under Apps (1), you should now see OPC Router (2); clicking on it will open the OPC Router management interface. From here, you can operate the OPC Router as usual and, for example, license .
Connection of the Industrial Edge Data Bus
The Industrial Edge Data Bus is the standard application developed by Siemens for data exchange between different applications within the Industrial Edge ecosystem. The Industrial Edge Data Bus can be easily connected to the OPC Router as a MQTT plug-in instance, enabling bidirectional data exchange.
The following section assumes that an Industrial Edge Data Bus is installed on the same device and that the Industrial Edge Data Bus Configurator is installed in the same management environment as the OPC Router.
Initially Configuring the Industrial Edge Databus
You can skip this chapter if the data bus already has a topic and associated users with publish and subscribe permissions to which the OPC Router can be connected.
Under the Data Connections (1) menu item, select the data bus (2).
Select the device (1) on which the OPC Router is located, and click Launch (2) to start the Industrial Edge Databus configurator.
Create a new user by clicking the plus icon (1).
Enter the Topic name (1), Username (2), and Password (3). For demonstration purposes, opcrouter is used as both the topic and username in the following examples. Select Publish and Subscribe (4) for the permission. Confirm your entries by clicking Save (5).
Now apply your configuration by clicking Deploy (1).
Confirm the device to which the configuration should be applied by clicking Deploy (1) and wait until the process is complete.
Make the connection between the OPC Router and the data bus
In the device’s OPC Router Management, under the Plug-ins menu item (1), select the MQTT plug-in (2) and create a new instance of this plug-in (3).
Give the instance a name of your choice (1) and make sure that MQTT Standard (2) is selected as the cloud profile. Then navigate to the Connection Options (3) tab.
Enter ie-databus (1) as the broker connection and disable SSL (2). This should automatically set the correct port to **1883 (3)—make sure this is the case. Click Create New Client ID (4) to create a new client ID, and enter the username (5) and password (6). If the connection test (7) is successful, confirm your entries by clicking OK (8); otherwise, check your entries for any discrepancies with the settings selected above.
You can now use the MQTT transfer object to send data to topics for which the user has permissions and use the MQTT trigger to receive data from topics.