Software architecture

You do not need to know the internal software architecture of this product to use it, but it may be of interest in some cases. This is why we will briefly introduce you to them below.

The TwinCAT OPC UA Server essentially consists of the following components:

• The process in the operating system
• The application in the Windows System Tray
• The PLC library Tc2_OpcUa

The interaction of the individual components is described in more detail in the following diagram:

Process in the operating system

The process in the operating system (TcOpcUaServer.exe) takes care of the OPC UA protocol functions (i.e. communication with the OPC UA clients), the provision of the OPC UA address space and communication with the lower-level devices. Furthermore, the process provides an ADS server interface so that the PLC library Tc2_OpcUa and the Windows System Tray application can interact with the server application.

Windows System Tray application

This application enables the triggering of a restart of the TwinCAT OPC UA Server. The corresponding function can be called up via the icon in the Windows System Tray.

PLC library

The PLC library Tc2_OpcUa enables interaction with the TwinCAT OPC UA Server both for retrieving status information and for triggering a restart.