In this example, sampled data from one system is used to control the behavior of another, and the OPC server works as the communication link between these two systems.

This example requiers an OPC UA example server running on localhost. Read about how to start the example server here.

The first system consists of a simple tank (tank1) with an outlet. The tank is fed with a medium in a pulse-wise manner determined by component pulse. The height of the medium in the tank is sampled every 0.2 seconds and written to an OPC UA Server (opcServer). The sampled data represents a height profile that should be mimicked in tank2 in the second system. To achieve this behavior, the height data read from opcServer is used as a reference signal to the PID component that controls the behavior of the second tank.

Plot of the height of tank1 and the sampled signal written to the OPC server.

Plot of the height of tank2 and the reference signal fed to the PID controller.