Servidor OPC UA desacoplado: Hacia la interoperabilidad semántica en Industria 4.0

Abstract

This paper proposes an advanced communication architecture designed to overcome the technological dependency (vendor lock-in) associated with embedded OPC UA servers in proprietary hardware. The development of an external OPC UA server implemented in C# is presented, completely decoupled from Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Furthermore, this proposal enables standard connectivity for legacy controllers that lack native support. The proposed solution leverages the OPC UA information model to ensure the semantic interoperability of industrial data. The communication workflow is structured into two critical interfaces: a upstream layer for direct integration with client applications and enterprise management systems (ERP/MES), and a downstream layer oriented toward field data acquisition. The architecture's validity is experimentally demonstrated through its integration with a standard client and a Unity-based Digital Twin, optimized for real-time monitoring and predictive fault diagnosis in Industry 4.0 environments.