I’m trying to connect a machine with a B&R PLC to a SCADA system, I don’t have access to the PLC program, the SCADA has support for OPC UA, currently I’m accessing the variables with PVI Runtime and creating an OPC UA Server to communicate with the SCADA using python pvipy and it is working fine but I want to know if there is an official way to do it, taking the PVI values and creating a OPC UA server, it could be using a APC or another PLC I’m open to different solutions for example I can access the PVI values using Runtime Utility Center but does it have a OPC UA server option or the INAclnt library can I use it without having access to the PLC Program on the machine’s PLC and just use a new PLC to get access to the PVI values .
This is just my opinion, but it sounds like that solution is a good one for you if it works. If you had access to the PLC program, I’d suggest interfacing directly with the SCADA system from the PLC software, or using the PLC’s OPC UA server without the pvipy “middleman”. However, given that you can’t do that, PVI ←> OPCUA ←> SCADA is a solution I’ve seen used before with success.
If you’re looking for a dedicated device to handle this communication, one option could be the X20 Edge
If your PLC and project do not have OPC UA enabled by default and you do not have a project to configure it, I would not change your running solution, tbh. Otherwise X20EDge is good alternative, as Marcus mentioned.
Since you mentioned that you are looking for an “official” answer, it sounds like you may already be aware that PVI can become locked in certain time. There is (or at least there used to be) a way to use PVI on a standard PC without triggering the lock, by using a PVI dongle.
If you look into the PVI Service help files, you will see that various DLLs and APIs are available. In the past, we used those to switch to other communication methods or to build custom drivers for SCADA systems. As far as I know, when using a PVI dongle or a B&R APC (PPC), you can work with PVI without running into the locking issue.
