OPC UA
OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) is a machine-to-machine communication protocol for industrial automation, designed to provide secure, reliable, and platform-independent data exchange between devices and systems. It enables interoperability across different manufacturers and supports complex data modeling, including real-time and historical data, alarms, and events. It is widely used in Industry 4.0, IoT, and smart manufacturing applications.
Developers should learn OPC UA when working on industrial automation, IoT, or smart manufacturing projects that require standardized communication between heterogeneous systems, such as PLCs, SCADA, MES, and cloud platforms. It is essential for ensuring data integrity, security, and scalability in environments with diverse equipment from multiple vendors, and it supports use cases like predictive maintenance, remote monitoring, and data analytics.