The technology trend of the integration of IT and OT is bringing unprecedented changes to the automation world. As an industry leader in continuous innovation, Weidmuller's u-OS automation operating system enables users to achieve the independence and flexibility of their automation systems, helping them increase productivity and continuously meet the challenges of the future.
The technology trend of the integration of IT and OT is bringing unprecedented changes to the automation world. As an industry leader in continuous innovation, Weidmuller's u-OS automation operating system enables users to achieve the independence and flexibility of their automation systems, helping them increase productivity and continuously meet the challenges of the future.
Weidmuller's pioneering u-OS automation operating system is based on open established standards such as Linux, container technology, and OPC UA, and supports application integration. As a result, u-OS is easily scalable and enables automation engineers to assemble custom, web-based systems through user-friendly engineering.
u-OS connects industrial iot and automation, partners and their users, the data cloud, and the industrial ecosystem
Enable communication between OT and IT on one device
With a deep insight into customer needs, Andreas Hoffmann, Vice President of the Interface Automation Business Unit at Weidmuller, points out: "The closer the IT and OT worlds become, the more users want to break their dependence on proprietary automation systems. With u-OS, Weidmuller can provide users with an open, flexible and independent software platform for industrial iot and automation."
u-OS can combine the stability of automation solutions with the potential of the Industrial Internet of Things, providing automation engineers and IT programmers with an open, flexible solution that facilitates digital networking between various systems with just one device.
Previously, although methods for integrated automation platforms already existed, users still had to adapt to vendor specifications, which made it difficult to integrate solutions from third-party vendors. To address this challenge, u-OS is based on open established standards such as Linux, container technology, and OPC UA, and supports integration of Weidmuller applications, proprietary applications, or third-party vendor applications. This allows users to choose an automation platform or application provided by a third-party vendor, which gives them greater independence and prepares them for future changes.
As an open standard, Linux provides the prerequisites for u-OS. It combines essential features used in an automated environment, including excellent real-time capabilities, a large community of service providers and developers, and the ability to easily optimize and tune open source code when needed.
Containers: Rapid deployment of software solutions
Container technology is an open standard that allows users to bundle an application and all its dependencies in a single package, allowing complex software releases to be done automatically and quickly. This technology eliminates many sources of error during installation and updating, reducing the time required and saving money. The application manager used by u-OS allows the system to be easily configured and adapted to the specific needs of the customer without programming knowledge.
At the same time, OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) is an open industrial communications protocol that enables platform-independent, reliable and secure information exchange between devices from different manufacturers.
Using these open standards, u-OS enables third-party runtime systems to run on software platforms, CODESYS® being a prime example. CODESYS® is one of the largest manufacturer-independent ecosystems in industrial automation, a hardware-independent programming system for controlling application creation, project planning, documentation, visualization and configuration. In addition, the integrated runtime environment u-create web enables simple engineering without programming knowledge.
Customize the infinite future with an app
Applications from Weidmuller, third-party vendors, or users themselves can be used to flexibly add new features and open up the entire world of industrial automation and iot. The u-OS operating system enables the various industrial worlds to converge in this way in the future without introducing any complications. For example, as a high-performance visualization software, PROCON-WEB can simply be installed as an application on an open control system.
u-OS connects industrial iot and automation, partners and their users, cloud and data, and industrial ecosystems, benefiting users who rely on open source automation rather than proprietary systems in many ways. With open digital networks, users can achieve significant gains in productivity, flexibility and efficiency, which in turn improves operating costs and, ultimately, competitiveness.
Looking to the future, Andreas Hoffmann said: "The new u-OS will be the basis for all future iot and automation components from Weidmuller. This software will be installed on every device for easy access to the IT and OT world. The expanded capabilities brought by u-OS will allow our users and their customers to assemble a custom, web-based system to create a future automated world where 'anything is possible.'"
