title: Using OPC technology to support the study of advanced process control.
abstract: OPC, originally the Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) for Process Control, brings a broad communication opportunity between different kinds of control systems. This paper investigates the use of OPC technology for the study of distributed control systems (DCS) as a cost effective and flexible research tool for the development and testing of advanced process control (APC) techniques in university research centers. Co-Simulation environment based on Matlab, LabVIEW and TCP/IP network is presented here. Several implementation issues and OPC based client/server control application have been addressed for TCP/IP network. A nonlinear boiler model is simulated as OPC server and OPC client is used for closed loop model identification, and to design a Model Predictive Controller. The MPC is able to control the NOx emissions in addition to drum water level and steam pressure.
authors.affiliation: Systems Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, P. O. Box 5067, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: msmahmoud@kfupm.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Magdi S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Mahmoud
authors.affiliation: Systems Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, P. O. Box 5067, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: msabih@kfupm.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabih
authors.affiliation: Systems Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, P. O. Box 5067, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: elshafei@kfupm.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Moustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elshafei
keywords: Distributed control systems; LabVIEW; MATLAB; OPC (OLE for Process Control/Open Process Control); OPC client; OPC server