The Easylon OPC Server M gives any OPC clients access to LonWorks networks. It is characterized by its intuitional and practical handling. The software is best solution for LON networks at which a LNS server is not permanently present. Up to eight instances of the OPC server can be installed in parallel on one PC. This allows simultaneous access to several Lonworks networks.
The Easylon OPC Server M learns about the network structure and all relevant node information by scan and upload. This information is stored in a MS Access data base. Alternatively a LNS PlugIn can be used to export this database from a network management tool.
In a tree view of the network topology all nodes are listed with network variables (NV) and configuration properties. The monitoring modus dynamically displays the values of these variables. Furthermore, values can be written into the nodes from this view. A very helpful feature while commissioning a network.
The OPC browser displays available values in the same hierarchy as the OPC server itself, thus realizing a universal naming structure of the values. The OPC server itself reports its usage by clients, stating the connected clients and the respective groups and items. A further diagnosis feature is the extensive log file, which can be parameterized.
Usually the OPC server gets current values by explicit requests. Furthermore it is possible to define bindings. The xif editor allows to set NVs for the OPC server itself. Thus the OPC server will become a LonWorks node to which values from the network can be bound. This is especially recommended for failure and alarm messages. Using output variables in the OPC server commands can be issued by group binding to several nodes at the same time. This reduces programming for the visualization.
