AiVibeOPC UA Companion Specification
An OPC UA companion specification is a standardised information model, developed by the OPC Foundation with an industry group, that defines how a particular type of device or domain, such as machine tools or robots, is represented in OPC UA.
Base OPC UA defines how to model information, but not what a specific machine should expose. A companion specification fills that gap by defining object types, variables, methods, events and their meanings for a domain, published as a NodeSet file that servers and clients can load. A compliant server then presents the same structure for, say, a machine tool or a robot regardless of manufacturer, so client software can be written once for all compliant devices.
Many companion specifications have been developed jointly with industry associations, including those for machine tools, robotics, plastics and rubber machinery, packaging (PackML), IEC 61131-3 controllers with PLCopen, IO-Link, MTConnect and the Asset Administration Shell. OPC UA for Machinery provides common building blocks, such as machine identification, that other machinery specifications reuse.
Companion specifications increase interoperability only if devices implement them fully and consistently, so buyers should name the required specification, version and optional parts in procurement documents. Mapping existing controller data onto a companion model takes engineering effort, and some vendors expose proprietary models alongside or instead of standard ones. The OPC Foundation's online reference and published NodeSet files help engineers check the models.
Key points
- Standardised OPC UA information model for a device type or domain
- Published as NodeSet files that servers and clients can load
- Examples cover machine tools, robotics, IO-Link, PackML and the AAS
- OPC UA for Machinery provides shared building blocks such as identification
- Procurement should name the required specification and version
Where AiVibe comes in
AiAmbA IoT is AiVibe's edge protocol layer: it discovers devices and normalises industrial signals, with supported protocols including Siemens S7, Mitsubishi MC, Delta Modbus, OPC UA and MQTT, and driver availability confirmed per installation. Writes to machines are deny-by-default.