GraphQL Interface for OPC UA

Abstract

Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems consist of multi-ple machines working together and demand efficient and flexiblecommunication methods to function as intended. The protocolsused in industrial operations and web applications are oftencontradictory in regards to the latency and security characteris-tics. Due to these differences, the intersection of operation andinformation technologies is a challenging area. But the rewards insmoother information flow are also high, providing a fruitful areafor development. This paper introduces a general wrapper appli-cation to enable the use of the industrial OPC UA server throughan interface implemented with web technology GraphQL. Theresults demonstrate sufficient performance for the middleware tobe used in an overhead crane control application, bringing theagility of web development to industrial environments.