Glossary Updates12 new terms added to the glossaries · October 2, 2026, 22:44 CEST
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Glossary · Industrial communication

OPC UA FX

Also known as: OPC UA Field eXchange, UAFX, OPC UA Field Exchange

German: OPC UA FX

In industrial communication, OPC UA FX (Field eXchange, UAFX) is the family of OPC Foundation specifications from the Field Level Communications initiative that extends OPC UA to vendor-independent communication between controllers and, in later parts, with field devices, based on OPC UA PubSub, client-server and optionally Time-Sensitive Networking.

  • Industrial communication
  • Standards

In one sentence

OPC UA FX extends OPC UA to vendor-neutral controller-to-controller and field-level exchange; its parts are released and extended step by step.

Example

The line controller of a packaging line and the palletizer's controller from another vendor exchange handshake signals for pallet changes over OPC UA FX connections instead of a hardwired interface.

How it applies

  • Scope (as of September 2026): The first released UAFX parts focus on controller-to-controller exchange: automation components with functional entities, connections between them, and the information model and profiles for it. Controller-to-device and device-to-device communication and use cases such as motion, safety and instruments are still being specified and extended by the OPC Foundation. Check the current release status and product support before planning with a part.
  • Engineering: UAFX describes what a component offers as functional entities in its OPC UA address space and establishes connections that exchange data cyclically over OPC UA PubSub. Deterministic timing needs a network that provides it, for example Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN).
  • Integration: OPC UA FX does not replace the fieldbus of a machine today. In most plants it complements PROFINET, EtherCAT or EtherNet/IP between machines from different vendors.
  • Documentation: The documentation team documents which UAFX parts, profiles and versions a product supports, the functional entities and their data, the connection parameters and what is not supported yet.

OPC UA FX vs. fieldbus

A fieldbus such as PROFINET defines one vendor organization's network and device model. OPC UA FX aims at the same data exchange across vendors with the OPC UA information model on top, but its field-level parts are younger and less widely implemented.

By knowledge.aitechdoc.world · Published September 28, 2026 · Last reviewed

Source: OPC Foundation, OPC 10000-80 ff., OPC Unified Architecture — UAFX (Part 80: Overview and Concepts, Part 81: Connecting Devices and Information Model, and following parts); Field Level Communications initiative publications

Definitions follow the cited standards and specifications. Where a source is a copyrighted publication, such as an ISO, IEC or EN standard, the definition is a close paraphrase, not a verbatim quotation, so as not to infringe copyright. We recommend reading the original publication. The sections “How it applies” are editorial commentary by AI TechDoc Knowledge and are not part of any standard.

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