OPC-UA Interface Guide (Meteor Inkjet)

Meteor Pane Plugin v5.3.0.8278, Copyright (c) 2024 Global Graphics Software. All rights reserved.

Overview

The Meteor Pane Plugin allows a user to obtain up-to-date information about the state of any attached Meteor hardware.

When the Open Platform Communications (OPC) server in Meteor Pane Plugin is enabled an OPC node tree is published. The nodes in this tree represent grouped areas of state and functionality.

For example, a Server section allows:

• the RIP Server name, location, and version.
• the associated Meteor status data.
• Product Detect signals to be sent.
• ...and more.

Default address: opc.tcp://localhost:26642/spc-meteor

Meteor Router

For the OPC information to be up-to-date the plugin must communicate with a MeteorRouter process running on each Windows RIP Server machine.

If using Meteor on CentOS-based RIP Servers you must ensure the Meteor_Output_Plugin.json config templates set SPDHost to true.

Certificates

Communication between OPC UA clients and servers require both parties to possess their own application certificate. To enable further communication each party must trust the opposing certificate. This trust can be established automatically, programmatically or manually depending on the application's configuration or implementation. The certificate can be found in %programdata%\Global Graphics Software Ltd\Meteor Pane Plugin\App Certificates\certs should you need to copy it to the Trusted Peer Certificate folder.

OPC Nodes

The OPC node mechanism will report when any state changes (at all server/controller/head levels), allowing clients to react accordingly. The period at which these state changes are detected is governed by the Servers.RefreshPeriod value (Default: 0.5s), which can be modified at runtime.

Turning on Servers.EnableDebugLogging will allow closer monitoring of when state is refreshed and what values are being reported.

NOTE Updates from SPC will be paused when it has been instructed to release the printer interface. In this state, SPC cannot interact with the Meteor API, and no status updates will be provided until the interface has been reacquired. Clients relying on updates should ensure proper acquire/release handling.

NOTE The Servers.IsApplyInProgress property indicates whether SPC is currently in the process of applying a new device configuration. During this phase connections to the Meteor server(s) is unreliable, and clients should not attempt to interact with the Meteor system until this property is false.

Server/Controller/Head Tree

The Server/Controller/Head tree is the structured node hierarchy representing different levels of the Meteor system state.

Controller Node Naming vs. Controller Numbers

Each ControllerN node (for example Controller1, Controller2) uses a numeric suffix for node uniqueness only. It does not represent the real Meteor controller ID. To identify a controller, use the ControllerNumber property inside the node.

Dynamic Changes and Node Behavior

• The ControllerCount and HeadCount properties allow clients to monitor the structure of the active Meteor system.
• These values update dynamically as controllers or heads become available, allowing OPC clients to subscribe to the corresponding nodes.

Node Dormancy and Subscription Stability

Even when the controller or head count falls:

• Nodes beyond the current count are not removed but become dormant.
• Dormant nodes stop reporting changes until they become active again.

This means OPC clients do not need to unsubscribe and resubscribe when the hardware shape changes.

Connecting to Controller Boards

Each Controller-level node represents a single Meteor controller board and contains controller state plus a Heads subtree.

The IsConnected property indicates whether the controller board is currently powered and connected to the Meteor system. It can take a short time to become true after initialization, so callers should check it periodically before relying on the controller. If one or more controllers fail to connect, clients can call Servers.AbortBoot to stop the boot cycle rather than waiting indefinitely.

The ControllerCount property reports how many controllers are defined in the active Meteor system.

The ConnectedControllerCount property reports how many of those controllers are currently connected.

OPC Methods

Any methods listed in this documentation will include details about their required parameters (if any), and return value.

In the event of an error please see the application log file for more information.

OPC Client Library

The following documentation provides guidance on using the Traeger Industry Components GmbH OPC client library for software developers working with Meteor Pane Plugin.

Configuring Custom Message Sizes

The default maximum message sizes used by OPC clients to communicate to the server are sufficient for most use cases. However, to ensure transfer of larger data packets it may be necessary to configure the OPC client with custom values.

For example:

	Client = new OpcClient();
	Client.Transport.MaxArrayLength = 1024 * 1024 * 50;
	Client.Transport.MaxBufferSize = 1024 * 1024 * 50;
	Client.Transport.MaxMessageSize = 1024 * 1024 * 50;
	Client.Transport.MaxStringLength = 1024 * 1024 * 50;

See here for more information.

Adjusting Communication Timeouts

OPC clients regularly verify the responsiveness of the connection to the OPC server. However, in certain circumstances where the system is under heavy load, maintaining a responsive connection might not always be possible. To mitigate potential issues under such conditions, it is recommended to increase the default communication timeouts.

The example below demonstrates how to adjust the default values:

	var defaultTimeOut = (int)TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10).TotalMilliseconds;
	Client = new OpcClient
	{
	    // Don't auto-disconnect - Dispose the client to explicitly disconnect.
	    DisconnectTimeout = int.MaxValue,
	    KeepAlive = { Interval = defaultTimeOut },
	    SessionTimeout = defaultTimeOut,
	    OperationTimeout = defaultTimeOut,
	    ReconnectTimeout = defaultTimeOut
	};

Please note that the provided examples serve as illustrations, and it's important to tailor the configuration to your specific requirements.

MeteorMonitorSet

The top-level set containing all available OPC nodes.

Immediately underneath this root-level node are a categorized collection of sub-nodes, each encapsulating a different area of behavior.

Plugin

State relating to the Meteor plugin.

Properties

Servers

State relating to the collection of registered RIP Servers.

Details

The OpcServers class provides state and methods for managing SPC's interaction with the Meteor API through OPC interfaces.
This includes acquiring and releasing printer interfaces, which are critical for ensuring proper system monitoring and operation.

NOTE The Meteor Monitor plugin will automatically acquire the Meteor printer interface when it is first launched.

ReleasePrinterInterface()
Use this method to relinquish SPC's control over the Meteor printer interface, allowing an OPC client to make its own calls to the Meteor API directly.
NOTE Must be paired with a call to AcquirePrinterInterface() so SPC can regain control of the Meteor API.

NOTE When SPC has been instructed to release the printer interface, it will no longer interact with the Meteor API (e.g., updating status fields, controlling head power) until the interface is reacquired with a call to AcquirePrinterInterface().

AcquirePrinterInterface()
Use this method after a call to ReleasePrinterInterface().
This enables SPC to take back control of the Meteor printer interface, enabling it to monitor and manage the system, update status fields or controlling head power, etc.

Properties

Methods

Server1

State relating to a single RIP Server. (The numeric suffix will change as appropriate.)

Properties

Methods

Controllers

State relating to the collection of head controllers.

Properties

Controller1

State relating to a single head controller. (The numeric suffix will change as appropriate.)

Properties

Heads

State relating to the collection of print heads managed by the parent controller.

Properties

Head1

State relating to a single print head. (The numeric suffix will change as appropriate.)

Properties

Status

State relating to the Meteor status data of a single RIP Server.

Properties