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As part of its ongoing efforts to drive standardization and interoperability in industrial automation, the industrial control programming association PLCopen announced the start of a new workgroup that intends to explore incorporation of the function blocks developed for the O-PAS standard into a new PLCopen specification for process control.
What is O-PAS?
The O-PAS (Open Process Automation Standard) is an open, interoperable, and vendor-neutral standard developed by the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) to enable flexible and modular process automation systems. It is designed to replace traditional, proprietary Distributed Control Systems (DCS) with a standards-based plug-and-play architecture, allowing components from different vendors to work seamlessly together. O-PAS is based on existing industry standards, such as (among others) IEC 61131 and IEC 61499.
O-PAS Part 6.4 defines a set of standard function blocks to ensure interoperability, consistency, and comparability across different process automation systems. These function blocks provide a reference model with standardized inputs, outputs, and behaviors. By establishing a uniform function block framework, Part 6.4 supports modular automation, making it easier to adopt open, vendor-independent control solutions.
A kick-off meeting is planned for January 20–21, 2026, in Wernigerode, Germany. Information is available at www.plcopen.org.
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