Fieldbus Foundation Updates HSE Interoperability Test Kit
The Fieldbus Foundation has made updates to its High-Speed Ethernet Interoperability Test Kit (HSE ITK), including the addition of transducer block test profiles for both wired and WirelessHART devices. The transducer blocks bring information from both wired and WirelessHART devices into the FOUNDATION fieldbus infrastructure, and are a key element of FOUNDATION for Remote Operations Management (ROM) technology.
Updated to Version 6.1, the HSE ITK is used for interoperability testing of HSE capable field devices. The kit will verify the functionality of a device and its conformity to the FOUNDATION fieldbus function block specifications, before it is submitted to the Fieldbus Foundation for official registration and testing.
The Fieldbus Foundation says the HSE ITK Version 6.1 is especially beneficial for automation equipment manufacturers looking to develop FOUNDATION for ROM devices due to its added support for recently released wired and WirelessHART device specifications. Other test kit updates include: Pressure Transducer Block 2, Temperature Transducer Block 2, Flow Transducer Block, and Flow Totalizer Transducer Block.
The Fieldbus Foundation”s FOUNDATION for ROM solution offers a unified digital infrastructure for asset management in a range of remote applications, ranging from oil and gas pipelines to tank farms and offshore platforms, and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) skid-mounted equipment. The technology enables fieldbus connectivity to remote I/O and the leading industrial wireless protocols, including WirelessHART and ISA100.11a. It provides an interface to these wireless technologies and uses Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) and function blocks to ensure interoperability with FOUNDATION for ROM devices. The remote I/O portion of the specification was released in April 2011 and allows for connectivity of large point-count remote I/O to FOUNDATION fieldbus.
The Fieldbus Foundations says FOUNDATION for ROM is the first example of the capability of integrating ISA 100.11a, WirelessHART, wired HART, and wired H1 protocols into a single standard environment, without sacrificing the diagnostic capabilities of the existing wireless devices. Those capabilities are mapped into the block structure to provide a standard environment for data management, quality, and more, eliminating today”s solutions, which are highly customized and much more costly to maintain throughout the plant lifecycle. With FOUNDATION for ROM, the Fieldbus Foundation says industrial operations can implement a true predictive and proactive maintenance strategy for remote assets that could not previously support one. Data from devices on multiple networks, both wired and wireless, are tightly integrated into the FOUNDATION fieldbus infrastructure, providing a single environment for management of diagnostic data, alarms and alerts, data quality, control in the field capability, and object-oriented block structure.
FOUNDATION fieldbus provides an all-digital communication infrastructure for process automation, with multivariable measurement capabilities, device diagnostics, and the ability to integrate wireless devices across multiple networks. The Fieldbus Foundation says the block structure of FOUNDATION fieldbus provides true distributed functionality for implementing control in the field, improved data management, and alarm and alert management.
Within the FOUNDATION automation architecture, the H1 (31.25 kbit/s) and HSE (100 Mbit/s) fieldbus networks provide a distributed function block capability with HSE serving as a larger pipeline with increased speed and throughput. The FOUNDATION for ROM solution expands these capabilities by establishing open, non-proprietary specifications for an interface to wireless field device networks, a wired HSE backhaul, and a wireless HSE backhaul integrating various wireless sensor networks such as WiFi, satellite, cellular, etc. As part of this solution, FOUNDATION for ROM provides a way to bring large concentrations of discrete and analog field I/O back to the control room using HSE communication. The Fieldbus Foundation says this is key to improved integration of critical functional areas, including machinery health monitoring, safety interlocks, fire & gas detection systems, and video surveillance.
For more information on the HSE ITK, please visit the Tools page of www.fieldbus.org.