Details of awards received by the Signpost are here.
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The Read-Out Instrumentation Signpost
Measurement, Control and Automation Resources throughout the World
Last changes to this page: 31/12/07
 Catching the Bus!
Towards a standard in Digital Communications
Fieldbus links on this site.
Developments
- FDT Group and EDDL Cooperation Team - agreement The EDDL
Cooperation Team (ECT) and the FDT Group have just announced (17/4/2007) that they have
reached agreement to combine efforts and work toward a unified solution
for device integration that is compatible with both technologies. This
would satisfy one of the most frequent customer requests. The
representatives of the FDT Group and ECT have seized this historic
opportunity for cooperation and will develop a common technology to
benefit both users and manufacturers.
As part of this agreement, the FDT Group will join the ECT as its newest
member. FDT and ECT representatives agree to work together to finalize
this solution and achieve a common framework that meets the requirements
of all parties. Future developments will use a subset of the OPC UA
technology1 within a client-server architecture. In addition, both
parties have agreed to incorporate the advantages of FDT and EDDL
technologies.
First founded at the Hanover Fair in April 2004, the EDDL Cooperation Team includes the HART and Fieldbus foundations, plus the OPC Foundation and Profibus user organization.
- New website on EDDL launched ISA's Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) standards
committee, ISA-SP104, has launched a new website, www.eddl.org, that
gives information about the standard and offers resources for learning
more about EDDL technology.
- WirelessHART™ Specification Released for Approval
The HART Communication Foundation (HCF) announces the completion of draft specifications for WirelessHART™ Communication and their release to HCF member companies for review and approval. WirelessHART is the first open and interoperable wireless communication standard designed to address the critical needs of the process industry for reliable, robust and secure wireless communication in real world industrial plant applications.
"The combination of HART plus wireless is a major step for the industry. WirelessHART provides new capabilities for users to get information on process parameters and to monitor the performance of plant assets in areas that have previously been technically or cost-effectively difficult to achieve," says Ron Helson, HCF Executive Director. "WirelessHART ushers in the next major technology life cycle and makes possible the next generation of HART-enabled productivity solutions."
- CAN introduces intrinsically safe bus
CAN in Automation (CiA) has released the CiA 103 draft standard proposal, that specifies an intrinsically safe physical layer for CANopen networks. Based on 3,3-V transceiver chips compliant to ISO 11898-2 (so-called ³CAN high-speed² physical layer), this solution is suitable for explosive environments. The specification has been developed by members of the nonprofit CiA organization (e.g. ABB, Pepperl + Fuchs, Siemens, and Texas Instruments).
The physical layer specification recommends AWG 24 cables with 26,5 Ohm typical DC loss resistance and with PVC jacket. As connector the specification recommends the 5-pin M8 ("Pico" style) connector with a standardized pin assignment. The default transmission rate is 125 kbit/s (other bit-rates are optional); the bit-timing of the intrinsically safe physical layer should follow the recommendations in the CiA 301 CANopen application layer and communication profile specification.
- New ProfiBus installation guidelines for cabling and assembly and for commissioning - PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International) has published an Installation Guide in three parts to support engineers working on the design, installation and commissioning of PROFIBUS systems. The first part, "PROFIBUS Installation Guideline for Cabling and Assembly" has been revised and is now available in its second edition. The second edition is supplemented by an interactive software package (Web Based Training) which will run on any PC and tells you everything you need to know about assembly in an easy-to-understand format. The Web Based Training is available as a CD version inside the hard copy of "PROFIBUS Installation Guideline for Cabling and Assembly" or can be downloaded for free from the PROFIBUS Group Download Page
- Fieldbus Solutions in the Process Industries to Grow More than 22% Annually (ARC study) -
As the lifecycle benefits of fieldbus solutions become more apparent, fieldbus is becoming more accepted in a wider range of industries and by greater numbers of end users. The worldwide market for Fieldbus Solutions in the Process Industries is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.3% over the next five years. The market was greater than $831 million in 2006 and is forecasted to be over $2,279 million in 2011, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.
- TCI Specification Completed - PI (ProfiBus & ProfiNET International) has completed the TCI (Tool Calling Interface) specification after less than a year of development work. TCI is manufacturer-independent and allows dynamic parameters to be loaded to PROFIBUS and PROFINET devices without having to exit the automation-system engineering tool. This makes it much quicker and easier for users to configure their systems and machines.
Intelligent field devices, which preprocess system data or take over defined partial functionalities (e.g. laser scanners), usually require system-specific parameters in order to work in the best possible way in a particular environment. Previously, it was not possible to create and load these dynamic parameters directly with the automation-system engineering tool, meaning that engineers have to use an additional, manufacturer-specific device engineering tool for each device type.
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