September 28, 2008 — The WirelessHART Communication Specification (HART 7.1) was approved by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as a Publicly Available Specification (IEC/PAS 62591Ed. 1) on 19 September 2008. The National Committees of 29 separate countries participated in the approval ballot. WirelessHART Communication is the first industrial wireless communication technology to achieve this level of international recognition.
“This recognition is a landmark for the process automation industry. WirelessHART Communication fulfills the long-demanded goal of global users for a single wireless communication standard that the major automation suppliers support and that has international status,” says HART Communication Foundation (HCF) Executive Director Ron Helson. “This positive endorsement by the IEC international standards body assures that, just as they have with the 26 million HART devices installed worldwide, users can purchase and implement WirelessHART-based products with equal confidence.”
Released by the HCF in September 2007, WirelessHART Communication 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.
“WirelessHART Communication is easy to use, easy to deploy, and fully backward compatible with existing instrumentation and host systems, preserving the investment in HART-enabled devices, tools, training, applications and work procedures in worldwide use today,” says Helson.
The WirelessHART Communication standard builds on established and field-proven international standards including the HART Protocol (IEC 61158), EDDL (IEC 61804-3), IEEE 802.15.4™ radio and frequency hopping, spread spectrum and mesh networking technologies.
The IEC is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. The IEC standards provide industry and users with the framework for economies of design, greater product and service quality, more inter-operability, and better production and delivery efficiency. IEC standards facilitate world trade by removing technical barriers to trade, leading to new markets and economic growth.
The HART Communication Foundation is an international, not-for-profit, membership organization supported by more than 200 companies worldwide. Founded in 1993, the Foundation is the technology owner, standards setting body and central authority on the HART Protocol and provides global support for application of the HART technology. The Foundation establishes and controls the HART Communication standards including new developments and technology enhancements that benefit and support the needs of the industry. HART is the leading communication technology for intelligent process measurement and control field devices and systems with more than 26 million devices installed worldwide.
