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Fieldbus Networks Portal

Articles

		Wireless makes inroads across the process automation sector - 05/20/12 Industrial Ethernet Book, May 2012 By David Walker, Emerson Wireless technology is commonplace and WirelessHART, using the IEEE 802.15.4 radio operating at 2.4GHz, is providing tangible benefits in the process industries. The network range has been extended and redundant communication routes provide the crucial 99.9% reliability.

		A four-pair Profinet cabling solution for extended plant - 05/20/12 Industrial Ethernet Book, May 2012 By Bernd Horrmeyer, Phoenix Contact Four-pair Profinet cabling can provide the basis for the latest industrial Ethernet solutions. Using this system, high-performance devices, plus a strong, simple installation technology for industrial environments, can be used with confidence in complete automation systems.

		Device-Level Wireless Solutions Gain Traction in Process Manufacturing - 05/13/12 Automation World, May 2012 By Chantal Polsonetti, ARC Increased availability of products and solutions that support industrial wireless standards is spurring widespread interest in the process industries due to the tangible business benefits that can be achieved using wireless instrumentation.

		Selling Diagnostics to Management, Part 2 - 05/12/12 Control, May 2012 By John Rezabek Managing device data is a full-time job. If no one does it, the work practices revert to firefighting, and device alerts become spam.

		Driving forward with fieldbus - 05/12/12 Control Engineering Europe, May 2012 By Steve Malpass, ABB The trend towards the provision of enhanced fieldbus capabilities is allowing more useful data to be collected from drives to provide energy management information as well as offering a greater insight into process performance.


		Benefits of Device-Level Networked Safety - 04/25/12 Automation World, April 2012 By Renee Robbins Bassett AS-Interface, a device-level networking technology, works with all types of industrial Ethernet, including Profinet and EtherNet/IP. End users and machine builders can benefit from networked safety technology.

		PoE Plus technology finds new applications - 04/21/12 Industrial Ethernet Book, April 2012 By Alvis Chen This article identifies the key additional advantages offered by PoE Plus, and explores the significant potential of the technology in scenarios that could not previously take full advantage of PoE because of the lack of power provided.

		Diagnosing faulty fieldbuses - 04/21/12 Industrial Ethernet Book, April 2012 By Nora Crocoll and Dietrich Homburg, Redaktionsbüro Stutensee Ever increasing automation brings large economic advantages, but things are not all roses - it leads to a growing power density and, therefore, the risk of interference, which can cause a range of industrial networking problems to occur.

		Single loop integrity: replacing devices while operational - 04/07/12 What’s New in Process Technology, April 2012 By Phoenix Contact Scalable fieldbus couplers can now be simply hot-swapped. As a consequence, the single loop integrity proven for parallel wiring is now also possible for fieldbus systems.

		Redundancy in industrial networks - Part 1 - 04/07/12 What’s New in Process Technology, April 2012 By Glenn Johnson Differing redundancy protocols and designs will provide different levels of protection and performance. So it is necessary to understand the differences to determine what is sufficient for the particular application.

		How to select the right connector - 04/07/12 Process & Control Engineering, March 2012 By Bernd Horrmeyer, Phoenix Contact Whether classic fieldbus, Industrial Ethernet or the new High-Speed Ethernet, plug connectors must always be used depending on the particular application area, transmission medium and environmental requirements.

		HART makes troubleshooting easy - 04/03/12 InTech, April 2012 By Shannon Foos and Brian Root, Rockwell Automation With HART, when an instrument faults, operators can identify the source of failure immediately and easily distinguish between a failure that is process related (such as an empty pipe), installation related (such as a loose wire), or a failure that requires device replacement.

		Fieldbus Foundation Remote Operations Management Strategy - 03/21/12 Automation.com, March 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The goal of FOUNDATION for Remote Operations Management (ROM) is linking people that understand the processes and equipment in a secure fashion around the world to achieve faster start-up time and reduced operating costs.

		BACnet-EnOcean Gateway - 03/14/12 Automated Buildings, March 2012 By Steve Jones, the S4 Group Both environments are open; both have very strong industry organizations behind them; both have a very loyal following of developers. With all this going for them, they still cannot talk to each other.

		Up close & personal with FOUNDATION for ROM - 03/12/12 Flow Control, February 2012 By Matt Migliore FOUNDATION for ROM aims to provide end-users with a suite of technologies and additions to the FOUNDATION fieldbus specification that provide for both a wireless and wired infrastructure for remote assets and applications.

		Industrial Ethernet Signal Clarity - 03/10/12 Control Engineering, March 2012 By Helge Hornis, Pepperl+Fuchs Best practices and latest technologies help ensure the information received over industrial Ethernet networks represents the desired measurement or instructions. These include proper grounding, cable routing, proper shielding, and cable length.

		Field device networking: Extending interoperability beyond devices - 03/10/12 Control Engineering, March 2012 By Larry O’Brien, Fieldbus Foundation Testing field devices may not be enough. Most interoperability problems happen when a device tries to communicate with a host system, but that can be addressed.

		Valve Actuators and Positioners Go Digital - 03/10/12 Control, March 2012 By Dan Hebert Digital fieldbus technologies have finally caught up to valve actuators and positioners, providing a host of benefits in process plant applications.

		Manufacturing Innovation discussed at PROFINET Executive Leadership Forum - 03/05/12 Automation.com, March 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor PI North America, Siemens, and GE Intelligent Platforms hosted the recent PROFINET Executive Leadership Forum. The invitation-only event brought together users to share experiences, best practices and illustrate the value of PROFINET in manufacturing.

		Network Determinism: Not Just for Motion Anymore - 02/25/12 Automation World, February 2012 By Terry Costlow Engineers know that Ethernet is a stable and well-known industrial network, but building determinism into the network to enable control has been an issue that is now solvable.

		Smarter marshalling - 02/17/12 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, February 2012 By Andrew Ashton The more terminations in a loop, the more the effort and cost of installation, the more potential there is for installation errors (open circuit/crossed wires) and the more the effort required for cold commissioning checks. Marshalling can help.

		Busting Myths About Foundation Fieldbus - 02/17/12 Control, February 2012 By Larry O'Brien, Fieldbus Foundation Many myths and misconceptions continue to persist surrounding Foundation fieldbus technology. The author busts some of these more persistent myths .

		Farewell to Standardization: Wireless and FDI - 02/17/12 Control, February 2012 By Dieter Schaudel, University of Freiburg With FDI and Ethernet looming, will there be one standard for wireless and one standard for field device integration?

		Selecting an open digital protocol in process automation - 02/12/12 Plant Engineering, January 2012 By James Powell, Siemens Currently the “Big Three” open digital protocols in process automation, HART, Profibus, and Foundation Fieldbus, are competing against one another. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

		Using Modbus for process control, automation - 02/12/12 Plant Engineering, January 2012 Jim McConahey, Moore Industries-International One of the oldest digital communication protocols is also the most popular, and for good reason. You should get to know Modbus.

		Emerging Technology Benchmarking - 02/03/12 Automation.com, February 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor These results of the Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable (PAR) Emerging Technology Benchmarking Survey addressed major automation topics including DCS vs. PLC, Fieldbus Technology, Smart Devices, VFDs, PAT, APC, Wireless, Operator Interfaces, Computing Technology, Validation and Skills gaps.

		Using HART with asset management systems - 01/29/12 Control Engineering, January 2012 By John Yingst, Honeywell Process Solutions Is HART information sufficient for a comprehensive asset management program? Is native HART-enabled I/O a necessity, or are there practical ways to use it in a legacy I/O environment? Should users expect to make substantial hardware changes?

		Process automation protocols: A three-horse race where everyone can benefit - 01/15/12 Plant Engineering, January 2012 By James Powell, Siemens AG Currently the “Big Three” open digital protocols in process automation-- HART, Profibus, and Foundation Fieldbus--are competing against one another. Would it not be beneficial to have just one standard?

		Industrial Sensor, Diagnose Thyself - 01/15/12 Control Design, January 2012 By Hank Hogan For machines that use presence-detecting proximity sensors, IO-Link networking technology offers self-diagnostics, increased flexibility and greater ease of configuration.

		Highlights from PI NA General Assembly Meeting 2011 - 01/09/12 Automation.com, January 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The 17th Annual PI North America General Assembly Meeting was held October 4-6, 2011 in Phoenix, AZ and included vendors and users who provided updates on PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies. Topics included PROFINET survey, GE IP, Chrysler-Fiat, Wireless and PROFIenergy.

		One way wireless - 12/27/11 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, December 2011 By Andrew Ashton Various commentators have likened the battle of the three industrial wireless standards to that between VHS and Betamax in the dim and distant past. So should you wait to adopt wireless or should you make an informed decision now and live with that?

		Ethernet-based fieldbuses for industrial networks: the basics - part 2 - 12/18/11 Industrial Ethernet Book, November 2011 By Reiner Grübmeyer and Stephan Rupp Ethernet is fast moving into applications including drives and equipment for industrial automation, as well as aircraft and railway vehicles, which are increasingly being interconnected and controlled via Ethernet.

		Distributed motion control: the importance of catching the bus - 12/18/11 Industrial Ethernet Book, November 2011 By Robert Pearce, Kollmorgen There are many choices to make concerning network buses, protocols and other technical aspects. Ultimately, the motion machine's physical configuration and architecture will determine the motion network to be chosen.

		Behind wireless technology and industrial automation systems - 12/18/11 Process & Control Engineering, December 2011 By Ray Rogowski Due in part to security concerns, the adoption of wireless networks has been gradual. The threat of cyber attacks, coupled with open enterprise wireless architectures, have had the biggest impact on electronic security fears.

		Choosing a Fieldbus Host - 11/18/11 Control, November 2011 By John Rezabek Selecting a fieldbus host is not an easy decision. it might be as life-changing as getting married.

		A Bridge to Fieldbus Upgrades - 11/18/11 Control, November 2011 Ethernet is replacing many traditional industrial communication networks as automation suppliers move to Ethernet for better performance and openness. The move to IP v6 allows enough IP addresses to provide "Ethernet to the Field Device" for many years.

		Digital Diagnostics - 11/14/11 Automation World, November 2011 By Dave Gehman Half of the respondents to a recent Automation World survey indicate that they do not use the smarts—the advanced diagnostics—available in their Hart and Foundation Fieldbus devices. The reasons: cost, complexity and training.

		EDDL Enables Wireless Device Integration - 11/14/11 Automation World, November 2011 By Renee Robbins Bassett Using EDDL to prepare a control system for installation of a new device, users need only to copy the EDDL file is into the system.

		Has Open Architecture Delivered? - 10/28/11 Automation.com, October 2011 By Bill Lydon Since the 1980s, the automation industry has been adopting standards for networked industrial communications, software, and applications. Have users gained all the benefits originally envisioned?

		Are Users Happy with ESD Solutions? - 10/21/11 Control, October 2011 By John Rezabek What's the status of Foundation fieldbus specification for Safety Instrumented Functions (FF-SIF)? The status is: Good luck finding any product, either in reality or even on suppliers' "roadmaps."

		Markup Languages Enhance Integration - 10/21/11 Automation World, October 2011 By James Koelsch Incorporating markup languages into software application code can overcome disruptive inter-platform communications barriers, bringing together groups of engineers and disparate technologies.

		Wireless Sensor Network Standards: On the Road to Convergence - 10/21/11 Automation World, October 2011 By Renee Robbins Bassett Two similar wireless standards—WirelessHart and ISA 100.11a—are competing for dominance as the enabler of smart instrumentation and all its promised benefits. Some users, however, are seeking convergence rather than competition.

		Smart Sensor Connectivity Gets IO-Link Boost - 10/18/11 Design News, Ocotber 2011 By Al Presher With an emphasis on using network communications to provide automated parameter setting and expanded diagnostics, IO-Link technology is emerging to provide a potent solution for many types of sensors.

		Open Systems - Is an Open Protocol Enough? - 10/15/11 Automated Buildings, October 2011 By Andy Davis, Siemens Building Technologies Articlel summarizes building automation protocols including Modbus, LON, KNX, BACnet and DALI with their strengths and weaknesses.

		Chrysler/FIAT Adopts PROFINET for CArS - 10/10/11 Automation.com, October 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor The CArS architecture is a modern systems level approach defined by the joint Chrysler and Fiat Manufacturing Engineering Council that improves the process flow for designing and implementing production lines.

		EtherCAT's Secret of Success - 09/29/11 Automation.com, September 2011 By Martin Rostan, EtherCAT Technology Group There is no giant marketing machine behind it, nor is EtherCAT the successor to a market leading fieldbus system – and yet EtherCAT enjoys an outstanding adoption rate worldwide, and the ETG has become the world’s largest fieldbus organization.

		Which Bus--If Any--for On-Off Valves? - 09/24/11 Control, September 2011 By John Rezabek What should guide us in the selection of a bus technology—if any—when we choose final control elements for on-off applications?

		Optimizing Ethernet for industrial implementation - 09/20/11 Plant Engineering, September 2011 By John Morse and Mark T. Hoske, Plant Engineering If a user is switching from a fieldbus to Ethernet, an understanding of the modus operandi of Ethernet is essential. Some fieldbuses are very easy to implement, and the Ethernet switch can be quite a change.

		Ethernet protocol, EtherCAT, processes on the fly - 09/20/11 Plant Engineering, September 2011 By Joey Stubbs EtherCAT processes Ethernet frames on the fly and maps through a Fieldbus Memory Management Unit (FMMU), distinguishing it from other industrial Ethernet protocols. One EtherCAT frame holds the data for many network devices.

		PoE -- The Evolution Continues - 09/11/11 Industrial Networking, Fall 2011 By Ian Verhappen The IEEE PoE standards continue to evolve, so what's the impact of these "new" IEEE standards on industrial applications?

		Legacy Networks Never Die - 09/11/11 Industrial Networking, Fall 2011 By Dan Hebert The pressure to integrate the plant floor with IT is one of the major reasons why manufacturers are searching for ways to connect to their legacy networks and extract data. But it isn't always easy.

		Continuous EtherCAT at all levels - 09/08/11 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, September 2011 By Conrad Muller, Beckhoff Automation Extremely detailed explanation of how EtherCAT works. Everything you ever wanted to know about EtherCAT and were afraid to ask.

		Features and benefits of EtherCAT - 09/08/11 Control Engineering Europe, August 2011 By Martin Rostan, EtherCAT Technology Group EtherCAT technology is not only fully Ethernet-compatible, but also characterised by particular openness ‘by design.’ The protocol can transport other Ethernet-based services and protocols on the same physical network.

		Easy Oscilloscopes for All Buses - 08/18/11 Control, August 2011 By John Rezabek Troubleshooting Fieldbus is rarely straightforward. One might need to disconnect segments and shoot them with oscilloscopes and meters.

		FDT--Your APP for Smart Device Information Integration - 08/18/11 Control, August 2011 By Garry Cusick, MACTek DTM (device type manager) is an application developed by the device manufacturer to ensure you get the best value from their products.

		Variable Frequency Drives and Building Automation Systems - 08/18/11 Automated Buildings, August 2011 By Paul Ehrlich, et al, Building Intelligence Group The use of variable frequency drives (VFDs) for controls of pumps, fans, and even compressors have become common on both new construction projects and retrofits. Here’s how to integrate them with a BAS.

		FM Goals Drive BACnet Planning - 08/18/11 Building Operating Management, August 2011 Facility managers should do diligent homework to ensure they are taking full advantage of the capabilities of BACnet and that the system fully addresses facility requirements in such areas as energy, sustainability, flexibility and comfort.

		Reduce energy consumption with plastic cable carriers - 08/17/11 Automation.com, August 2011 By Joe Ciringione Cable carrier systems not only transport energy, data and media to various types of machines, but also greatly influence energy costs. To keep energy costs low, one important consideration is the amount of pull-push, or driving force, that is required at a given speed to move the cable carrier.

		EtherNet/IP Flows Into New Territory - 08/14/11 Automation.com, August 2011 By Brian Oulton, Rockwell Automation Proliferation of process instruments on EtherNet/IP may signal the start of a trend.

		The Valve Connection - 08/13/11 Control Engineering Asia, July 2011 How fieldbus technology and device management software enables the integration of motor operated valves into a digital plant architecture. Registration required to read story.

		Redundancy in EtherNet/IP systems - 08/07/11 InTech, August 2011 By Alain Grenier Article explores the balance between the cost of ensuring systems redundancy in an EtherNet/IP network and the cost of failure within a system and inevitably lost production.

		Flexibility Pulls Cables to New Areas - 06/27/11 Control Design, June 2011 By Jim Montague Ethernet is proliferating everywhere... so they all need more high-flexibility, longer-life cables.

		Cut costs and boost efficiency in mining - 06/27/11 Process and Control Engineering, June 2011 By Kevin Gomez Australia’s mining industry is now increasingly introducing fieldbus technology to optimise asset management and maintenance routines as well as introducing process efficiencies linked to field level network communication.

		Wide World of Wireless - 06/12/11 Flow Control, May 2011 By Matt Migliore The existence of two wireless standards initiatives for industry (i.e., ISA100 and WirelessHART) has been a source of contention for some end-users, device manufacturers, and those involved with the respective standards themselves.

		PROFINET gains process acceptance - 06/12/11 Control Engineering Europe, June 2011 By Peter Wenzel, Profibus and Profinet International PROFIBUS PA is already widely used in process facilities. However, an integrated communication system such as PROFINET is essential to enable complete integration of centralised process-related operations of a plant with downstream applications involving mostly discrete processes, such as filling and packaging.

		Straight to the Heart - 05/18/11 Control Engineering Asia, April 2011 By Bob Gill The wireless war is not over yet, according to Yokogawa, which believes ISA 100.11a is not only a technologically superior standard to WirelessHart but also caters more widely to the requirements of end users. Registration required to read story.

		The Power of Digital - 05/18/11 Control Engineering Asia, April 2011 By Jonas Berge While device diagnostics and installation cost savings facilitated by fieldbus are well known, the digital bus technology also has the ability to make late project changes easier and less costly to implement. Registration required to read story.

		The Fieldbus Jungle -- Part II - 05/18/11 Industrial Networking, May 2011 By P. Hunter Vegas, Avid Solutions Based on Part I of this article, you might wonder if fieldbuses are worth the effort. The answer is a resounding "Yes"—in the right application. It also can be an equally resounding "No" in the wrong situation.

		Fiber--Fit for Purpose - 05/18/11 Industrial Networking, May 2011 By John Rezabek When the mission is critical, the speed, reliability and durability of fiberoptic communications are hard to beat.

		The Network Curmudgeon - 05/18/11 Industrial Networking, May 2011 By TJ McDermott Is it so bad to want to have a single standard? The ever-growing population of protocols for industrial automation include Modbus TCP, Profinet IO, EtherNet/IP, Foundation fieldbus, EtherCat, VARAN, SERCOS-III, FL-Net and Ethernet Powerlink—just to name a few, and just in Ethernet.

		Smart Transmitters: Standardisation In Operation - 05/14/11 Industrial Automation Asia, April 2011 By Jonas Berge, Emerson Process Management Developments in device integration technologies combined with designs that are based on usability research, have resulted in a consistent look and feel among transmitters using different protocols. This makes it easy for technicians to commission, setup, calibrate, and troubleshoot this mix of transmitters.

		Field Wireless Automation Solutions Based On The ISA100-11a Standard - 05/14/11 Process Industry Informer, March 2011 By Henk van der Bent, Yokogawa Europe Communication between field devices and control systems started with 4-20 mA and has evolved via hybrid communication systems such as HART and Brain, to digital communication technologies such as FOUNDATION Fieldbus and PROFIBUS, and finally to wireless communication based on the ISA100.11a standard.

		Accelerating The Performance Of Industrial Networks - 05/14/11 Process Industry Informer, March 2011 In order to guarantee real-time functions in an industrial Ethernet network and consequently to avoid any malfunctions, the frame delays should be as short as possible and the communications should be deterministic.

		Legalities: Not all automation standards are equal - 05/14/11 Control Engineering, May 2011 By Mark Voigtmann, Baker & Daniels One need look no further than the "standards" promulgated by organizations to see some very important distinctions—not to mention the fact that not all automation "standards" are created equal.

		From the Field - ABB Automation and Power World 2011 - 05/11/11 Automation.com, May 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Here are a few highlights from ABB Automation & Power World 2011. The event attracted a record number of participants, totaling more than 4,200, and featured over 400 educational workshops and hands-on training sessions, over 45 customer-presented case studies, and an exhibition of ABB and partner products.

		Multivendor Ethernet Safety Protocol - Noble Goal - 04/29/11 Automation.com, April 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor The openSAFETY standard supporters are posing an interesting idea to the industry - use a single Ethernet-based safety protocol, openSAFETY, on all automation applications regardless of industrial Ethernet protocol used for controls.

		Device Connection Technology: An IOpener - 04/24/11 Control Design, April 2011 By Joe Feeley We might want to pay a little attention to a device connection technology that's largely unknown to North American machine builders. IO-Link is a sensor/actuator connection system supported by a consortium of about 50 well-known automation suppliers.

		BAS Upgrades: Develop a Master Plan - 04/18/11 Building Operating Management, April 2011 By Doug Yon, P.E. The challenge for maintenance and engineering managers related to the installation, maintenance, and operation of the technology, including BACnet-based systems, is ensuring the specification properly accounts for post-installation issues.

		BACnet's Continuing Growth - 04/18/11 Automated Buildings, April 2011 By Jim Butler, Cimetrics, Inc. The original authors of the BACnet standard developed a method of organizing application data using objects, and the standard was structured in such a way that new object types and application services could be added to the BACnet standard in the future.

		Attack of the Mutant Chicken Foot! - 04/17/11 Control, April 2011 By John Rezabek For your first fieldbus job, consider a simple "chicken foot" or "star" topology. By standardizing on six segments (~72 devices) per field junction box, your install will look and feel close to conventional, but you'll be running some bigger conduits and raceways.

		Transitioning from Fieldbus to Ethernet - 04/05/11 By Joan Jacinto Totally Integrated Automation PROFINET specifications bring to Ethernet the kind of real-time, deterministic capabilities required for plant floors. At the same time, it delivers on support for wireless networks along with enhanced troubleshooting, diagnostics and integration with existing fieldbus and business networks.

		Technology Update: Why WirelessHART? - 03/24/11 Control Engineering, March 2011 By Ira Sharp, Phoenix Contact With other industrial wireless communications options available, process industry engineers may ask, ‘What is WirelessHART, and what is it good for?’

		Declining Need for Field Calibration? - 03/24/11 Control, March 2011 By Dan Hebert Fieldbus and smart instruments reduce the need for field calibration, and this is perhaps a leading reason why many plants have been slow to adapt multifunction documenting calibrators with accompanying calibration management software.

		Fieldbus: Lion or Lamb? - 03/24/11 Control, March 2011 By John Rezabek How are projects complicated by fieldbus, and what can we do to transform all the scary lions of uncertainty and late changes into docile, predictable lambs?

		Ethernet Infrastructure - Is IPv6 another Y2K? - 03/15/11 Automation.com, March 2011 ODVA is taking IPv6 seriously because it could have major implications for existing EtherNet/IP installations and product developers. This is not unique to EtherNet/IP, the change has an impact on all Ethernet devices and infrastructure including business, industrial, home, and mobile communications.

		Industrial Ethernet: Performance In Harsh Environments - 02/28/11 Industrial Automation Asia, February 2011 By James Kiley, Advantech Ethernet networks for factory spaces need to be sufficiently rugged to withstand shock, vibration and extreme temperatures.

		Industrial Wireless Update – where no wires have gone before - 02/23/11 Automation.com, February 2011 While the intense debates continue over industrial wireless standards many automation professionals are applying industrial wireless solutions to achieve greater efficiency and profits for their companies.

		Working Smarter: Diagnostic Tools Cut Costs And Save Time - 02/17/11 Process Industry Informer, February 2011 By Gary Provis ,Siemens Industry Automation Intelligent diagnostics for process systems - exemplified through easy-to-use diagnostics tools - can aid speedy fault finding and rectification, and play a central role in helping companies maintain a competitive edge.

		The Hidden Network - 02/17/11 Control, February 2011 By Ian Verhappen Practically all the fieldbus protocols take a "black channel" approach to their safety bus. However, defining a black channel is almost a black channel itself; everyone talks about it and uses it, but descriptions of it are mostly absent.

		Fieldbus-Where's the Love? - 02/17/11 Control, February 2011 By John Rezabek To the dismay of some in the engineer/procure/construct (EPC) world, fieldbus can add complexity that was automated out of the point-to-point world decades ago. How does fieldbus bring flux and uncertainty where there used to be order?

		Future Fieldbus Trends - 02/11/11 Industrial Networking, February 2011 By P. Hunter Vegas These predictions might be a bit less rosy (but hopefully more accurate) than those espoused in the glossy, color marketing brochures and the flashy articles written on the hottest technology du jour.

		Area Classification Matters - 02/11/11 Industrial Networking, February 2011 By Ian Verhappen Area classification is predominantly a field/continuous process issue, although there are parts of a factory where it is also a consideration when working with networks, like fieldbus.

		Omron focuses on discrete application leadership - 02/11/11 Automation.com, February 2011 In November of 2010, I attended the Omron Automotive Summit in Chicago and had the opportunity to interview Gregg Holst, Chief Operating Officer and President of Omron Americas. The clear message is that Omron is laser focused on discrete automation and control applications.

		PROFINET Position Measurement and Motion - 02/01/11 Automation.com, February 2011 By Chris Bowman, TR Electronic Ethernet communication, specifically the PROFINET adaptation, presents automation experts with another avenue for improving system design, achieving growth and increasing competitiveness.

		Rockwell Automation's pursuit of process control - 01/31/11 Automation.com, February 2011 I recently interviewed the two key executives leading Rockwell Automation’s process industry initiative, Som Chakraborti and Steve Pulsifer. We discussed their focus on the process markets, PlantPAx, the sales channel, Ethernet/IP, wireless, and how they compare to traditional DCS systems.

		Understand Safety System Tradeoffs - 01/16/11 Chemical Processing, January 2011 By Ian Verhappen, Industrial Automation Networks Many facilities may be missing an opportunity to improve safety via a fieldbus. The majority of fieldbus protocols now have an approved safety bus. In addition, many automation vendors today favor integrating the safety instrumented system (SIS) with the process control system.

		Performance metrics for Industrial Ethernet Industrial Ethernet Book By James Moyne and Dawn Tilbury Industrial Ethernet is appealing for mission-critical use such as control and safety. The application context demands a fresh look at the performance issues involved. The University of Michigan's Engineering Research Centre for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems has been exploring the issue with a reconfigurable factory test bed using fully networked control, diagnostics and safety capabilities.

		Significant Financial Gains Come with Upgrading an Aging Control System to More Modern Technology - 12/21/10 Automation.com, December 2010 By upgrading aging control systems, manufacturers and processing companies are optimizing production flow and enjoying significant gains in productivity and ROI on their control system investments.

		Wire and Cable: A No-Brainer? - 12/18/10 Industrial Networking, December 2010 By John Rezabek Wire and cable once was pretty simple. For point-to-point analog and discretes, we just bought the same thing all the time, without many concerns beyond price and availability. High-speed digital networks changed all that, so here’s a brief look at cable from the inside out.

		Modular I/O - Solution or Headache - 12/18/10 Industrial Networking, December 2010 By Ian Verhappen There are a number of reasons that modular I/O is not very prevalent in North America. The two primary roadblocks are field power and standard backhaul protocol.

		An Undeniable Impact - 12/18/10 Industrial Networking, December 2010 By Dan Hebert Ten years ago, we suffered through the multi-headed fieldbus monster, when eight different technologies were established as standards. Today, that effort seems like a rehearsal for what we're going through with multiple wireless technologies, many Ethernet protocols, several instrument buses and different device buses.

		Millions Sold in Europe! - 12/12/10 Control, December 2010 By John Rezabek 80% of end users surveyed are upgrading their control systems only, leaving field devices "as is." One reason to replace old systems is their inability to natively interact with smart devices speaking open protocols such as HART, Foundation fieldbus or Profibus PA.

		Emerson Exchange 2010 - Conquering Complexity - 11/23/10 Automation.com, November 2010 The 2010 Emerson Global Users Exchange in San Antonio, Texas was a successful event, hosting more than 2300 attendees, representing 47 different countries. Bill Lydon reviews a few of the event highlights including keynote addresses, Human Centered Design, Asset management enhancements, DeltaV product roadmap, and control over wireless.

		The Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PIC) - 11/21/10 Automated Buildings, November 2010 By Nirosha Munasinghe, Open General This article examines what is a PIC statement in BACnet and outlines the main characteristics of the document.

		We Get It - Wireless Works - 11/21/10 Control, November 2010 By John Rezabek Can anyone remember an instrument technology that was marketed with such persistence and zeal? WirelessHART products have been available since at least 2007, and today one can obtain compatible products from ABB, Endress+Hauser, Siemens, Pepperl+Fuchs, Emerson and others.

		Trends in Network Protocols - 10/26/10 Automation World, October 2010 By Rob Spiegel The trend in protocols for industrial networks is moving away from vendor-specific solutions.

		FDT Adds .Net Support - 10/26/10 Automation World, October 2010 By Gary Mintchell This article takes a look at Field Device Type/Device Type Manager (FDT/DTM). The most striking difference between the two is that EDDL is text-based, while FDT is built upon Microsoft Windows.

		Industrial Ethernet: Future-proof, rugged - 10/13/10 Control Engineering, September 2010 By Scott Hibbard, Bosch Rexroth Specialized fieldbus systems were used for simplified networking of machine drives, I/O, PLCs and other devices, but fast Ethernet technology replaces these systems, and offers a number of advantages.

		Take Advantage of Fieldbus - 09/16/10 Chemical Processing, September 2010 By Craig McIntyre, Endress+Hauser Fieldbus systems can provide tremendous benefits in terms of lower costs, increased uptime and better overall plant performance. But take care when selecting and deploying the fieldbus solution; it's often best to start small.

		Your Next Network Connection Could Be a Powerline - 09/12/10 Machine Design, August 2010 By Leland E. Teschler Goodbye to fieldbus? Maybe so, if a new generation of powerline-communication gear lives up to expectations. Smart-grid applications for power-line communications could pave the way for using the technology as a less-expensive fieldbus networking scheme.

		EDDL: Real-time Communication With Field Devices - 09/12/10 Automation World, September 2010 By Gary Mintchell People use Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) often without realizing that’s what they are using.

		Influence of the use of fieldbus - 09/12/10 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, September 2010 By Paul Sikhakhane, Tongaat Hulett The 4-20mA era is coming to an end and fieldbus is at the takeover stage. Soon those who are not seeking to understand the benefits and adapting will have the change forced upon them.

		Convergence-or Not. That's the Question - 09/10/10 Control, September 2010 By Walt Boyes We have a serious problem with the adoption of wireless field devices in the process industries. Now that the Chinese WIA standard has been approved by IEC, we are very close to having four standards. The drive of the ISA100.11a team to produce a new version of ISA100.11a-2010 could actually produce a fifth standard.

		Everyone, Do Your Own Math - 09/10/10 Control, September 2010 By John Rezabek The incremental costs to add spurs to fieldbus segments make WirelessHART at best a break-even option in many circumstances.

		WirelessHART Networking Trends - 08/26/10 Design News, July 2010 By Al Presher Wireless networking is making the factory floor more data centric than control centric.

		One Network from IT to Motion Control - 08/26/10 Design News, July 2010 By Bob Hirschinger, Rockwell Automation Machine builders achieve new levels of design flexibility by using the standard Ethernet network platform to connect devices across the enterprise and an entire machine, including variable frequency drives and servo drives for integrated motion control.

		Time for Innovation declared at NIWeek 2010 Automation.com, August 2010 By Bill Lydon NIWeek 2010 attracted a record 3000 engineers, scientists and researchers from all over the world. Dr. James Truchard highlighted how NI's products help users become more like Edison by enabling them to innovate more quickly. Jeff Kodosky elaborated on their innovative research on distributed real-time systems and the tight integration of hardware configuration along with timing.

		Foundation fieldbus for the water industry - 08/23/10 Control Engineering Asia, August 2010 Using Foundation fieldbus technology can lower overall automation cost by reducing engineering, hardware, and installation labor – particularly for electric actuators, on/off and control valves, and pump vibration monitors.

		Verifying and Customizing Interoperability - 08/22/10 Building Operating Management, August 2010 Checking the BTL listing is an important first step to guarantee the device actually has been tested in a BACnet system and behaves the way it is supposed to behave.

		Understanding BACnet Capabilities, Getting Past Obstacles - 08/22/10 Building Operating Management, August 2010 It’s important to most installations to be able to connect “up top” at the Ethernet or BACnet I/P level so a system can be connected to another system. Down lower, it matters very little how they communicate with each other.

		What is BACnet Interoperability - 08/22/10 Building Operating Management, August 2010 It’s important for facility managers to dig below the surface of claims for interoperability of various systems. That’s because true interoperability can bring benefits for the life of the system.

		Looking In On BACnet - 08/22/10 Automated Buildings, August 2010 By Andy McMillan, Philips Teletrol Through integrated connected virtualization, the world of large buildings will soon view everything connected differently.

		Energy – How much do we have, how much do we need, and where do we find it? - 08/22/10 Automated Buildings, August 2010 By Manny Mandrusiak, OPC Foundation PROFIenergy is a profile of the PROFINET communications protocol which enables the power consumption of automation equipment in manufacturing (such as robots in auto assembly cells, laser cutters and sub-systems such as paint lines) to be managed over a PROFINET network.

		Beyond Wireless: The Other New Features of HART 7.0 - 08/13/10 Control Engineering Europe, July 2010 By Michael Babb With wireless technology its most prominent advance, a great deal of interest has been generated in the user community for the latest version of HART. There are, however, other new features that give increased functionality for wired application process automation.

		Industry Perspectives from Honeywell User Group 2010 - 07/20/10 Automation.com, July 2010 By Bill Lydon Review the industry perspectives, technology and solutions from HUG Americas 2010. Highlights include an overview of five megatrends identified by Norm Gilsdorf, Honeywell's commitment to legacy products, training and service, and introduction of a new RTU, safety remote IO, in-controller batch manager, and turbo machine controller. Plus, see an example of control system virtualization.

		Four Ways to Enhance ESD Protection After Your Design Flunks Its ESD Test - 07/18/10 Machine Design, July 2010 By Chad Marak and Jim Colby, Silicon Protection Arrays You thought your electrostatic-discharge protection was bulletproof, yet the IC still fried in test. Now what?

		Can You Specify "Or Equal" with Fieldbus? - 07/18/10 Control, July 2010 By John Rezabek Does freedom-to-choose/power-to-integrate mean that you're more comfortable specifying "or equal" when procuring fieldbus devices?

		Driving Technology and Innovation Together Automation.com, July 2010 By Bill Lydon Review the technology and innovations presented by Siemens at their recent 2010 Automation Summit, held in Charlotte, NC. Highlights include Siemens’ focus on energy, advancements in their process control offering, their industrial communications strategy and new distributed panel devices.

		Server-Based Software Creates a Single Point of Failure - 06/23/10 Control Design, June 2010 By Jeremy Pollard Server-based software creates a single point of failure. A plant operator who has a problem needs to be guaranteed immediate access. If the server is down or the network has failed and the connection to that server is down, you're in trouble.

		Determinism in industrial ethernet: the EtherCAT protocol - 06/16/10 What’s New in Process Technology, June 2010 By Glenn Johnson This article describes how the EtherCAT protocol provides an isochronous real-time Ethernet master/slave network using standard ethernet frames.

		DTMs open the landscape for plant maintenance - 06/12/10 Control Engineering Europe, June 2010 By Michael Babb While fieldbus is becoming the dominant architecture of process automation, its true value for instrument diagnostics and preventative maintenance can only be realised with powerful software tools like DTM.

		FDT: The ‘Right Technology at the Right Time’ - 06/12/10 Control Engineering Europe, June 2010 By Michael Babb The FDT Group enters the year 2010 with a lot of momentum behind it: standardisation of the concept, new technology for users and developers, more complete infrastructure, and plenty of significant applications in the field.

		FISCO is Fortified Intrinsic Safety - 06/12/10 Control, June 2010 By Ian Verhappen More power means more devices can be connected to a single H1 Port - especially now that FNICO is part of the FISCO standard.

		The power of integration exemplified at ABB A&PW 2010 By Bill Lydon, Automation.com The "Connect, Learn, Succeed" theme of this event was about users forming stronger working relationships with ABB. The event brought the opportunity to connect across disciplines and apply products and knowledge - focusing on the power of integration, particularly between automation and power systems. The event attracted more than 4,000 people and offered more than 400 educational and hands-on sessions and a 100,000 sf. exhibit area.

		Wireless Sensors In Real-Time - 05/25/10 IMPO, May 2010 By Aaron LaJoie, Electrochem Solutions Latency is an inherent trait of all wireless. Unlike a conventional analog signal, there are delays associated with the analog-to-digital conversion process, as well as radio frequency transmissions.

		FDT for Open Access - 05/11/10 Control Engineering Asia, April 2010 By Glenn Schulz Supported by all major DCS, PLC, and instrument/device manufacturers, the FDT standard delivers on the promise of open access to device intelligence.

		Ethernet empowers fieldbus - 05/02/10 InTech, April 2010 By Craig McIntyre Fieldbus is a generic term for a number of digital industrial networks, including Foundation Fieldbus, HART, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, and Profibus. Many fieldbus networks are transitioning to Ethernet-based protocols for a variety of reasons.

		Augmenting process automation solutions - 04/08/10 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, April 2010 By Larry O’Brien and Dick Hill, ARC Advisory Group What differentiates Foundation Fieldbus from Profibus PA, HART, and other process automation technologies, is the incorporation of a function block structure and other functions that make Foundation technology a complete infrastructure for process automation.

		FISCO and FNICO Are Interchangeable...for Now - 03/19/10 Control Design, March 2010 By Mike Bacidore FISCO, FNICO are like two clouds of flammable gases passing in the night.

		EDDL Team Reorganizes for FDI - 03/13/10 Control Engineering, March 2010 By Peter Welander EDDL Cooperation Team reorganizes itself to become FDI. New unified technical and functional specs scheduled for 2010. Will it turn EDDL and FDT into one common platform? No, nor is that the intent.

		How to choose a CANbus industrial controller - 03/13/10 Control Engineering, March 2010 By Ulrich Luetke Entrup, Janz Automation Systems Initial price for an industrial PC is higher than a consumer equivalent, but long-term cost is lower for industrial control applications. Here’s why.

		New Gigabyte Industrial Ethernet Open Protocol - CC-Link IE The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) announced the release of the open architecture gigabit (GB) CC-Link IE Field Network. I recently met with two members of CLPA Americas to get an update on the latest CC-Link IE standard. Chuck Lukasik is the Director of CLPA Americas and John Woznaik is their Network Specialist.

		Three BAS Design Points Essential for Sustainability - 02/25/10 Building Operating Management, February 2010 The three critical components are a networked controls design, remote Internet access and a commissioning process managed by facility operations.

		Linking the BAS with the IT Enterprise Takes Building Integration Beyond FM - 02/25/10 Building Operating Management, February 2010 The power of BACnet systems and the importance of the information that these systems help convey offer new opportunities for facility managers. This can occur when BACnet connects the BAS into the enterprise network.

		The Cost(s) of BACnet - 02/25/10 Automated Buildings, February 2010 By Andy McMillan Cost and pricing are complex issues and there is always some risk in over-simplifying or over-generalizing. Answering the question “What is the cost of BACnet?” has to be situation-specific. Even so, it’s clear that the emergence of BACnet as the industry standard communications interface is impacting the cost equation in building automation.

		Modbus Still Lets Multi-Vendor Devices Communicate - 02/22/10 Industrial Networking, March 2010 By N. Lewis Bodden Modbus, the Grand Old Dame: the protocol still works for programming and data transfer between devices from different vendors.

		One Network Topology Is Not a Silver Bullet - 02/22/10 Industrial Networking, March 2010 By Ian Verhappen No one network is the right answer in every situation, which means that engineering and thought is required to determine the optimal solution.

		Is Field-Based Control Really All That? - 02/19/10 Control, February 2010 By John Rezabek Recent studies show that the fieldbus-for-I/O-only approach is likely a source of compromised performance and unknown latencies.

		The safest way to calibrate fieldbus instruments - 02/19/10 What’s New in Process Technology, February 2010 By AMS Instrumentation & Calibration Fieldbus is becoming more and more common in today’s instrumentation. Fieldbus transmitters must also be calibrated just like conventional instruments, and there are also industrial environments where the calibration of fieldbus instruments should not only be made accurately and efficiently, but also safely.

		Intelligence at the Device - 02/16/10 Control Engineering Europe, January 2010 By Jeanine Katzel As components get smarter and more powerful, manufacturers are finding themselves managing high-performance automation and control systems whose parts are capable of monitoring themselves, diagnosing their own problems, and maybe even making a decision or two, economically and easily.

		Open industrial wireless application networks - 02/16/10 InTech, February 2010 By Stephen Lambright and Sarah Prinster Integrated support for ISA100 and WirelessHART networks means moving forward without fear of being trapped in a single-vendor solution or a dead-end standard.

		FDI Cooperation a huge move fowards, say Australian suppliers - 01/24/10 Process and Control Engineering, January 2010 By Sarah Falson According to Australian suppliers, the FDI Cooperation will be a huge move forwards for vendors, standards committees and end-users, and will save us all money in the long-run.

		Dealing with Undocumented Field Device Changes - 01/20/10 Control Engineering, January 2010 By David Greenfield Field device parameter alterations persist across industries despite the potentially enormous problems they can cause. The good news: fixing the problem isn’t difficult. The bad news: the options and concerns surrounding selection of the right correction method are nearly limitless.

		New Guidelines for Fieldbus Systems - 01/20/10 Control, January 2010 By John Rezabek A unique—and free—document from the Fieldbus Foundation is its "AG-181 System Engineering Guidelines." Over the past six months, experienced users, who've installed massive projects worldwide, have been gathering to give the guidelines a sentence-by-sentence overhaul.

		Robust communication systems migrate into building intelligence - 12/15/09 Industrial Embedded Systems, November 2009 By Herve Branquart, ON Semiconductor With so many networks to choose from, could a mature, tested, familiar industrial network be the answer for building intelligence? Here's the case for CAN in long-distance applications.

		Digital Controls Deliver Diagnostics, Maintenance and Troubleshooting Benefits - 12/15/09 Control Design, December 2009 By Mike Bacidore Are your controls digital-healthy?: The growing use of fieldbus, ethernet and wireless means more opportunities for diagnostic tools and monitoring, but how do you diagnose your digital controls?

		Listen to the Cable Guy - 12/15/09 Industrial Networking, December 2009 By Joe Feeley The signal-to-noise ratio of a cabling system drops as soon as you install it.

		Rockwell Automation Fair 2009 - Smart, Safe & Sustainable Manufacturing By Bill Lydon As usual, Rockwell Automation Fair was an impressive event with over 8,000 attendees. Rockwell's continued focus on process control punctuates their very direct message that the Logix architecture can meet all control and automation requirements from discrete to process control.

		Enterprise Control System Defined - OpsManage 2009 Sudipta Bhattacharya, President & CEO Invensys Operations Management (IOM), opened OpsManage09 with his keynote presentation. Bhattacharya displayed energy, vision, conviction, and a plan that he openly shared, including the rationale for the company's new organization and business approach.

		Siemens Industry's New Automation Organization By Bill Lydon Interview with Raj Batra President, Industry Automation Division Batra was formerly vice president, Automation & Motion, for Siemens Energy & Automation. The Industry Automation division, based in Alpharetta, Ga., encompasses automation products including programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and controls for discrete and process automation.

		A “BACnet System” Procurement Challenge - 11/24/09 Automated Buildings, November 2009 By Andy McMillan, Teletrol Systems BACnet is a standard. Systems incorporating BACnet are not standard. Understanding the difference is important in establishing a procurement process that builds positive supplier relationships and generates maximum value in acquiring an energy management or building automation system.

		Integrating BAS To Everything All The Time? - 11/24/09 Automated Buildings, November 2009 By Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt Use of open protocols to connect BAS to mechanical equipment, VFDs, fire alarm systems, lighting controls, etc. has become commonplace. We have even seen designs requiring all systems/equipment be integrated and all data shared. Putting aside the dangerous legal ramifications of the word “all,” is this a good idea?

		Shell's Long-Time Push for Fieldbus - 11/21/09 Control, November 2009 By Jim Montague There isn't exactly a bumper crop of heroes in the fieldbus and industrial networking arenas. Consequently, though many end users and integrators are implementing digital fieldbuses these days, few, if any, have pioneered their use and pushed for their adoption as hard as Shell.

		Wireless or Fieldbus? - 11/21/09 Control, November 2009 By John Rezabek Is wireless easier to integrate with legacy systems than fieldbus? since wireless emerged as viable option, users have been pleased to find that wireless connects easily with their old system.

		Unlock Your Plant’s Potential: WirelessHart Is The Key - 11/17/09 Process Industry Informer, November 2009 By Phil Burns, Endress+Hauser Of the 30 million or so installed HART devices across the globe, only 15% are configured to deliver additional device and process information. In the majority of cases, only the process variable is transmitted. WirelessHART technology enables the end user to access this additional data, unlocking the previously untapped potential of ‘smart’ devices.

		Sensor diagnostic information: how useful is it? - 11/11/09 Control Engineering Europe, November 2009 By Tony Grassby, Endress and Hauser Promises of advanced diagnostics and predictive maintenance information being used to avoid costly plant downtime and claims of operational expenditure savings have not always been realised.

		Changes at ISA - A Current Volunteer Leader's Perspective - 11/06/09 by Don Frey, ISA Volunteer Leader Faced with unprecedented declines in demand for training, advertising, and exhibit space, the ISA has had to make drastic cuts in its budget for 2010. Some significant areas where cuts have been made are in the areas of professional staff, frequency of publication of InTech magazine, ISA E-News production and distribution, and future ISA EXPO offerings.

		Time for Calibration? - 10/22/09 Control Engineering Asia, October 2009 By Jonas Berge Is it really time for your Coriolis flowmeter to be calibrated? Advanced diagnostics technology can help determine if the instrument needs to be removed from the process or if it can wait.

		2009 Emerson Global Users Exchange - Engaging Minds. Amazing Results. Steve Sonnenberg, Executive Vice President of Emerson Process Management, opened the conference by emphasizing the biggest challenge of attendees will be to "translate this knowledge (gained) into amazing results when you bring these ideas back home."

		An Update on EDDL and FDT - 10/19/09 Automation World, October 2009 By Gary Mintchell EDDL stands for Electronic Device Description Language, and FDT represents Field Device Tool. These software tools play a vital role in facilitating preventive maintenance and helping to turn digital automation into a nearly plug-and-play affair.

		ISA100.11a: Half Baked to a Schedule - 10/19/09 Control, October 2009 By Walt Boyes It isn’t enough to write a standard that excludes WirelessHART. There must be a standard, any standard, whether it works or not. If that’s what we do, shame on us.

		Break Through: Fieldbus Protocols - 10/19/09 Control, October 2009 By Jim Montague Of the dozen or so mostly open fieldbus protocols that existed 10 years ago, some have disappeared, while others have diminished or stalled. But the remaining players have gained users, added capabilities and expanded their presence.

		How's Your Fieldbus Resume? - 10/19/09 Control, October 2009 By John Rezabek If you're looking for a job or interviewing to fill a vacancy in your organization, what kind of qualifications should you be displaying to qualify for the jobs that are available? There's an excellent chance no one on the hiring team understands what you do, especially if it consists of the plant manager and the HR person.

		2009 IPS North American Client Conference: Chaos, Crisis, Clarity By Bill Lydon, Contributing Editor Steve Blair, President, North America Region, Invensys Operations Management opened the conference with the theme, "Achieving Sustainable Performance" and two other speakers gave real world examples of how training and preparation brought clarity out of chaos and crisis.

		Simple Device Integration Over The Entire Life Cycle – The Latest Benefit Of PA Profile 3 02 - 09/22/09 Process Industry Informer, September 2009 Version 3.02 for PROFIBUS PA devices, targets simplified handling of fieldbus technology and provides timely answers to current questions regarding all stages of the life cycle of field devices. This article provides an overview of the PA profile extensions and describes measures for simplifying the life cycle management of PA field devices.

		PTO 2009 General Assembly Web-Meeting, Celebrates 15 years in North America Since many members are constrained by tight travel budgets, this year's PTO General Assembly Meeting was a Web event conducted by PTO Executive Director, Michael Bryant. The Web event included a 15th year anniversary cake ceremony with the PTO staff blowing out the candles.

		Determinism in industrial ethernet: A technology overview — Part 2 - 09/13/09 What’s New in Process Technology, August 2009 By Glenn Johnson In Part 1 of this article we looked generally at the types of innovations that have been used to make use of ethernet in process plants and factory automation. This month we look at some of the most well-known implementations.

		The world’s going wireless, but what about our industry? - 09/13/09 Process & Control Engineering, September 2009 By Greg Ferrar, Endress+Hauser Despite the extensive marketing hype from some suppliers promoting the implementation of WirelessHart devices everywhere, the global standard for WSN is only just being finalised. Because of this, the technology is yet to be accepted for true plant control – this is still some time away.

		System Integration: FDT plus EDDL, equals FDI - 09/13/09 InTech, September 2009 By Nicholas Sheble Current FDI efforts focus on completing two remaining documents. The first is a functional specification detailing how to combine the benefits of EDDL, FDT, and the OPC Unified Architecture to best effect. The second will be a comprehensive technical specification. Release of the final functional specification will be mid-2010.

		Ethernet Enthusiasm: Will it Saturate the Plant? - 09/13/09 Control Engineering Europe, September 2009 Zealous Ethernet champions see the day when all instruments, actuators, and controllers are connected in one vast harmonious plant network—and, by natural extension, to the Internet. Never mind Profibus, serial communications, or 4-20 mA: they will all fade away.

		10 years after - 08/27/09 Control Engineering Asia, August 2009 By Bob Gill No, not the rock band. It’s 10 years after fieldbus. For it was in 1999 when the IEC standards committee released the 61158 fieldbus standard, which initially comprised eight different protocol sets (called “types”), including Profibus and Foundation Fieldbus along with others like ControlNet, P-Net and Interbus.

		The Fieldbus Years - 08/27/09 Control Engineering Asia, August 2009 By Jonas Berge The effort to create the fieldbus standard – which was officially completed 10 years ago with the release of IEC 615118 – resulted in not one but many protocols commonly referred to as “fieldbus.” Importantly, it did produce a quantum leap in technology and major international corporations began to implement fieldbus networks

		New EDDL is guiding radar: interface level made easy - 08/16/09 What’s New in Process Technology, July 2009 By Jonas Berge Guided wave radar (GWR) level transmitters are ideal for challenging level and interface measurements on liquids, slurries and solids. Electronic device description language (EDDL) integrates GWR level transmitters with intelligent device management software in a way not previously possible.

		Data Are Available for Your Network Diagnostics - 08/16/09 Industrial Networking, August 2009 By John Rezabek Diagnostics—use what you have: networks already have a variety of diagnostic capabilities that are underutilized.

		Simplifying Fieldbus Device Calibration - 08/16/09 Control, August 2009 By John Rezabek Creative end users have been exploring the use of 802.11 wireless to display their DCS interface on a wireless laptop or notebook PC.

		Return on Imagination - Honeywell User Group (HUG) 2009 Honeywell Process Solutions continues to grow in a number of dimensions including: additional products, wireless, energy, PLCs, independent system integrator initiatives, and Integrated Master Automation Contractor (IMAC) focus. This year’s attendance was lower than previous years, but David Wade, Honeywell Users Group Americas Chairman, officially opened the HUG 2009 conference commenting that there were more than 50% new attendees.

		Finally, Registered Hosts - 07/15/09 Control, July 2009 By John Rezabek As of this writing, four hosts—ABB Automation Products’ Industrial IT System 800xA, Emerson Process Management’s DeltaV and AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager, and Yokogawa Electric Corp.’s Centum VP and Stardom—have already passed Phase 1 of the new registered host test.

		You Say, ‘F–knee–co,’ and I Say, ‘F–nye–co’ - 07/14/09 Industrial Networking, July 2009 By John Rezabek You’ll hear the acronym for the fieldbus non-incendive concept (FNICO) pronounced a few different ways, but will the concept itself be pronounced dead when the IEC revises its underlying standards?

		Network Behemoth - 07/14/09 Industrial Networking, July 2009 By Dan Hebert Industrial Ethernet is the unquestioned digital network leader in manufacturing, but alternative networks continue to thrive in its shadow. Ethernet, has overcome many limitations in recent years, but barriers to widespread application in some manufacturing applications remain.

		10 years of flexible functional safety - 07/09/09 HazardEx, June 2009 Based on its openness and widespread installation, PROFIsafe is currently the global market leader with over 630,000 PROFIsafe nodes. Ten years ago, however, it was necessary to convince safety authorities, 25 renowned safety engineering companies, and users to accept the completely new technology.

		Certainty of Outcome with Fieldbus - 07/09/09 Control, June 2009 By John Rezabek Certainty of outcome is important on any project, but delivering it isn’t free. What are some of the key areas where effort and/or investment are needed to obtain sufficient certainty of outcome for even the smallest fieldbus project?

		Safety via Fieldbus—Hanging by a Wire? Control Engineering, June 2008 By Peter Welander Fieldbus is breaking new ground in discrete and process safety networks, a bastion of hard-wired systems. Users are drawn by promises of easier troubleshooting and maintenance.

		Capitalize on Crisis! - Review of Yokogawa 2009 User Group Conference The Yokogawa User Group Conference had an enthusiastic group of automation professionals in attendance. In his opening remarks, Con Lau, GM Marketing of Yokogawa of America, discussed the Asian representation of crisis that is made up of two letters - danger and opportunity. “Where there is danger, there is opportunity.” People attending were looking for opportunities to improve operations and efficiency.

		Product Briefs from Hannover Messe By Bill Lydon Over 6,000 companies showed products at Hannover Messe and there are important trends that are worth noting. Here are highlights of some products that caught my interest - some due to functional sophistication and others because of their elegant simplicity.

		You Say, ‘F–knee–co,’ and I Say, ‘F–nye–co Industrial Networking, Spring 2009 By John Rezabek What exactly is FNICO, and should fieldbus practitioners—especially those who have used or are planning to use it—be concerned about the changes?

		Networked Safety: Mainstream or Marketing? - 05/24/09 Automation World, May 2009 By Greg Farnum The rollout of the Fieldbus Foundation’s FF-SIF safety protocol has sparked considerable interest and many questions about the protocol itself and about networked safety in general.

		EDDL & FDT, Competing or Complementary? Automation World, April 2009 By Rob Spiegel EDDL (Electronic Device Description Language) and FDT/DTM (Field Device Tool/Device Type Manager) are both designed to interpret intelligence from fieldbus devices. But that’s where the similarity ends. Each technology comes with its own history, its own place in the world of standards and its own manner of reading and displaying device intelligence.

		The Components of FDT Technology Control, April 2009 By Chris Stearns and John Yingst, FDT Group A brief, basic introduction to DTMs and the FDT Frame.

		Tomorrow has not been canceled! Report from ABB Automation & Power World 2009 Mark Taft, Group Vice President, Process Automation, Global control System Business opened with, "...it is important for us to remember that tomorrow has not been canceled." Mark's point was the conference was designed to provide a great deal of useful and actionable information that will help attendees survive and thrive in the current economy, and be prepared to take advantage of the future. Mark further noted that having a combined event encompassing automation and power is timely.

		Sustainable Design of Building Automation Systems Automated Buildings, March 2009 By J Patrick Winkelman, Distech Controls A sustainable BAS is achievable with proper initial design considerations that include the use of open protocols, standardized Network Management tools and open access to product and training.

		Connecting BACnet Devices to an IP Infrastructure Automated Buildings, March 2009 By George Thomas, Contemporary Controls Why are BACnet plugfest participants encouraged to attach to an IP network when testing for interoperability? Why at trade shows are IP networks used for interoperability demonstrations? It is because connecting to an Ethernet backbone running the IP protocol is convenient. Attempting to do the same with a BACnet MS/TP bus network is not as convenient.

		WirelessHART: the right standard at the right time What’s New in Process Technology, March 2009 The WirelessHART standard provides a robust wireless protocol for the full range of process measurement, control and asset management applications. Based on the proven and familiar HART protocol, it enables users to quickly and easily gain the benefits of wireless technology while maintaining compatibility with millions of existing devices, also existing tools, asset-management systems and historians.

		Intelligent device management with EDDL What’s New in Process Technology, February 2009 By Jonas Berg, Emerson Process instruments, such as radar level transmitters, are set up and calibrated in the field, and in many process industries this requirement is met by readily available handheld communication devices. EDDL is the best fit for process control; therefore, it is also used in the DCS world of integrated systems. EDDL remains independent from underlying gateways and interface cards, so one EDDL file fits all systems.

		Future trends for instrumentation in hazardous areas Control Engineering Europe, March 2009 By L.C. Towle, MTL Instruments There has been continuous change in the detail of the methods of explosion protection applied to instrumentation over the last fifty years and the probability is that the techniques will continue to evolve. The change will be gradual and much slower than is usually predicted because of the conservative approach to safety related matters.

		DART—The New Dimension in Intrinsic Safety—Part 1 Control Engineering Europe, March 2009 By Udo Gerlach, et al The DART safe energy concept allows considerably higher direct power in hazardous areas, because of its safe energy limitation through rapid disconnection. PART 1 (of three parts) discusses the basic concepts, and detecting the spark.

		DART—The New Dimension in Intrinsic Safety—Part 2 Control Engineering Europe, March 2009 By Udo Gerlach, et al PART 2 discusses the components of DART, the safe and the normal working ranges, and the loads.

		DART—The New Dimension in Intrinsic Safety—Part 3 Control Engineering Europe, March 2009 By Udo Gerlach, et al PART 3 discusses the power concept and DART in fieldbus.

		Is HART 7 set to bring us another killer app? Control Engineering Europe, March 2009 The stage is set for a major change in the way instruments communicate their values with control and asset management systems. With the debut of HART 7, the possibility is now open to collect signals through both wires and wireless systems, making data collection much simpler to organise and maintain. This may turn out to be the ‘killer application’ of the decade.

		Which Ethernet system is the right one? Control Engineering Europe, February 2009 Ethernet technology continues its rise to power, bringing things like greater TCP/IP transparency, boosted vertical integration, easier access to new technologies such as web and wireless systems – and being appreciably more efficient to operate than fieldbuses. But which Ethernet will come out on top?

		Winning Strategies and Best Practices for Sustainable Manufacturing By Bill Lydon, Contributing Editor The initial focus of the ARC Forum in Orlando was sustainable manufacturing strategies as they relate to environmental performance and resource management. Based on the recent economic downturn, the conference was expanded to address strategies for bottom line business sustainability of process and discrete manufacturing companies.

		Tank farm operators show new confidence in fieldbus Oil & Gas Engineer, February 2009 By Michael Herbstritt As with most new technologies, the operational safety of fieldbus when it was introduced in the 1990s was challenged. Those issues have been addressed and today, fieldbus systems are widely implemented including installation in safety-relevant areas such as tank farms.

		Turning up the Heat Control Engineering Asia, January 2009 By Jonas Berge, Emerson Process Management It’s not often you hear about new advances in temperature measurement, but several underlying capabilities become possible with the application of hot technologies like fieldbus and EDDL. Diagnostic technologies now allow plants to leverage thermocouple condition monitoring and failure prediction features that were previously unavailable in transmitters.

		An Aspect on Networked Area Control Automated Buildings, January 2009 By Rocky Moore, American Auto-Matrix As there are multiple philosophies associated with control through various manufacturers, it has been a challenging task for some manufacturers to relinquish some of their beliefs for the sake of interoperability.

		Introduction to BACnet Routers Automated Buildings, January 2009 George Thomas, Contemporary Controls Each data link is treated as a separate network and the collection of data links is considered a single BACnet internetwork. BACnet routers facilitate the connections — but when BACnet/IP is used as one of the data links, adjustments must be made to how BACnet routers are used in an IP network.

		BAS Use of Ethernet / IP Infrastructure II Automated Buildings, January 2009 By Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group This month focuses on the special challenge of data security. This is a topic that often does not get much attention, but is one that has a high risk if not properly addressed on any shared network installation.

		Specifying BACnet Building Operating Management, January 2009 BACnet makes it possible to integrate a facility’s various control systems to a single front end for ease of operation. It also allows users to expand and upgrade controls using technology from multiple vendors. This is possible due to common communication infrastructure and front-end building automation systems.

		BACnet: Beyond HVAC Building Operating Management, January 2009 It’s not surprising that many facility executives think that BACnet is strictly for HVAC applications. After all, it was developed by ASHRAE. And, in reality, most of the early applications of BACnet were HVAC-related. But things have changed since those early days.

		Bacnet: Pieces of the Green Puzzle Building Operating Management, January 2009 Thanks to BACnet’s range of objects, services and networks, the protocol provides meaningful performance data that facility executives can gather quickly, analyze and review to better understand the impact of building occupant behaviors and make better choices for energy management.

		Fieldbus on a Shoestring Control, January 2009 By John Rezabek Use the wire you have. Unless you’re really challenging the limits of the physical layer, ordinary twisted/shielded pair will work reliably.

		Introduction to Modbus Serial and Modbus TCP Part 2 Automated Buildings, December 2008 George Thomas, Contemporary Controls The second part discusses two implementations of the Modbus Protocol that were introduced in our previous article. The first is the traditional implementation of Modbus over a serial line. The second is more modern with Modbus operating over a TCP/IP network.

		Bridging the Gap Automation World, December 2008 By Terry Costlow For a growing number of network architects who build their fieldbuses, compatibility with Ethernet is a way of life.

		Can Topology Reduce Costs? Industrial Networking, Winter 2008 By John Rezabek It’s a good idea to try new topologies on a small project before embarking on a 5,000-point job. We would aim to use our experienced homeys on the bigger jobs, in an advisory role if not as the key foremen.

		IO Link: Sensor to Automation System Communication Control Engineering, December 2008 By Michael Babb To bring intelligent sensors into the automation system, the Profibus organization initiated a new technology called IO Link.

		Rockwell Automation Fair 2008 Review By Bill Lydon, Contributing Editor As usual, the Rockwell Automation Fair was an impressive event with over 11,000 attendees and over 90 Encompass partners. This is a very successful show that creates enormous goodwill and is the most successful control show in North America. Training is becoming a big part of the event and allows users to justify the time and money to attend. Distributor travel packages also make it much easier for users to attend the event.

		Wireless & Networking Dominate ISA EXPO 2008, Product Highlights The emphasis on networked communications whether wired or wireless was visible at the event. We review the ISA Wireless Industrial Automation Standard (SP100) Committee meeting in Houston, which drew a standing-room-only crowd. Other product highlights include: PLC/Programming Learning Package, EtherNet/IP Controller, Single Board Industrial Controller, Remote Eyeballs for Wireless Reading Gauges, Quad Process Safety System, Universal Gas Transmitter and HMI Enhancements.

		Connecting temperature sensors to fieldbus Control Engineering Europe, November 2008 Temperature measurement may be the oldest and most widely measured process variable, and today it is solidly embracing a new type of transmitter: one that communicates using HART, Profibus, or Fieldbus Foundation protocols.

		Tutorial: Instrumentation / DCS integration languages, EDDL Control Engineering Europe, November 2008 One of the tools that can help you get more from your instrumentation and other process control devices are integration languages, such as EDDL and FDT. While the two have many similar characteristics and capabilities, there are subtle differences. This article considers EDDL.

		Economics of Fault-Tolerant Fieldbus Wiring Control Engineering, November 2008 By Mike O'Neill, MooreHawke Careful and clever analysis of fieldbus segments can yield fault tolerance where it's needed most without adding hardware costs over less effective strategies.

		Tutorial: Challenges of unlocking HART data Control Engineering Europe, October 2008 By Peter Welander The growing availability of devices to unlock HART data from instruments is causing new interest in putting this technology to work. That’s a good thing, but don’t be surprised if what you find is a little confusing.

		Can Topology Reduce Costs? Industrial Networking, Winter 2008 By John Rezabek Process buses like FF and PA were designed to accommodate the existing networks and wires that one is likely to find in a legacy point-to-point 4-20 mA installation. But what if you have a new installation or you’re not aiming to reuse that old twisted-pair wire for the spurs?

		Total Insight Total Control Industrial Automation Asia, September 2008 By Arasu Thanigai and Andreas Hennecke, Pepperl+Fuchs Installing an Advanced Diagnostics system for an existing fieldbus infrastructure presents a cost benefit to a process plant.

		Automation Insights Network By Rick Zabel, Publisher Automation Insights Network is a select group of controls and automation professionals who agree to help us cover news, emerging trends and technologies on various automation topics. Every two months, we will ask people in the Network to share their observations, knowledge and expertise with us. We take that information, distill it, and pass it on to our reporters and editors for use in future stories.

		Invensys...Extreme Makeover - Review from IPS User Conference By Bill Lydon, Contibuting Editor After attending the IPS North American Client Conference it is apparent that the company is reinventing itself with a clearly defined strategy. IPS's (Invensys Process Systems) view of the major challenge facing industry was summarized by Paulett Eberhart, president and CEO - "Industrial business is now a real-time business, and the only way to effectively perform in a real-time business is in REAL TIME."

		Decode your Digital Future Chemical Processing, September 2008 By Ian Verhappen, MTL Instruments Justifying an expenditure can be challenging — especially when you want to introduce a new technology to your operation such as one of the fieldbuses that form the basis for the digital plants of the future. So, here, we’ll look at the advantages and savings that you realistically can expect with such a fieldbus.

		Fieldbus Goes Nuclear Control, October 2008 By David W. Spitzer Fieldbus instruments could be used in nuclear applications with appropriate qualification and testing.

		Using Fieldbus in your HMI Control, October 2008 By John Rezabek Some innovative end users have figured out how to depict all their fieldbus segments on HMI graphics, and display some of the key measurements (e.g., case temperature) and communication statistics in real time. In this way, they have done away with “paper” loop diagrams.

		Gigabit Ethernet: Is the Time Right? Control Engineering, October 2008 By Ralf Kaptur, Molex Using gigabit Ethernet is a lot like having the fastest car in the world. Just as most current highways can’t accommodate a car that operates that fast, a substantial portion of installed Ethernet devices are incapable of leveraging gigabit Ethernet speed.

		Fieldbus in focus: Understanding network similarities, differences Plant Engineering, September 2008 By Jack Smith Regardless of whether a manufacturer is a factory automation user or a process automation user, networks and buses must be able to withstand potentially harsh environments and must prioritize network availability and data integrity to support the manufacturing operations they control.

		System redundancy with WirelessHART Plant Engineering, September 2008 By HART Communication Foundation Wireless systems can provide redundancy to help prevent data loss. In the case of WirelessHART, redundancy is available at all levels of the network system.

		Open-source radio technology: Now available for process engineering Plant Engineering, September 2008 By Gerrit Lohmann and Robert Schosker, Pepperl+Fuchs WirelessHART provides the necessary step from proprietary solutions to an overall standard in process technology, which enables the use of radio technology without system breakdown.

		Will Wireless Replace Fieldbus? Control, September 2008 By John Rezabek Until we retire a generation of plant operators, I’m betting that hardwired instruments are going to be around.

		ISA - Change the name to represent the industry By Rick Zabel, Automation.com The proposed name change of ISA (to "International Society of Automation") is up for a vote again during ISA Expo in Houston, October 14-16, 2008. Last year, the change was voted down, but I have yet to hear a compelling argument against the change. And there are many reasons for the change. If ISA is truly the global society of automation professionals, then its name should reflect its cause. It's time for a change!

		PROFIBUS hits new highs, PROFINET to follow? By Bill Lydon, Contributing Editor This year's PTO General Assembly Meeting again was attended by an enthusiastic group of users, suppliers, and distributors that apply PROFIBUS and PROFINET technology. Michael Bryant, Executive Director, was master of ceremonies and forecasted PROFINET will be the leading Ethernet Technology for automation applications.

		Foundation for Safety Control Engineering Asia, August 2008 By David Glanzer Foundation fieldbus, with its distributed function blocks and open communications protocol, is a platform well-suited for advancing standards-based solutions for plant safety instrumented functions (SIF). This technology enables process end users to realize significant reductions in their total cost of ownership by extending fieldbus benefits into plant safety systems.

		Wireless HART Signals a Change in Plants Process Industry Informer, July/Aug 2008 By Gareth Johnston and Alan Munns, ABB HART 7 gives plants a real incentive to consider wireless. Article examines the advantages and typical applications of a wireless instrument network, whether now is the right time to consider a wireless project, and how a WirelessHART instrument network works.

		Square One Industrial Networking, Summer 2008 The old “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” mantra still holds. So, even though many devices will likely bust and fail soon, and despite all the hype and node growth surrounding fieldbuses, Ethernet and now wireless, it’s still no surprise to find that a significant majority of all installed control and automation systems still rely on point-to-point hardwiring.

		Wireless HART’s Price Point Industrial Networking, Summer 2008 By John Rezabek The HART Foundation recently approved a standard for wireless HART, and one of the benefits for end users is the ability to “access stranded diagnostics.” But what about the old-school method for extracting HART diagnostics, the HART mux?

		What Are You, Chicken? Industrial Networking, Summer 2008 By Jim Montague Users and integrators say many fieldbuses don’t function as well on the plant floor as they do in powerpoint slides. Fieldbus experts counter that digital networks deliver savings over time and that users are still just being stubborn.

		FDT vs EDDL Controvery Rages Emerson Process Experts, August 2008 By Jim Cahill Although it may be true that combining EDDL with FDT/DTM you get some benefits from both, unfortunately you also get the drawbacks of both. For example, on its own, EDDL protects the system investment because it is independent of Windows. Mix in FDT/DTM and your system no longer has this advantage.

		State of Manufacturing & Automation in the U.S. Looks Good Could it be that high fuel prices, the weak dollar and crises in the U.S. manufacturing industry are creating opportunities? Andy Chatha of ARC Advisory Group thinks so. He says the U.S. industry has suddenly become competitive on the world market, and companies are no longer moving operations overseas. Instead, many are expanding their facilities, and he predicts a boom in automation right here in the U.S.

		Ready for Control in the Field? Control, July 2008 By John Rezabek If you have an investment in intelligent field devices that can handle 80% of the control in your plant, why put the entire burden on your host? Users should let hosts churn away at the more demanding advanced control and optimization, and leave the day-to-day, garden-variety PID to the field devices.

		Honeywell 2008 Users Group - Heroes Gather in Phoenix By Bill Lydon, Contributing Editor The 33rd annual Honeywell Users Group Conference was held June 15 - 19, 2008 at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, AZ with over 700 customers in attendance. According to Honeywell Vice President/General Manager, "The conferences super hero theme, Power to Perform, highlights the heroic efforts of process industry professionals to perform well despite rising costs and resource constraints."

		Open for Business By Ron Bernstein, LonMark International Open systems allow access to the total facility, providing the resources building owners need to evaluate energy use and resource consumption. The result is better educated decisions about how to improve utilization as well as reduce costs. Here’s an in-depth look into the meaning of having open building controls and a guide to purchasing a genuinely open solution.

		Intrinsic Safety in the Digital Age Control, June 2008 By Paul Miller As fieldbus becomes the norm rather than the exception, there are many users who are demanding protection for their fieldbus networks. However, there are significant conflicts between the technique of intrinsic safety and multiple-device, multi-drop networks.

		Don't judge a supplier by its name By Frank Hurtte, Contributing Author. For those of us who live and breathe the rarified vapors of technology based automation, it's pretty hard to fathom how life existed without electronic automation. Yet, it has been a short 30 years since the venerable PLC became anything more than a novelty outside of the Big 3 in Detroit. Sometime in the late 1970s, microprocessors changed our lives forever. Since those early days, the power of these tiny chips forever changed the way we think about manufacturing.

		HART monitors extract data from smart instruments Plant Engineering, May 2008 By Greg Feliks, Moore Industries A simple and cost effective solution for gathering HART information is to use a HART interface device. Fortunately, HART interface devices, available from several manufacturers, make acquiring HART data a fairly simple proposition. This HART data is then made available to the control system via analog signals, discrete outputs or serial communications.

		Installing Fieldbus By Mike O’Neill, Director of MooreHawke Many automation engineers are coming face to face with real fieldbus applications for the first time. Fieldbus is a wonderful technology with many benefits, but fieldbus installation requires some additional considerations over and above normal 4-20mA projects. This article discusses some of those issues, and shows you how to deal with them.

		Regional Manufacturing Expos Prove Most Valuable By Thomas R. Cutler Deciding which conferences, webinars, and expos are worthwhile for manufacturing engineers and buyers to attend often feels like a dangerous yellow brick road, never knowing quite what to expect.

		Industrial Networks - Plethora of Choices By Jim Pinto Companies have lots of choices for installing and using industrial networks. They have to choose not only what's available today, but also be aware of emerging standards. It's important to have a strategy going forward.

		Bit-level Buses Compete on Speed, Connectivity Automation World, May 2008 By C. Kenna Amos Down in the lower levels of the seven-layer International Organization for Standardization’s (www.iso.ch) Open System Interconnection Reference Model, two bit-level buses compete to control devices such as actuators and sensors: the Actuator Sensor Interface (AS-I) and CompoNet.

		Do You Really Need that Separate Safety Network? Automation World, May 2008 By James R. Koelsch Why install the latest generation of safety networks? Most people would put the money saved on less wiring at the top of their list of answers.

		Make the most of WirelessHART Chemical Processing, May 2008 By Gareth Johnston and Alan Munns, ABB HART 7 gives plants a real incentive to consider wireless. Authors examine the advantages and typical applications of a wireless instrument network, whether now is the right time to consider a wireless project, and how a WirelessHART instrument network works.

		What’s needed in process automation? Chemical Processing, May 2008 By Mark Rosenzweig A recent survey of end users by Jacobs Engineering Group provides an extensive wish list for field instrumentation, including disposable instrumentation for disposable process components; Class 1 Division 1-rated I/O modules; power-over-Ethernet instruments; and built-in control module logic, including alarming. Wish lists also cover controllers, HMI, control systems, batch, and more.

		ABB is powered up and running at high efficiency! By Bill Lydon The products and services shown at ABB Automation World in Houston, Texas along with the enthusiasm of the ABB employees and users would seem to explain why the company’s 1st quarter 2008 earnings beat investment analysts’ consensus by over 40%. The three-day trade show and conference ran from April 29 through May 1 in Houston, Texas. There was a great deal of energy and enthusiasm at the event which showcased ABB products, ABB services, partner products, and over 300 workshops/training sessions.

		Plugging into Network Certification Control Engineering, May 2008 By Hank Hogan Certification based on testing is one way to make sure a fieldbus network actually works. Methods vary, and some new certifications are on the way.

		Installing Fieldbus: Some practical advice, Part 2 Process Industry Informer, April 2008 By Mike O’Neill, MooreHawke Div of Moore Industries Part 2 covers installing redundant systems, working in hazardous areas, and removing and replacing instruments. Many of the installation headaches discussed in this two-part article can be minimized through careful selection of fieldbus equipment at the beginning of the project.

		Building on the Foundation Control Engineering Asia, March 2008 By Jonas Berg, Emerson Process Management Asia Pacific Steady improvements and enhancements over the last decade together with an increasing knowledge base in the process industries have made it far easier to realize the promised benefits of Foundation fieldbus plant network technology.

		Safety fieldbus in the process industries What’s New in Process Instrumentation, March 2008 By Siemens As end users discover the benefits of fieldbus with their process automation systems, many are beginning to wonder why they haven't been able to enjoy similar benefits with their safety instrumented systems (SIS).

		The Pluses and Pitfalls of USB DAQ IEN, March 2008 By Jonathan Tucker, Keithley Instruments With all the benefits of USB come a few hidden hazards, which, if unchecked, can lead to inaccurate measurement results. Being aware of the hazards can help prevent problems.

		Biofuels Thrive with Automation Automation World, March 2008 By James R. Koelsch Satisfying the expected surge in demand for biofuels will require a combination of reliable automation and technologies to extract more fuel from natural resources. Smart fieldbus technology, such as Profibus, has caught on in this industry in a big way because it requires much less time and cost to install, commission and maintain.

		Universal solution for plant networks Control Engineering Europe February 2008 Industrial Ethernet is the fastest growing industrial network choice, but what exactly is it, how does its implementation differ from that of a traditional fieldbus, and does it really offer the single universal solution that is so often talked about?

		Instrinsic Safety Obsolete Yet? Control, March 2008 By John Rezabek The emergence of digitally integrated instruments, stricter environmental regulations and wireless access to diagnostics are converging to make “live maintenance in normally hazardous atmospheres” a rare occurrence. Shouldn’t end users ponder whether the value of an IS installation is still worth the added complexity, effort and expense?

		Fieldbus: Growing Globally Control Engineering, March 2008 By Peter Welander While considered mainstream technology, fieldbus adoption in process industries is still far from commonplace. The picture for users remains upbeat, but incomplete in many respects.

		Obtain the Full Capabilities of Hart Automation World, February 2008 By Ed Ladd Even though many users are beginning to understand the value of the information that resides in their Hart devices, accessing that information is the trick. 85% of the devices currently in the field are connected to legacy, analog-only I/O systems that cannot understand the encoded Hart digital information. Wireless might help.

		The Ups and Downs of Taking the Bus: Part Two Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, January 2008 By Gary Forrest, Ph.D., Wyeth Research In Part 2 of this series, Wyeth's Gary Forrest illuminats the processes of commissioning and qualifying a new bioprocess facility's fieldbus-based process control system and addresses life cycle management issues.

		Right Message, Right Person, Right Time Control, January 2008 By John Rezabek, contributing Editor Digital integration of field devices—whether through proprietary protocols, HART or fieldbus—can provide an opportunity for significant business results, but only if key players know where to find the data and what to do with the information.

		Installing Fieldbus in Real-Life Applications January 2008 By Moore Industries Many automation engineers are coming face-to-face with real fieldbus applications for the first time. Fieldbus is a wonderful technology with many benefits, but fieldbus installation requires some additional considerations over and above normal 4-20mA projects. This in-depth white paper discusses some of those issues, and shows you how to deal with them.

		Implementing FOUNDATION Fieldbus H1 Networks in Hazardous Areas By Bruce Bradley, Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals Many engineers today find themselves questioning which bus technology to implement in their facility. As if that topic isn't difficult enough to resolve, the subject is further complicated by implementing your chosen bus in a hazardous area. This white paper provides insight into the process for safely implementing FOUNDATION fieldbus in a classified area of your facility.

		Using MODBUS for Process Control and Automation MODBUS is the most popular industrial protocol being used today, for good reasons. It is simple, inexpensive, universal and easy to use. Even though MODBUS has been around for nearly 30 years, almost all major industrial instrumentation and automation equipment vendors continue to support it in new products. This white paper discusses how MODBUS works and a few clever ways it can be used in new and legacy plants.

		Fieldbus developments improve process control system operations Oil & Gas Journal, October 2007 By Harry Wilson, MooreHawke Now that fieldbus is used in virtually all new refineries, oil and gas companies are looking beyond the older, established products and their problems to more modern fieldbus hardware solutions that promise to make installations even more reliable, productive, and efficient. This article discusses the advantages and problems with new developments in fieldbus.

		The Ups and Downs of Taking the Bus Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, December 2007 By Gary Forrest, PhD, Wyeth Research In this two-part series, Wyeth's Gary Forrest discusses the challenges and benefits of implementing fieldbus technologies at a new bioprocess development facility. Choosing between Profibus or Foundation fieldbus was a big issue.

		Solving Maintenance Headaches of Fieldbus Systems Canadian Process Equipment & Control News, June 2007 Although fieldbus systems provide many advantages to end users, they can pose several maintenance and process headaches, including installation and startup, short circuits, removing and replacing instruments, and installing intrinsically safe systems. On page 47 at link.

		Control Technology for Future Generations By: Ron Bernstein, Executive Director, LonMark International The concept of a control networking architecture, which provides fair competitive bidding on all levels of a system and over the life of the system, is something the user market has been demanding for years. LON and other network protocols, such as BacNet, ModBus, and Zigbee, have been developed to deliver on this need

		Standards defining industrial connectivity entering 2008 Industrial Embedded Systems, December 2007 By Bruno Baylac and Gordon Padkin , Freescale Numerous standards are emerging that define higher-level protocols designed to provide well-defined, deterministic communications using Ethernet.

		The High Power Trunk Alternative to FISCO and FNICO By Bernd Schuessler, Pepperl+Fuchs End users throughout the Fieldbus world are demanding more power to connect more instruments to their Fieldbus segments in Class I, Division 1, and Class I, Division 2, hazardous location applications.

		Industrial Ethernet: More than just another fieldbus system By John Ditter, WAGO Corporation White paper says that, with industrial protocols like Modbus/TCP, EtherNet/IP, and PROFInet, users are no longer forced to buy proprietary fieldbus components from a handful of vendors.

		Fault-Free Fieldbus Control Engineering Asia, June 2007 By Desmond Ho, Fieldbus Applications Consultant, MooreHawke Although fieldbus systems provide many advantages to end users, there are key decisions made early in a project that affect maintenance and operations during construction and afterward. These issues are not typically brought up by the control system supplier.

		Who Puts the 'Industrial’ in Ethernet? Control Engineering, June 2007 By Mark T. Hoske Switches, routers, hubs, gateways, connectors, and other Ethernet hardware have been industrially hardened to take what manufacturing can dish out.

		Fieldbus in hazardous areas Control, June 2007 By Dan Hebert, senior technical editor Digital fieldbus networks have created new options for installing devices in hazardous areas by simplifying implementation of IS systems and avoiding explosion-proof enclosure conduit systems.

		Foundation fieldbus in hazardous areas Control, May 2007 By C. Bruce Bradley, PE Implementing Foundation fieldbus can seem like a daunting task, and when coupled with hazardous-area considerations, may approach information overload; however, it doesn't have to be an explosive concept.

		One bus for all? Control, May 2007 By John Rezabek, Contributing Editor When it comes to applications that allow our basic controls to function, system lock-ups are intolerable, so it pays to examine the heritage of fieldbus and carefully analyze the market that shaped it.

		What’s The Power Behind ETHERNET Powerlink Motion Control On Line, April 2007 By John Mazurkiewicz, Baldor Electric Automation designers, builders, and integrators are merging servo/motion technology with ETHERNET Powerlink, attaining higher levels of performance along with numerous additional benefits.

		Physical-layer diagnostics Control Design, March 2007 By John Rezabek, Contributing Editor If you have any fieldbus segments in operation, there’s a chance you are still working on what to do with all the new diagnostics. There are diagnostics for every device, valves and positioners, most of the sensors and many system-level components. But until recently, there were none for the “physical layer”; that is, the power conditioners, cable, terminators and connectors that make the whole network possible.

		The Language of Device Integration Control Engineering, March 2007 By Hans Georg Kumpfmüller, Siemens A&D, SC division The Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) allows integration of all devices uniformly into a control system—from a simple sensor up to a complex drive. Furthermore, the device description provides information on maintenance and diagnostic functions of a field device, and serves as an electronic data sheet. New device, maintenance, and diagnostic functions can be integrated with little effort and at any time into the EDD.

		Fieldbus Report Fieldbus Foundation, April 2007 This 36-page magazine published by the Fieldbus Foundation contains nine articles on Foundation fieldbus technology, applications and trends. The entire magazine can be downloaded as a PDF.

		Users driving the bus Control, April 2007 By John Rezabek, Contributing Editor One unique aspect of Foundation fieldbus (FF) is the degree of user input. FF is distinctive in the voice it gives its user advisory committee, the regional end-user councils, and global End-User Advisory Council (EUAC). Our input to the Fieldbus Foundation’s executives and board of directors provides a direct line to the leaders guiding the major automation suppliers.

		Not jazzed about fieldbus? Try it CONTROL, February, 2007 By John Rezabek, Contributing Editor Columnist John Rezabek notes that most systems now have excellent engineering tools and allow easy integration of fieldbus devices, so there are ever-fewer excuses not to try some truly distributed control.

		Still pondering whither fieldbus? CONTROL, January, 2007 By John Rezabek, Contributing Editor The author predicts HART devices work so well that your career may be over before you can justify the cost to replace them with fieldbus.

		Foundation Fieldbus Not a Fieldbus? Automation World, February 2007 By Gary Mintchell, Editor In Chief Rich Timoney, executive director of the Fieldbus Foundation, uttered a revolutionary thought at a press conference held during the group’s annual meeting in Houston on February 22. “Foundation Fieldbus isn’t a fieldbus—it’s an architecture,” proclaimed Timoney. Actually, the statement may be less revolutionary than it appears at first blush.

		Advances In Fieldbus Process Industry Informer, February, 2007 By Mike O’Neill, MooreHawke This article covers details of some of the awkward issues that fieldbus users might have to face: hazardous area choices, FISCO vs. Entity, integrating devices into systems from different manufacturers, short-circuit protection, redundant fieldbuses and fault-tolerance.

		Digital fieldbus networks CONTROL, February 2007 By Dan Hebert, Senior Technical Editor It’s not so easy to deploy digital fieldbus networks in existing process plants. Working around and with legacy HMIs, controllers and field devices to upgrade from discrete and analog connections to digital fieldbus networks presents a host of challenges. When there is only one twisted pair available to transmit multiple signals, a peer-to-peer solution is one answer.

		The intrinsically safe fieldbus has arrived Chemical Processing, February 2007 By Dr. Dave Rizzo, Power PR Fieldbus has proven its merit in bringing projects online more efficiently, allowing better diagnostics, and control, and reducing maintenance costs and inventories. However, it has been limited in intrinsically safe services. At last, technology has come through once again with a solution. The capacity barrier of FISCO has now been significantly surpassed by a novel split architecture design that has already proven itself in the field.

		New I/O Architecture Options by Steven Redcay of Phoenix Contact The increasing number of distributed I/O options available today is steadily increasing to meet industry’s changing needs. Ethernet in industrial applications are growing rapidly. As Ethernet expands into high speed direct I/O control, the performance of the network infrastructure and I/O devices has been increased. This paper will describe the some of benefits and application factors of this new technology.

		Technology Update-Fieldbus If your fieldbus network had a report card, the most important area for connectors to get high marks in would be "Plays Well with Others."

		Introduction to Modbus The Modbus protocol provides an industry standard method that Modbus devices use for parsing messages. This protocol was developed by Modicon, Incorporated, for industrial automation systems and Modicon programmable controllers.

		On-Machine™ - On the Cutting Edge of Automation With the current squeeze on capital investments, companies are searching for ways to lower the cost of installing and maintaining automation systems. As a means to this end, they’re finding that moving industrial controls and hardware closer to the application or directly onto the machine saves considerable time and money. This paper examines the scope of On-Machine™ solutions, outlines the key benefits of this growing trend and highlights examples where a distributed, On-Machine architecture has been successful.

		IEEE 1394 and Industrial Automation: A Perfect Blend Modern day Industrial Automation Systems control highly complex networks of high performance machine systems executing multi parameter control of variables like Precision Motion, Force, Temperature, Flow-Rate, Pressure, etc.

		PAS (Process Automation System) Independent Process Monitoring and Field Device Management Today, over 12 million installed process field devices allow full access to measurement and configuration data via the open HART® communication standard. However, the challenge is to get practical access to this data. Access to the information within HART communication capable devices is often not possible through legacy telemetry and automation platforms. This article describes the application of the Fieldgate HART to XML based field server and the open standard Fieldcare Field Device Tool (FDT) to gain on demand access to selected HART devices over wired and wireless Information Technology based Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN). Visibility of and access to field device information contributes to efforts to improve the life cycle management of process plants and associated distribution operations.

		Introduction to Profibus-DP ProfiBus was created in 1989 by the German government in cooperation with several manufacturers of automation equipment. It is a messaging format specifically designed for high-speed serial I/O in factory and building automation applications. It is an open standard and is recognized as the fastest FieldBus in operation today.

		Introduction to EtherCAT - Ethernet Control Automation Technology This paper introduces EtherCAT, an Ethernet-based fieldbus system. EtherCAT sets new performance standards. Handling is straightforward and similar to a fieldbus, thanks to flexible topology and simple configuration. Moreover, since EtherCAT can be implemented very cost-effectively, the system enables fieldbusses to be used in applications where fieldbus networking was not an option in the past. EtherCAT is an open technology for which IEC standardization is in progress.

		Will Industrial Ethernet Render Field Bus Systems Obsolete? by Hannover Messe Although it is universally accepted that Industrial Ethernet is transforming automation and process technology, this does not imply that it is the only feasible option, as Martin Müller, marketing manager of the Business Unit 'Automation Systems' of Phoenix Contact, points out.

		FOUNDATION™ Fieldbus:Tested. Proven. Available Today The challenges facing modern industry are different from those of the past. Shareholders expect increased profitability and sustainable growth. Expanding global markets lead to increased competition. These demands require that companies find new ways to reduce operating costs, streamline and/or re-orient workforces, accelerate delivery times, and develop innovative products.

		Getting the Most From Plant Assets By Rob Spiegel, Contributing Editor, Automation World An asset management system can help plants figure out that something’s about to blow before the equipment actually blows. Asset manager software applications can read device data through a fieldbus network to interpret and display the device’s problem before the device fails and shut down the process. This article shows how to accomplish asset management with Foundation Fieldbus, Hart and Profibus fieldbuses.

Automation.com Real-time Information for the Automation Professional May. 25, 2012

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