ISA Expo 2008 - Wireless & Networking Dominate, Product Highlights

By Bill Lydon - Contributing Editor

• 47 Exhibitors Claiming Wireless Products
• 46 Companies Participating in the Wireless & Networking Technology Exchange
• 33 Companies with Valve Products to provide a contrast.

• Enterprise Integration Exchange
• Environmental & Quality Control
• Process Automation
• Safety
• Security
• Wireless & Networking

Wireless Standard SP 100
The ISA Wireless Industrial Automation Standard (SP100) Committee meeting in Houston drew a standing-room-only crowd. The first official release of a draft standard is called SP100.11a.   The committee decided to combine two standards, SP100.11, which covers industrial process measurement & control, and ISA SP100.14, which focuses on optimized solutions for industrial monitoring. The logic behind the move was that the same wireless network that supports the monitoring function could accommodate both requirements.

Energy Harvesting was discussed after a brief presentation by Roy Freeland of Perpetuum who indicated this could accelerate the use of industrial wireless. Harvesting possibilities include vibration, solar, and infrastructure (such as circuitry). Freeland is proposing that an interest group on energy harvesting be established.

There was also discussion about a request that the Zigbee interest group be elevated to working group status.  The committee is considering this.

ISA100 Demonstration
The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) conducted a demonstration of the ISA100.11a wireless industrial automation network at ISA EXPO. The demonstration employed technology based on the latest draft of the ISA100.11a industrial wireless communications standard. The demonstration highlighted the mesh and interoperability capabilities of the proposed ISA100.11a standard by showing ISA100.11a Field Routers from many different vendors formed into a self-healing and dynamically adaptive mesh network.
 
Devices from 14 different instrumentation vendors formed the wireless network of interoperable devices all seamlessly working together using the ISA100.11a draft technology. These devices included various wireless platforms from fully integrated devices to devices with attached wireless adaptors. Wired HART devices were included in the demonstration and used the wireless adaptors to communicate HART information like stranded diagnostics over the ISA100.11a network to a host system.
 
The wireless demonstration system was comprised of three separate yet integrated ISA100.11a networks with devices sending process control data to a simulated, centralized plant-wide host monitoring system where the data was collected and displayed. The console operator at the host system could configure devices to periodically send data or could issue on-demand reads of the data from devices in the wireless network. More advanced capabilities exhibited by the ISA100.11a demo system included live process control loops, remote configurability, as well as simple “over the air” upgrades of the entire ISA100.11a system including the wireless field devices. The wireless sensor networks also communicated to a DCS via a gateway developed according to the ISA100.11a draft.
 
The demonstration included protocol stacks from two different developers to prove that the ISA100.11a draft standard document included sufficient detail to allow multiple developers from various nationalities across the globe to develop a fully functioning ISA100.11a system.
 
The first stack supplier was Atlanta-based Nivis, LLC, which coordinated the overall WCI demonstration. Nivis has also developed an Evaluation Kit for use by vendors who need development support for devices that will use protocol stacks in their products based on the ISA100.11a wireless standard. The Evaluation Kit is a user-friendly assessment tool that allows developers to swiftly build an ISA100.11a network and evaluate its performance.
 
The second stack was developed in China by the Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CQUPT). It was developed as a research project by over 40 college students and 8 different teachers all working from the same ISA100.11a draft document. The CQUPT stack was exhibited in the WCI booth as a standalone network with wireless devices from multiple vendors communicating with each other and also using the draft ISA100.11a standard technology.
 
The WCI booth fielded many questions, as interest in the ISA100.11a wireless standard was extremely high. The most frequently asked question was, “How and why are vendors developing products now when the ISA100.11a standard has not been fully approved?” The answer is two-fold; 1) The ISA100.11a standard development process is being conducted in a parallel fashion so technical specifications, test specifications, and stack developments are all currently underway. This approach accelerates technical discoveries and corrections at a much more rapid pace to ensure a high quality standard is produced in a timely fashion; and 2) The developers and vendors involved are very experienced wireless suppliers who have participated in the standards development process and have confidence that the approved ISA100.l1a standard will not deviate far from the current draft ISA100.11a standard.
 
“Today, and in the upcoming years, as products are developed and field tested based upon the ISA100 standards, the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute will provide feedback to the ISA100 Standards Committee to complement the development of technical standards. The ISA100.11a demonstration at ISA EXPO is an example of this coordinated effort,” said WCI Chair Herman Storey with Shell Global Systems.
 
Companies participating in the technology demonstration booth at ISA Expo 2008 included Barton Cameron, CQUPT, Dresser Masonielan, Flowserve, Fuji Electric, GE MDS, Hach, Honeywell, ITT, Krohne, Metso, Nivis, Omron, Sensicast, Teledyne, Yamatake, Yokogawa, Williamson, and WIKA.

ISA Expo 2008 Product Highlights