March 28, 2013 - Honeywell announced OneWireless Network Release 210, which incorporates several features that make wireless technology easier to deploy and operate, and result in lower deployment and operational costs. Enhancements in Release 210 include over-the-air field device provisioning and a Gateway General Client Interface (GCI) made possible by the ISA100 standard; and native integration of OneWireless field networks into Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS). With the over-the-air provisioning feature, field devices can now be configured and commissioned without having to invest in handheld devices or needing to perform provisioning locally at the device. The result is faster and less costly deployment and improved worker safety.
The GCI feature, enabled by the ISA100 standard, allows operations to continue using legacy protocols and proprietary applications while making it easier to wirelessly expand those applications throughout the plant. The GCI also allows third-party client applications to communicate natively using proprietary or common field protocols with wireless field instruments over the ISA100 network. Enabling operations to continue using existing applications or protocols eliminates the need to reinvest in additional equipment and new client applications, re-train maintenance and operations personnel, and to provide consistency across the plant.
Examples of GCI implementations include support for the GE System 1 condition monitoring application using GE’s Bently Nevada wSim devices and Honeywell’s OneWireless Adapter that wirelessly sends HART data from wireless HART or wired HART to HART clients. Integration of ISA100 field device networks into Honeywell’s Experion PKS has never been easier with the new Experion interface. This feature eliminates data mapping, non-value added engineering and simplifies HMI display creation. It also allows field process alarms to be displayed on Experion’s Alarm Summary to provide operators with the data they need to make decisions.
Tight integration with Experion also allows field operators and maintenance technicians to use Wi-Fi enabled handhelds to securely access process data in real-time from the field.