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Behind the Transmitters: How ISA100.11a Nears Its Journey's End
Here's an inside look from some of the participants on the making of the first in an expected family of industrial wireless standards to be developed through the ISA/ANSI standards-making process.
What better time to revisit standards for industrial wireless applications than right now? The WirelessHart standard, published in September 2007 by the Hart Communication Foundation, and blessed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC, as publicly available specification IEC/PAS 62591Ed. 1) exactly a year later, has moved into the industrial world (see “WirelessHart Moves Forward”). More recently, in April 2009, the International Society of Automation's ISA100 Standards Committee on Wireless Systems for Automation voted to approve the ISA100.11a “Wireless Systems for Industrial Automation: Process Control and Related Applications” standard.
Some steps remain for ISA100.11a, which took the longest to arrive, but most of the hard work is over. Final comments gathered during the voting are going to be assessed, possibly resulting in some tweaks. Then, the ISA Standards and Practices Board must officially approve the standard, which is still technically a draft. According to those in the know, that could happen as soon as August of this year...
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WirelessHart Moves Forward -
The recent, relatively dramatic surge forward on the ISA100.11a front need not eclipse WirelessHart, especially in light of the ongoing effort to bring the two to convergence as ISA100.12.
The start of the climb toward International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standardization is still ahead for ISA100.11a, but the summit is in sight for WirelessHart, which became an IEC publicly available specification (PAS) last September.
The WirelessHart Communication standard builds on established international standards, including the Hart Protocol (IEC 61158), EDDL (IEC 61804-3), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' IEEE 802.15.4 radio and frequency hopping, spread spectrum and mesh networking technologies. (Much of the same applies to ISA100.11a, by the way, but in a much different mix and with diverging details)...Read more
Dot Eleven A -
The official name is ISA100.11a, “Wireless Systems for Industrial Automation: Process Control and Related Applications,” but what is it, really?
According to the International Society of Automation (ISA), the overall ISA100 Committee objectives were three:
1. Define the environment in which wireless technology is deployed
2. Identify and define the technology and life cycles of wireless equipment and systems
3. Identify the applications of wireless technology.
The third objective, of course, will never be metÑit really cannot be met, because it is forever on the move. The best that anyone can do, whether standards-bearer ISA, journalist or technology maven, is to try to record the more intelligent things that end-user companies and engineers come up with. The applications will always outstrip the codified list, and that is how it should be...Read more
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