Building upon the Fieldbus Foundation's release of the remote I/O specfication from April 2011, the foundation announces that an updated version of its Foundation technical specifications is now available for immediate implementation. Announced at the ACHEMA 2012 show in Frankfurt, Germany, the latest release addresses key elements of Foundation for Remote Operations Management (ROM) technology, which enables manufacturers to begin developing Foundation for smart devices. Specifications have been added for transducer blocks for both wired and WirelessHART® devices.
Fieldbus Foundation's ROM solution offers a unified digital infrastructure for asset management in a wide range of remote applications, such as oil and gas pipelines to tank farms and offshore platforms, and even OEM skid mounted equipment. The technology enables fieldbus connectivity to remote I/O and the leading industrial wireless protocols, including WirelessHART and ISA100.11a. It provides an interface to these wireless technologies and uses Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) and function blocks to ensure interoperability with Foundation for ROM devices.
Foundation for ROM is the first example of the capability of integrating ISA 100.11a, WirelessHART, wired Hart, and wired H1 protocols into a single standard environment, without sacrificing the diagnostic capabilities of the existing wireless devices. Those capabilities are mapped into the block structure to provide a standard environment for data management, quality, and more, eliminating today's solutions which are highly customized and much more costly to maintain throughout the plant lifecycle. In addition, with Foundation for ROM, industrial operations can implement a true predictive and proactive maintenance strategy for remote assets that could not previously support one. Data from devices on multiple networks, both wired and wireless, are tightly integrated into the Foundation fieldbus infrastructure, providing a single environment for management of diagnostic data, alarms and alerts, data quality, control in the field capability, and object oriented block structure.
Fieldbus Foundation members with up-to-date license agreements can download a complete copy of the latest Foundation fieldbus technical specifications from Fieldbus Forums on the foundation's End User Resources website section. To purchase or update a license agreement, please e-mail
[email protected].