Wireless Foundation for ROM

February 2014 Fieldbus & Industrial Networking

The Fieldbus Foundation has released the final specification for integration of ISA100.11a wireless field devices into its Foundation for Remote Operations Management (ROM) technology. Unlike solutions limited to a single network standard, this allows automation end-users to employ multiple wired and wireless protocols.

Foundation for ROM will extend the capabilities of Foundation Fieldbus to countless wired and wireless devices installed in some of the world’s harshest and most remote locations. This includes the implementation of a true predictive and proactive maintenance strategy for remote assets that could not previously support one. Foundation for ROM provides a unified digital infrastructure for asset management in applications ranging from tank farms and terminals to pipelines, offshore platforms, and even OEM skids.

With this release, the Fieldbus Foundation has finalised the remote I/O, wired HART and WirelessHART, and ISA100.11a portions of the Foundation for ROM specification. The technology integrates these protocols, along with H1 fieldbus, into the Foundation Fieldbus managed infrastructure. Specifications for Modbus communications are in development that will enable Modbus devices such as wellhead flowmeters and submersible pump controllers to be integrated in a similar way.

The new Foundation specification means that end-users will be able to manage their ISA100.11a wireless devices just like Foundation Fieldbus devices within the fieldbus infrastructure. The new specification includes parameters for ISA100.11a transducer blocks, providing the block application objects into which ISA100.11a variables may be mapped for access by other fieldbus devices. The transducer blocks also provide a mechanism to pass data to and from ISA100.11a devices directly from configuration or asset management hosts.

The Fieldbus Foundation’s ROM infrastructure provides a single source for data management, diagnostics, alarms and alerts, data quality control, control-in-the-field capability and object-oriented block structure.

To ensure interoperability, Foundation for ROM devices from multiple suppliers utilise Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) and interoperability testing. This is essential to improve integration of critical functional areas, including machinery health monitoring, safety interlocks, fire and gas detection systems and video surveillance.

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