Spec for ISA100.11a Device Integration Released

Feb. 10, 2014
Fieldbus Foundation Development Allows End Users to Employ Multiple Wired, Wireless Protocols for Greater Flexibility and Expandability

The Fieldbus Foundation released the final specification for integration of ISA100.11a wireless field devices into its Foundation for Remote Operations Management (ROM) technology. This development allows automation end users to employ multiple wired and wireless protocols for greater flexibility and expandability.

Foundation for ROM will extend the capabilities of Foundation fieldbus to enable the implementation of a predictive and proactive maintenance strategy for remote assets that previously could not support one. It provides a unified digital infrastructure for asset management in applications ranging from tank farms and terminals to pipelines, offshore platforms and OEM skids.

With this release, the Fieldbus Foundation finalized the remote I/O, wired HART, 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. 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 Foundation 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 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. Its high-speed Ethernet (HSE) TCP/IP protocol enables remote operations information to be communicated to the control system over any wired or wireless backhaul network using the architecture model developed in a joint collaboration between the Fieldbus Foundation and the International Society for Automation (ISA) within the ISA100.15 Wireless Backhaul Networks Working Group.