Suppliers unified for field device integration - the latest on FDI

Karlsruhe, Germany - To accelerate deployment of the Field Device Integration (FDI) technology, a group of major suppliers have agreed to enlarge the scope of the EDDL co-operation team and will become the FDI Cooperation, the PROFIBUS International organisation has announced. The cooperation, it said will initially encompass the associations: FDT Group, Fieldbus Foundation, HART Communications Foundation, OPC Foundation and PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation, as well as the companies ABB, Emerson, Endress+Hauser, Honeywell, Invensys, Siemens, and Yokogawa.

The FDI project was kicked-off at 2007 Hanover Fair. At this time ECT welcomed FDT Group with the primary objective of harmonizing EDDL and FDT/DTM technologies. Since then, the project has carefully shaped the technology direction for the converged FDI solution. The addition of supplier companies, which have agreed to support FDI packages in their systems and products, will strengthen this effort by providing resources for the completion of this project.

Besides the finalisation of the FDI specification, which is scheduled for mid-2010, the scope of the enlarged EDDL Cooperation Team is covering common design and test tools, common binary format and interpreter across the protocols of HART, FF and PROFIBUS. The aim, said PROFIBUS International, is to assure a uniform device integration solution for process industries across all host systems, devices and protocols as required by end users.

"PROFIBUS International fully supports the effort to expand the consortium because the direct involvement of system suppliers will greatly accelerate the integration of FDI into process control systems. This step will create confidence and investment protection for users who for a long time have been calling for a single standard for device integration," the statement concluded.