Fieldbus Foundation: IEC technical report is "good news" for automation end users

Austin, Texas — Fieldbus Foundation has welcomed a new International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) report that provides guidance to end users for selecting an industry-standard device integration technology encompassing all host systems, field instruments and device protocols.

The new technical report, IEC 61804-6 Ed 1: Function blocks (FB) for process control - Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) - part 6: Meeting the requirements for integrating fieldbus devices in engineering tools for field devices, explains the requirements for field device integration and how they are met using the EDDL standard (IEC 61804-3).

EDDL is an established method for accessing diagnostic, real-time and asset management information contained in more than 20 million field devices from the world’s leading instrumentation manufacturers. It can help integrate field devices across different platforms and extends interoperability to the HMI.

The IEC report is based on the recommendations of NAMUR, an international end user association of automation technology in the process industries.

The NAMUR NE105 specification was published in 2004 to clearly define requirements for device integration technologies enabling a mixture of sophisticated device types — based on different protocols — from multiple manufacturers, and keeping control systems up to date with new versions of these devices. Device integration technology impacts both the ease of use for devices and system administration.

Fieldbus Foundation’s global marketing manager, Larry O’Brien, said, “This report is good news for automation end users because it illustrates how EDDL can satisfy key requirements for integrating the large amount of data provided by today’s fieldbus devices with the applications that must turn that data into useful information — not just FOUNDATION fieldbus devices, but all devices that rely on EDDL technology.”

O’Brien continued, “NAMUR writes excellent recommendation documents, and NE105 provides a very effective outline of how information from multiple intelligent devices should be integrated in a process plant.
“BIS, one of the leading industrial services suppliers in the world, conducted extensive research to match the functionality of EDDL with the NAMUR NE105 end user requirements and the subsequent technical report prepared by ISA’s SP104 committee explains why EDDL meets the NAMUR NE105 requirements.
“To get this report admitted as part of the IEC 61804-6 standard is beneficial because users now have a roadmap for implementing EDDL-based technologies in accordance with NAMUR NE105 recommendations.”