FDT Offers Device Setpoint Confidence

2013 - 4 Issue

Chairmanrsquos CornerWelcome to our second edition of Device Integration Strategies The marketing team has done a great job of transitioning from a standard PDF newsletter to this exciting dynamic format My thanks to all those involved and to FDT participating member companies for making this success-ful Readership comments and the web statistics point to this as being a viable enhancement to emailed newsletters Please keep your comments and suggestions coming

Our most recent Board meeting was at the end of October in Karlsruhe Germany My thanks goes to Siemens for sponsoring the in-person meet-ings at their facilities Our fall Board meetings traditionally focuses on the plans and budgets for the new year The Board approved the 2014 pro-gram and budgets presented by the Executive Committee that will ulti-mately be approved by the General Assembly in Spring We also took time to reflect on the untimely death of one of our Board members - Dr Ronald

Get Social with FDTStay connected with the latest news and trends with FDT Technology

In This Issue

gtgt FDT Offers Device Setpoint Confidence

P 02

gtgt Operator Efficiency Achieved with Harmonized Diagnostics from Field Devices

P 05

gtgt Simplifying Network Reconfiguration With FDT Technology

P 09

gtgt New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospects

P 10

gtgt New FDT Accredited DTM Testing Site in India

P 12

Microsite LinkedIn

YouTubeNewsletter

Simplifying device-level networking with FDTBrought to you byBrought to you by

For one chemical intermediate manufacturer in Switzerland FDT Technology and the companyrsquos chosen FDT Frame Application have provided the peace of mind that its measurement device setpoint documentation is always up to date

The Swiss site of the SI Group a developer and manufacturer of chemical intermediates phenol resins alkylphenol resins and alkylated phenols is based in Pratteln where the company pro-duces a range of intermediates for the plastics industry

Article continues on page 2

2013 - 4 Issue P 20

Chairmanrsquos Corner continued

Schoop of Schneider Electric I highly valued his rich technical knowledge married with a strong business sense that he could so eloquently deliver to a diverse audience He will be deeply missed

Our Board of Directors welcomed General Monitors based in California as our newest FDT Member General Monitors a division of MSA is a lead-ing manufacturer of gas and flame detection devices You can learn more about General Monitors at wwwgeneralmonitorscom

The Board also took great pleasure in the finalization of the FDT standard as an official China National Standard GBT 29618 My thanks to Klaus-Pe-ter Lindner our Vice President of Associations and Standards along with his China team members for reaching this major milestone Our China FDT Association will continue to assist with the promotion and adoption of the standard within the region You can learn more about the FDT China stan-dard at httpwwwsacgovcnSACSearchoutlinetempletgjbzcxjsp

The broad adoption of the FDT standard is also reflected in the DTM certi-fication trends for 2013 Mid way through the year there were already more than 900 devices supported by newly certified DTMs To certify a DTM the device manufacturer must submit the DTM to an FDT approved certi-fication lab that tests the DTM for conformance to the certification specifi-cations Once approved the DTM is listed in the DTM catalog on the FDT web site httpwwwfdtgrouporgproduct-catalogcertified-dtms

Our Test and Certification Committee that oversees the certification pro-cess recently approved Utthunga Technologies Pvt Ltd of Bangalore In-dia as an authorized FDT testing lab The Utthunga location will benefit the many companies that do FDT DTM software development in India In addition to the test center capabilities Utthunga is in the process of install-ing an FDT interoperability lab for the region You can learn more about Utthunga at wwwutthungacom

If you are new to FDT Technology I hope you have had or will take the op-portunity to learn more at one of our many FDT End User seminars in North America Europe the Middle East or Asia Our regional committees regularly host these hands-on seminars to introduce you to FDT Technology You can also visit us at the SPS IPC Drives show in Nuremberg Germany on the 26th to the 28th of November or the Industrial Automation-India exhibition in Delhi India on the 17th to 20th of December

Hartmut Wallraf

FDT Offers Device Setpoint Confidence continuedThe site relies on FDT (Field Device Tool) Technology used in the Endress + Hauser Frame Application FieldCare the plant asset management tool FieldCare enabled with FDT Technology and TH LINK PROFIBUS Gate-ways provides this site access to the majority of its field measurement de-vices providing diagnostic data from a central location

Janos Horvath head of instrumentation and control for SI Group in Prat-teln explains how this came about ldquoOur introduction to FDT was really through the use of Endress + Hauserrsquos FieldCare plant asset manage-ment toolrdquo he said

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Yokogawalsquos DTM 2013 Collections for HART FOUNDATIONtrade fieldbus and PROFIBUS PA field devices are shipping To enable efficient device configuration and management all DTMs feature on- and off-line modes user-friendly navigation and print module DTM Collections for pressure temperature flow and electro-chemistry are free with registration

Yokogawa

Get Direct Access to FOUNDATION Devices via Softingrsquos Interface Boards with FDT Frame Integration

Device integration is easy with Softingrsquos interface board available for FOUNDATION fieldbus devices Via an easy to use USB connection to a FDT Frame Application of your choice operators can quickly make configuration adjustments as needed to devices on the network To get started download your Foundation fieldbus DTM free-of-charge today

Softing

2013 - 4 Issue P 30

FDT Offers Device Setpoint Confidence continuedThis FDT-based asset management tool FieldCare was the first to pass the FDT Grouprsquos conformance test It offers a solution to configure intelligent devices and offers a simple method of checking the continuing health of de-vices that support FDT The tool pro-vides a range of functionality ndash from device parameterization through to engineered condition monitoring Us-ing device status information it is able to provide a simple tool for checking the health of a device

The plant installed its first radar level transmitters that supported FDT Tech-nology over 10 years ago Horvath went on to explain that the facility also makes use of the manufacturer-independent PACTware software (Pro-cess Automation Configuration Tool) Its independence is possible be-cause of the standardized interface description of the FDT concept and using an appropriate DTM (Device Type Manager) to set up and adjust field instruments including pressure transmitters and radar level sensors ldquoWe find this tool to be easy to use and it makes it easy to document the setpoints etcrdquo said Horvath

ldquoWork processes have changed for engineers at the plantrdquo continued Hor-vath ldquoIn the past we would take measurements manually or would need to use different tools for each instrument With FDT-enabled solutions we are able to use just one tool for almost every device The capability of FieldCare and the DTM to be product supplier host system and protocol independent makes it a universal tool allowing standardized work processes

Remote MeasurementsldquoWe now take field device measurements remotely usually from the central office at the facility so we do not have to travel around the facility to the same extent that we did in the past and data is more quickly available to userdquo Because the Pratteln facility consists of three production buildings and two infrastructure buildings being able to access data remotely can offer some impressive manpower time-savings ldquoWe are now able to con-nect with every part of the plant from the officerdquo said Horvath ldquoThis is a particular benefit because some areas of the plant are hazardous areas and a permit is needed to access these areas to collect data manuallyrdquo

For Horvath the real benefit however is not the manpower time he has saved it is the fact that the last setpoints are now properly documented that is one of the biggest benefits of the system ldquoWe are always confi-dent that we have the latest setpoint datardquo he said

To access and collect data a four strong engineering team uses two laptops for data collection around the facility and one fixed PC for use when in the office

At present around 70 of plant measurement devices at the facility are connected to the FieldCare asset management tool Although the plant does still employ some older equipment and also some very specialist devices used for water treatment the majority of devices used in the

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The PlantPAx Process Automation System and supporting Asset Management software can improve the security intelligence and predictability of plant resources The software features Process Device Configuration to make asset management easy for FDT enabled products Find out more at wwwrockwellautomationcomgoprocess

Rockwell Automation

New Process Monitor Add-in Appends Data Logger to PACTwarereg

Up to 30 device variables on networked HARTreg and Profibus devices can be observed in parallel during commissioning and maintenance work or on unattended work stations A highly flexible chart window and continuous archiving function are included Free 30 days trial license and tutorial are on YouTube

ICS

2013 - 4 Issue P 40

FDT Offers Device Setpoint Confidence continuedfacility are now supported by a DTM or have available DTMs and this percentage is growing ldquoToday when we look at purchasing new devices we will look more favourably on devices that support FDT Currently we are changing around two or three devices every weekrdquo he saidThe fieldbus independence offered by FDT Technology was also a bonus for Horvath He said ldquoOne of the benefits of FDT is that we can use one tool across a wide range of different devices which means that we are not tied into one vendor for our device selection Having this independence makes it easier for us to choose the best device for us for each applica-tion Being FDT enabled is not our main requirement when specifying new equipment However it is a big bonus ndash and we will generally choose a device with an available DTM where practicable We do need to choose the best device for an application and the fieldbus is not our main crite-ria So it is a benefit for us if all our devices can use the same indepen-dent bus

Moving ForwardMoving forward Hor-vath hopes to be able to use FDT more pro-actively to gain further value from the technol-ogy that already exists in devices at the plant He said ldquoWe are currently looking at using more of the diagnostic ca-pabilities offered by the intelligent device and using FDT Technology to access it A diagnosis tool that will alert us automatically if a device is going to have problems will enable us to ensure that it is replaced or fixed before it has an effect on productivity Making better use of this capability will allow us to be more proactive with maintenancerdquo

Offering a specific example of the benefits this could offer in his plant Horvath said ldquoFor example we have some temperature transmitters with two PT100s and if one is damaged it will automatically switch to the oth-er without letting us know that the change has occurred The diagnosis tool in FieldCare will alert us to the fact that one of the PT100s has been damaged and will give us an opportunity to ensure it is changed when the plant is next shut downrdquo

Although the engineering team at SI Group in Pratteln do appreciate the benefits that FDT can offer the move to remote working was quite a drastic change for many of the technicians Horvath explains ldquoAny IT or network issues can be frustrating for the engineers as they are not IT experts and may not recognize the problem or be able to rectify it How-ever we do need them to work with the equipment to ensure that we do not lose the latest setpoint data It would be very problematic if a device needed to be replaced and we did not know which setpoints to use The documentation element of the system is vital and this is the reason that we insist that the engineers always use the remote technology supplied to them even if they are out in the plant and standing next to the device they are working onrdquo Author Suzanne Gill Control Engineering Europe

Get Your Free DTMs Here

Donrsquot Miss Industryrsquos 1 Networking amp Learning Event ARCrsquos 18th Annual Industry ForumFeb 10-13 2014

Access the DTM tool that enables you as a device user to commission operate configure and diagnose all HART and FOUNDATION fieldbus devices in your plant in a uniform way with full functionality

Codewrights

ARC

2013 - 4 Issue P 50

Operator Efficiency Achieved with Harmonized Diagnostics from Field DevicesIntelligent field components and field devices provide an abundance of status information on the network and devices but this data is often dif-ficult to gather and understand Four companies describe the improve-ments that can be gained when NAMUR NE 107 and FDT Technology are combined to collect and analyze device and network diagnostics to improve operator efficiency

In the past field devices proved that there could be too much of a good thing transferring large amounts of diagnostic information that virtually flooded the user with data NAMUR a European group of approximately 15000 process control experts has written a document to help devel-opers deal with this flood of information NE 107 self-monitoring and di-agnostics of field devices outlines a series of recommendations on how to drive reliability and provide fieldbus diagnostic data using contextual presentation created for the people and systems that need it

NE 107 compresses the diagnosis into four standard status functions The availability of clear and well-structured data has considerable advan-tages to plant operators and maintenance personnel Users now receive only the information that they actually need instead of getting thousands of superfluous measurement details That eliminates many uncertainties related to plant operation and fault elimination ldquoThe standardized diag-nostics in accordance with NAMUR recommendation NE 107 permits a change from the previous maintenance strategy of rigid cyclical and of-ten unnecessary intervals to flexible maintenance as required Device in-tegration can thus save a large amount of moneyrdquo explains Juan Garcia product manager at Vega

FDT Technology is the ideal technology for those tasked with utilizing diagnostics with the added value achieved with NE 107 FDT Technol-

One Stop Shop for Device DTMs

FDT Video

Bottom Line Benefits of Intelligent Device Information Integration

Search and Find all Certified Device DTMs in One Spot

ldquoWhat is a Device Type Manager (DTM)rdquo

This paper reviews and presents examples of the bottom line benefits available

when using an FDT Frame Application and device DTMs to get early notification of potential problems ndash saving money and avoiding unscheduled shutdowns

2013 - 4 Issue P 60

ogy is the globally accepted standard (IEC 62453 ISA103 and China National Standard GBT 29618) for communica-tions and integration of smart field de-vices across protocols and applications spanning different manufacturers The combination of the two specifications can help developers and operators ex-ploit the diagnostic functions in modern networked or fieldbus devices The FDT Group has incorporated the use of the NE 107 symbolism in their style guide

ldquoOne of the seven autonomous networks in our sewage treatment plants is used specially for communication with the intelligent field devices making information available for asset manage-ment engineering and maintenancerdquo explain Hans Wolfgang Frank and Lars Fenner who manage process technology at Stadtentwaumlsserung und Umweltanalytik Nuremberg ldquoFDT Technology enabled us to implement a standardized engineering environment independent of the device manufacturer for parameterization and commissioning of all field devices It allows us to access the field devices from as many points in our plant as possiblerdquo

FDT is comprised of two main components to enable device integration and operational management One is the Device Type Manager (DTM) which contains device-specific data functions and logic elements for smart devices Another is the Frame Application which serves as the visual interface allowing plant operators to view and communicate with smart devices through the device DTM Itrsquos through device integration and maintenance technology like FDT that enables smart instrumentation across networks the ability to funnel NE107 diagnostic reporting that provide a proactive maintenance approach with clear meaning Below are four examples that demonstrate the improvements that can be gained when NAMUR NE 107 and FDT Technology are combined to collect and analyze device and network diagnostics

Diagnosis According to Customer RequestEndress+Hauser focuses on several open standards to meet customer requirements for categorized diagnostic messages ldquoOur DTMs for all HART Profibus and FOUNDATION fieldbus devices have a standardized diagnos-tic module which implements the NE 107 consistently and independently of the communication protocol on the basis of the fieldbus specificationsrdquo says Sandra Wesner Head of Technology Marketing at Endress+Hauser Process Solutions ldquoUsers thus receive exactly the information they require in order to react quickly and cor-rectlyrdquo

The measuring technology from Endress+Hauser is state-of-the-art and implements specification extensions for standardized diagnostic messages of the field buses in a consistent manner in the devices such as the FOUNDATION field bus FF-912 and with Profibus Profile 302 After opening the device DTM the dynamic di-agnostic information is displayed automatically in FDT-based Plant Asset Management Tools such as FieldCare from Endress+Hauser It consists of a human-readable fault message data describing the possible cause of fault and exact instructions for action With this information even inexperienced users can make a diagnosis and often correct faults without operating instructions or detailed knowledge of the device

Clever DevicesBeing able to see a wealth of information can help companies improve efficiency and reduce down time Ve-garsquos radar systems gather large volumes of diagnostic data making it easier to maintain systems ldquoOur sen-sors carry out continuous internal monitoring and diagnostic functionsrdquo said Vegarsquos Garcia ldquoThe results of these activities together with the four defined NE 107 statuses ndash maintenance requirements function check

Operator Efficiency Achieved with Harmonized Diagnostics from Field Devices continued

2013 - 4 Issue P 70

Operator Efficiency Achieved with Harmonized Diagnostics from Field Devices continuedfailure and outside the specification ndash are available to the process control system in the form of a compressed diagnosis messagerdquo If maintenance is required the responsible personnel can then request more detailed infor-mation from the sensor in a targeted manner via the corresponding sensor DTM and where necessary introduce suitable measures If for example the signal-to-noise ratio of a plicsreg radar sensor from Vega becomes smaller and smaller the reason for this could be material adhesions on the anten-na Cleaning the antenna can then be planned in a targeted mannerModern technology such as radar provides many options for routines and checks that help users to opti-mize processes in their plants Tar-geted querying of the device status can be carried out by means of the available DTMs via FDT Frame Appli-cations such as the free operating software independent of manufacturers and fieldbus for the configuration and parameterization of field devices PACTware

The use of a larger measured value memory allows data to be acquired and saved on site at the sensor Vegarsquos new plicsplus device generation is provided with an event and diagnosis memory for logging operations All of this is combined with a unique time code For fault analysis for example echo curves can be saved and analyzed after reading out the memory

Monitoring Made EasyAlthough two thirds of all users believe that continuous moni-toring of fieldbus networks is absolutely necessary only a few have implemented it up to now Users may buy equipment with the finest device diagnostics but many of the benefits will be lost if the diagnostic information cannot reach the process control system because there are problems with the network

Wherever continuous and reliable operation is required in-stalling a fieldbus system should be a focal point A fieldbus failure can have serious consequences so the bus segment should have a high quality high availability installation ldquoThe fieldbus topology of the FOUNDATION fieldbus H1 and Profi-bus PA becomes a controllable plant component with the help of diagnostic tools such as the Advanced Diagnostic Module (ADM) that includes NE107 network status reporting The field-

bus is now a lot easier to handleldquo states Thomas Westers who handles training in process automation at Pep-perl+Fuchs ldquoAll information is available via the DTM in the safe environment of the control room Entry to the plant is unnecessary which enhances personal and plant safetyrdquo

2013 - 4 Issue P 80

Automated test tools are used for installation inspection and monitoring They can perform a loop check using the perfectly functioning communication as a basis The ADM from Pepperl+Fuchs offers high operating com-fort carries out inspections of the fieldbus topology documents the connected field devices logs deviations and can compare them with the planning document The ADM uses an expert system to precisely indicate irregularities in the installation using simple comprehensible text Typical installation errors such as inadequate shielding grounding errors incorrect termination or short circuits can be remedied quickly

Standardized and User-FriendlyTrebing+Himstedt offers a cross-network monitoring system for Profibus Profinet EtherNetIP Modbus TCP and Industrial Ethernet Networks can be monitored during operation with TH Scope web-based software When combined with network access via the Profibus-Ethernet gateway TH Link the software detects malfunctions very early The diagnostic software can monitor several fieldbus networks and communication protocols in an application and will report standardized NE 107 functional diagnostics making facility maintenance easy ldquoStan-dardized modern and user-friendly operating concepts for asset management systems are indispensablerdquo says Katja Groszlige responsible for Marketing Industrial Communication at Trebing+Himstedt ldquoThe application offers not only central access to different field devices from the FDT Frame Application but also plant-wide parallel monitoring of fieldbus and field devices All of this is available without additional effortrdquo

The user benefits from a standardized diagnostic system for different fieldbus protocols and receives support with commissioning operation inventory and maintenance Users do not require special knowledge of the communication protocols Thatrsquos because errors in the network and devices are shown quickly using intuitive operating interfaces Other tools include automatic alarm signaling for errors or problems and a simple display based on a traffic light

Operational efficiency is key to plant potential The benefits gained by these diverse implementations under-score the value of using FDT Technology to access network and field device diagnostics with harmonized NAMUR NE 107 status reporting When technologies are easy to implement users can utilize them quickly and improve their operations

Operator Efficiency Achieved with Harmonized Diagnostics from Field Devices continued

2013 - 4 Issue P 90

Simplifying Network Reconfiguration With FDT Technology

Clariant had problems reconfiguring its networks but engineers solved it easily using FDT Technolo-gy Ludwig Wenninger plant technics plastics addi-tives manager explains the solution ldquoThe communi-cation DTM and PROFIBUSEthernet gateway from Softing are the central components in our plant Softingrsquos PROFIdtm provides our FDT based engi-neering application remote access to field devices via Ethernetldquo

Clariant a producer of plastic additives is using PROFIBUS to communicate with intelligent HART devices that control the production process The link between PROFIBUS and HART is a Remote-IO b lock that translates 4-20mA signals into digital values and transmits the process data over a fast RS485 IS (Intrinsically Safe) PROFIBUS connection through a barrier (RS485 IS to RS485 signal converter) to a DeltaV system (PROFIBUS master)

The system worked efficiently but it had one major drawback when HART devices were reconfigured To reconfigure the devices staffers had to enter the EX area with a notebook which is certainly not an intrinsically safe device

Re-configuration came with an immense price tag because it was necessary to formally request a gas clear-ance certificate This request begins with informingalerting the local hospital and the local fire department Then the production process must be shut down and the hermetic seals around the EX area must be broken This drawback happened often due to the ever-increasing need to modify the recipe of the plastic additives The new solution was elegant and economical at the same time At the core of the solution is Softingrsquos PRO-FIBUS to Ethernet gateway with its capability to run as a non-interfering PROFIBUS master (Class 2 master) parallel to the DeltaV system In addition an upgrade of the Remote-IO blocks was necessary to support the HARTonDP protocol PactWaretrade a free FDT Frame Application was the solution on the software side With Softingrsquos PROFIdtm the HART gateway DTM and all necessary deviceDTMrsquos integrated into PACTware the staff was able to configure the HART device remotely

ldquoThe communication DTM and PROFIBUSEthernet gateway from Softing are the central components in our plant Softingrsquos PROFIdtm provides our FDT based engineering application remote access to field devices via Ethernet Via the FG PROFIBUS from Softing we can control three Profibus segments in parallel Softingrsquos components fit perfectly into our architecture and allow us to extend our plant in the future in a very cost efficient wayrdquo Lud-wig Wenninger Plant Technics Plastics Additives Clariant

Today Clariantrsquos technicians can access re-con-figure and even diagnose HART devices from their office desktops The configuration data is routed over Ethernet to Softingrsquos gateway and then through the barrier to the Remote-IO blocks The blocks translate the DP data frames into HART signals that are sent to the field devices In view of the fact that this solution has significantly cut plant downtimes it is clear that this investment will pay off very quickly

2013 - 4 Issue P 10

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospects

FDT (Field Device Tool) is a technology for interoperability between field devices and automation systems FDT can serve in device configuration automation system engineering manufacturing operations maintenance and device management FDT Group AISBL a non-profit consortium of over 90 member companies developers and end users maintains the technology FDT is standardized by IEC 62453 ISA 103 and China Nation-al Standard GBT 29618 The full FDT specifications are publicly available on the FDT Group website

FDTrsquos core concept involves two types of software components One is the DTM (Device Type Manager) which acts like a device driver by encapsu-lating the features and behaviors of a particular field device (for example a radar level transmitter or a robotic welding tool) The second compo-nent the Frame Application provides a unified runtime environment for all DTMs The FDT specification fully defines the interface between the Frame Application and DTM (see figure)

With FDT the properties and behaviors of individual fieldbus protocols are managed separately Neither the DTM nor the Frame specifies a field-bus Within FDT the fieldbus is treated as an abstraction This means that the DTM and Frame Application are independent of any fieldbus protocol It also means that FDT is extensible and can be extended to support any present or future fieldbus or communication protocol

A technology update popularly referred to as ldquoFDT2rdquo has been completed and ARC expects most commercial FDT2 products to appear in 2014 ARC interviewed several suppliers that have released or are in the process of developing FDT2 products While the company representatives were unwilling to speak ldquoon the recordrdquo about products still in development they were willing to share some of what they had learned from their programs thus far Those interviewed described many important changes made in FDT2 Here are a few that ARC believes will be most important

Common ComponentsFDT2 contains a set of ldquocommon componentsrdquo These software components serve as reference implementations that developers can use as a complete and fully tested starting point This will speed up development schedules substantially The DTM common component implements all the defined FDT functionality Device suppliers build their own unique device functions within the DTM common component A reference Frame Application which implements all the Frame functionality is also available This has been fully tested for interoperability with the reference DTM The Frame has also been enhanced so that it can easily be em-bedded in other programming tools something that at least one major automation supplier with whom ARC spoke

is doing for the next release of its control programming environment

The FDT fieldbus abstraction has also been improved so that it is possible to effectively decouple not just fieldbus technology but also controller programs from fieldbuses In other words the controller application does not know (or have to know) which fieldbus protocol is providing data Rather the controller application receives process data independent of the particular communication protocol

ARC believes that this level of abstraction will be a boon for FDT for both process and factory automation applications It will greatly enhance the ability of control engineers to deliver variants of their designs that use different fieldbus or industrial Ethernet protocols since they will be able to create a single control program that can use multiple fieldbus tech-nologies without modification

2013 - 4 Issue P 11

Backward CompatibilityTechnology updates are great but not without an easy migration path The FDT2 Frame has been designed to support both the new FDT2 DTMs as well as DTMs from the existing FDT12 This is a critical point for suppliers and end users One supplier ARC interviewed has developed several hundred DTMs This supplier has discon-tinued all its device-specific proprietary software tools and now uses FDT exclusively to configure and manage its products The ability to use both old and new DTMs means that end users and suppliers can migrate smoothly to the new technology The FDT2 Frame can also securely manage the installation of DTMs DTMs for FDT2 can be securely signed a big plus for simplifying device management as well enhancing security

Improved PerformanceThe new FDT2 implementation also shows greatly improved performance The FDT Group commissioned a se-ries of independent benchmark tests to compare FDT2 performance to FDT12 in a number of categories The software has been improved to reduce memory and CPU use for the most common or resource-consuming FDT tasks In general the performance improvements result in an order-of-magnitude reduction in the time required for many tasks (see figure) The improvements derive from improved software design but also from FDT2 moving to the more modern Microsoft NET technology from the older COM and ActiveX

Planning One Deliverable for FDT2 and FDIIn todayrsquos process industry two distinct technologies (FDT and EDDL) are used for device management Going forward FDT and EDDL will be become interoperable through the five-group initiative known as FDI Cooperation which includes FDT Group Fieldbus Foundation HART Communications Foundation Profibus amp Profinet International and the OPC Foundation These groups are cooperating to develop technology for interoperability between FDT2 and EDDL FDI hosts and FDT2 Frame Applications alike will be able to use the resulting FDI Device Packages which play a similar role to the DTM The ability for both FDT frame and FDI hosts to use the same Device Packages will allow device suppliers to create a single deliverable for supporting their devices while providing customers with the choice of using either an FDI or FDT host environment

ARC spoke with a major FDT device supplier that sells mostly to process industries where HART FOUNDATION fieldbus and Profibus are the dominant device networks Its goal is to develop FDI Device Packages that can be used with both FDT and FDI hosts This gives its customers the technology choice and enables it to provide a single package for device support The supplier reports two challenges with this strategy First is schedule since the FDI specification is only due out in 2014 The second challenge is the need to support a broader set of fieldbus technologies than FDI is targeting For this supplier fieldbus variety is not a major concern but for other suppliers now using FDT support for many field communication protocols is of major importance

ConclusionIn ARCrsquos view the two most compelling features of FDT are its extensibility and its powerful level of abstraction Extensibility enables FDT to be used with any fieldbus making FDT equally applicable to process and factory au-tomation FDT currently supports a dozen different fieldbus and communication protocols including the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)

FDTrsquos fieldbus and programming tool abstractions should help simplify solutions for machine and process skid builders ARC has heard machine builders praise this feature in FDT 12 (see this ARC report) but cautioned that it was difficult to achieve If FDT2 greatly simplifies this ability these applications will find FDT a most compelling technology across industry

For further information or to provide feedback on this article please contact your ARC client manager or the author at hforbesarcwebcom ARC Views are published and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group The information is proprietary to ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC

Author Harry Forbes ARC Advisory Group

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospectscontinued

2013 - 4 Issue P 12

New FDT Accredited DTM Testing Site in India

Utthunga is an automation solutions company developing and deploying automation needs of customers in the areas of Factory Process Power and Building domains providing standardized and custom solutions Utthungarsquos solutions portfolio includes -Field device connectivity and integration solutions-Remote diagnostics monitoring and analysis-Factory connectivity solutions-Plant data analytics and publishing to enterprise highway-DTM frame work for faster DTM development-RAD framework for SCADA development-OPC based Enterprise connectivity and dashboards With its solutions backed with a certified management team and ISO 90012008 quality process Utthunga is provid-ing services and high end consulting to the 4 of top 10 OEM companies Recently Utthunga applied to become an Accredited FDT Testing Site to test DTMs for compliance to the FDT spec-ifications to meet the growing need of development occurring in India The FDT Group Test and Certification Com-mittee received the independent audit report of the Utthunga lab and have found they meet all required criteria of the FDT Group Katrien Peeters Manager of the Test and Certification Office has issued a certificate of approval to Utthunga enabling them to conduct FDT DTM compliance testing effective immediately FDT test and certification sites consist of a team of FDT solution experts set up to provide review testing and validation services to manufac-turers developing DTMs for their smart instrumentation Utthunga FDT test lab facility can be utilized to test DTMs for FDT 121 certifications With industry class solutions development services and validation expertise Utthunga will be one stop solution for all FDT needs Utthunga is member of the FDT Group and involved in reviewing and validating the FDT specifications Utthunga is also an initiating member of the FDT India group for marketing and awareness activities in the region To view a listing of all the FDT Accredited Testing Sites please click here httpwwwfdtgrouporgaccredited-test-sites

2013 - 4 Issue P 70

Operator Efficiency Achieved with Harmonized Diagnostics from Field Devices continuedfailure and outside the specification ndash are available to the process control system in the form of a compressed diagnosis messagerdquo If maintenance is required the responsible personnel can then request more detailed infor-mation from the sensor in a targeted manner via the corresponding sensor DTM and where necessary introduce suitable measures If for example the signal-to-noise ratio of a plicsreg radar sensor from Vega becomes smaller and smaller the reason for this could be material adhesions on the anten-na Cleaning the antenna can then be planned in a targeted mannerModern technology such as radar provides many options for routines and checks that help users to opti-mize processes in their plants Tar-geted querying of the device status can be carried out by means of the available DTMs via FDT Frame Appli-cations such as the free operating software independent of manufacturers and fieldbus for the configuration and parameterization of field devices PACTware

The use of a larger measured value memory allows data to be acquired and saved on site at the sensor Vegarsquos new plicsplus device generation is provided with an event and diagnosis memory for logging operations All of this is combined with a unique time code For fault analysis for example echo curves can be saved and analyzed after reading out the memory

Monitoring Made EasyAlthough two thirds of all users believe that continuous moni-toring of fieldbus networks is absolutely necessary only a few have implemented it up to now Users may buy equipment with the finest device diagnostics but many of the benefits will be lost if the diagnostic information cannot reach the process control system because there are problems with the network

Wherever continuous and reliable operation is required in-stalling a fieldbus system should be a focal point A fieldbus failure can have serious consequences so the bus segment should have a high quality high availability installation ldquoThe fieldbus topology of the FOUNDATION fieldbus H1 and Profi-bus PA becomes a controllable plant component with the help of diagnostic tools such as the Advanced Diagnostic Module (ADM) that includes NE107 network status reporting The field-

bus is now a lot easier to handleldquo states Thomas Westers who handles training in process automation at Pep-perl+Fuchs ldquoAll information is available via the DTM in the safe environment of the control room Entry to the plant is unnecessary which enhances personal and plant safetyrdquo

2013 - 4 Issue P 80

Automated test tools are used for installation inspection and monitoring They can perform a loop check using the perfectly functioning communication as a basis The ADM from Pepperl+Fuchs offers high operating com-fort carries out inspections of the fieldbus topology documents the connected field devices logs deviations and can compare them with the planning document The ADM uses an expert system to precisely indicate irregularities in the installation using simple comprehensible text Typical installation errors such as inadequate shielding grounding errors incorrect termination or short circuits can be remedied quickly

Standardized and User-FriendlyTrebing+Himstedt offers a cross-network monitoring system for Profibus Profinet EtherNetIP Modbus TCP and Industrial Ethernet Networks can be monitored during operation with TH Scope web-based software When combined with network access via the Profibus-Ethernet gateway TH Link the software detects malfunctions very early The diagnostic software can monitor several fieldbus networks and communication protocols in an application and will report standardized NE 107 functional diagnostics making facility maintenance easy ldquoStan-dardized modern and user-friendly operating concepts for asset management systems are indispensablerdquo says Katja Groszlige responsible for Marketing Industrial Communication at Trebing+Himstedt ldquoThe application offers not only central access to different field devices from the FDT Frame Application but also plant-wide parallel monitoring of fieldbus and field devices All of this is available without additional effortrdquo

The user benefits from a standardized diagnostic system for different fieldbus protocols and receives support with commissioning operation inventory and maintenance Users do not require special knowledge of the communication protocols Thatrsquos because errors in the network and devices are shown quickly using intuitive operating interfaces Other tools include automatic alarm signaling for errors or problems and a simple display based on a traffic light

Operational efficiency is key to plant potential The benefits gained by these diverse implementations under-score the value of using FDT Technology to access network and field device diagnostics with harmonized NAMUR NE 107 status reporting When technologies are easy to implement users can utilize them quickly and improve their operations

Operator Efficiency Achieved with Harmonized Diagnostics from Field Devices continued

2013 - 4 Issue P 90

Simplifying Network Reconfiguration With FDT Technology

Clariant had problems reconfiguring its networks but engineers solved it easily using FDT Technolo-gy Ludwig Wenninger plant technics plastics addi-tives manager explains the solution ldquoThe communi-cation DTM and PROFIBUSEthernet gateway from Softing are the central components in our plant Softingrsquos PROFIdtm provides our FDT based engi-neering application remote access to field devices via Ethernetldquo

Clariant a producer of plastic additives is using PROFIBUS to communicate with intelligent HART devices that control the production process The link between PROFIBUS and HART is a Remote-IO b lock that translates 4-20mA signals into digital values and transmits the process data over a fast RS485 IS (Intrinsically Safe) PROFIBUS connection through a barrier (RS485 IS to RS485 signal converter) to a DeltaV system (PROFIBUS master)

The system worked efficiently but it had one major drawback when HART devices were reconfigured To reconfigure the devices staffers had to enter the EX area with a notebook which is certainly not an intrinsically safe device

Re-configuration came with an immense price tag because it was necessary to formally request a gas clear-ance certificate This request begins with informingalerting the local hospital and the local fire department Then the production process must be shut down and the hermetic seals around the EX area must be broken This drawback happened often due to the ever-increasing need to modify the recipe of the plastic additives The new solution was elegant and economical at the same time At the core of the solution is Softingrsquos PRO-FIBUS to Ethernet gateway with its capability to run as a non-interfering PROFIBUS master (Class 2 master) parallel to the DeltaV system In addition an upgrade of the Remote-IO blocks was necessary to support the HARTonDP protocol PactWaretrade a free FDT Frame Application was the solution on the software side With Softingrsquos PROFIdtm the HART gateway DTM and all necessary deviceDTMrsquos integrated into PACTware the staff was able to configure the HART device remotely

ldquoThe communication DTM and PROFIBUSEthernet gateway from Softing are the central components in our plant Softingrsquos PROFIdtm provides our FDT based engineering application remote access to field devices via Ethernet Via the FG PROFIBUS from Softing we can control three Profibus segments in parallel Softingrsquos components fit perfectly into our architecture and allow us to extend our plant in the future in a very cost efficient wayrdquo Lud-wig Wenninger Plant Technics Plastics Additives Clariant

Today Clariantrsquos technicians can access re-con-figure and even diagnose HART devices from their office desktops The configuration data is routed over Ethernet to Softingrsquos gateway and then through the barrier to the Remote-IO blocks The blocks translate the DP data frames into HART signals that are sent to the field devices In view of the fact that this solution has significantly cut plant downtimes it is clear that this investment will pay off very quickly

2013 - 4 Issue P 10

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospects

FDT (Field Device Tool) is a technology for interoperability between field devices and automation systems FDT can serve in device configuration automation system engineering manufacturing operations maintenance and device management FDT Group AISBL a non-profit consortium of over 90 member companies developers and end users maintains the technology FDT is standardized by IEC 62453 ISA 103 and China Nation-al Standard GBT 29618 The full FDT specifications are publicly available on the FDT Group website

FDTrsquos core concept involves two types of software components One is the DTM (Device Type Manager) which acts like a device driver by encapsu-lating the features and behaviors of a particular field device (for example a radar level transmitter or a robotic welding tool) The second compo-nent the Frame Application provides a unified runtime environment for all DTMs The FDT specification fully defines the interface between the Frame Application and DTM (see figure)

With FDT the properties and behaviors of individual fieldbus protocols are managed separately Neither the DTM nor the Frame specifies a field-bus Within FDT the fieldbus is treated as an abstraction This means that the DTM and Frame Application are independent of any fieldbus protocol It also means that FDT is extensible and can be extended to support any present or future fieldbus or communication protocol

A technology update popularly referred to as ldquoFDT2rdquo has been completed and ARC expects most commercial FDT2 products to appear in 2014 ARC interviewed several suppliers that have released or are in the process of developing FDT2 products While the company representatives were unwilling to speak ldquoon the recordrdquo about products still in development they were willing to share some of what they had learned from their programs thus far Those interviewed described many important changes made in FDT2 Here are a few that ARC believes will be most important

Common ComponentsFDT2 contains a set of ldquocommon componentsrdquo These software components serve as reference implementations that developers can use as a complete and fully tested starting point This will speed up development schedules substantially The DTM common component implements all the defined FDT functionality Device suppliers build their own unique device functions within the DTM common component A reference Frame Application which implements all the Frame functionality is also available This has been fully tested for interoperability with the reference DTM The Frame has also been enhanced so that it can easily be em-bedded in other programming tools something that at least one major automation supplier with whom ARC spoke

is doing for the next release of its control programming environment

The FDT fieldbus abstraction has also been improved so that it is possible to effectively decouple not just fieldbus technology but also controller programs from fieldbuses In other words the controller application does not know (or have to know) which fieldbus protocol is providing data Rather the controller application receives process data independent of the particular communication protocol

ARC believes that this level of abstraction will be a boon for FDT for both process and factory automation applications It will greatly enhance the ability of control engineers to deliver variants of their designs that use different fieldbus or industrial Ethernet protocols since they will be able to create a single control program that can use multiple fieldbus tech-nologies without modification

2013 - 4 Issue P 11

Backward CompatibilityTechnology updates are great but not without an easy migration path The FDT2 Frame has been designed to support both the new FDT2 DTMs as well as DTMs from the existing FDT12 This is a critical point for suppliers and end users One supplier ARC interviewed has developed several hundred DTMs This supplier has discon-tinued all its device-specific proprietary software tools and now uses FDT exclusively to configure and manage its products The ability to use both old and new DTMs means that end users and suppliers can migrate smoothly to the new technology The FDT2 Frame can also securely manage the installation of DTMs DTMs for FDT2 can be securely signed a big plus for simplifying device management as well enhancing security

Improved PerformanceThe new FDT2 implementation also shows greatly improved performance The FDT Group commissioned a se-ries of independent benchmark tests to compare FDT2 performance to FDT12 in a number of categories The software has been improved to reduce memory and CPU use for the most common or resource-consuming FDT tasks In general the performance improvements result in an order-of-magnitude reduction in the time required for many tasks (see figure) The improvements derive from improved software design but also from FDT2 moving to the more modern Microsoft NET technology from the older COM and ActiveX

Planning One Deliverable for FDT2 and FDIIn todayrsquos process industry two distinct technologies (FDT and EDDL) are used for device management Going forward FDT and EDDL will be become interoperable through the five-group initiative known as FDI Cooperation which includes FDT Group Fieldbus Foundation HART Communications Foundation Profibus amp Profinet International and the OPC Foundation These groups are cooperating to develop technology for interoperability between FDT2 and EDDL FDI hosts and FDT2 Frame Applications alike will be able to use the resulting FDI Device Packages which play a similar role to the DTM The ability for both FDT frame and FDI hosts to use the same Device Packages will allow device suppliers to create a single deliverable for supporting their devices while providing customers with the choice of using either an FDI or FDT host environment

ARC spoke with a major FDT device supplier that sells mostly to process industries where HART FOUNDATION fieldbus and Profibus are the dominant device networks Its goal is to develop FDI Device Packages that can be used with both FDT and FDI hosts This gives its customers the technology choice and enables it to provide a single package for device support The supplier reports two challenges with this strategy First is schedule since the FDI specification is only due out in 2014 The second challenge is the need to support a broader set of fieldbus technologies than FDI is targeting For this supplier fieldbus variety is not a major concern but for other suppliers now using FDT support for many field communication protocols is of major importance

ConclusionIn ARCrsquos view the two most compelling features of FDT are its extensibility and its powerful level of abstraction Extensibility enables FDT to be used with any fieldbus making FDT equally applicable to process and factory au-tomation FDT currently supports a dozen different fieldbus and communication protocols including the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)

FDTrsquos fieldbus and programming tool abstractions should help simplify solutions for machine and process skid builders ARC has heard machine builders praise this feature in FDT 12 (see this ARC report) but cautioned that it was difficult to achieve If FDT2 greatly simplifies this ability these applications will find FDT a most compelling technology across industry

For further information or to provide feedback on this article please contact your ARC client manager or the author at hforbesarcwebcom ARC Views are published and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group The information is proprietary to ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC

Author Harry Forbes ARC Advisory Group

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospectscontinued

2013 - 4 Issue P 12

New FDT Accredited DTM Testing Site in India

Utthunga is an automation solutions company developing and deploying automation needs of customers in the areas of Factory Process Power and Building domains providing standardized and custom solutions Utthungarsquos solutions portfolio includes -Field device connectivity and integration solutions-Remote diagnostics monitoring and analysis-Factory connectivity solutions-Plant data analytics and publishing to enterprise highway-DTM frame work for faster DTM development-RAD framework for SCADA development-OPC based Enterprise connectivity and dashboards With its solutions backed with a certified management team and ISO 90012008 quality process Utthunga is provid-ing services and high end consulting to the 4 of top 10 OEM companies Recently Utthunga applied to become an Accredited FDT Testing Site to test DTMs for compliance to the FDT spec-ifications to meet the growing need of development occurring in India The FDT Group Test and Certification Com-mittee received the independent audit report of the Utthunga lab and have found they meet all required criteria of the FDT Group Katrien Peeters Manager of the Test and Certification Office has issued a certificate of approval to Utthunga enabling them to conduct FDT DTM compliance testing effective immediately FDT test and certification sites consist of a team of FDT solution experts set up to provide review testing and validation services to manufac-turers developing DTMs for their smart instrumentation Utthunga FDT test lab facility can be utilized to test DTMs for FDT 121 certifications With industry class solutions development services and validation expertise Utthunga will be one stop solution for all FDT needs Utthunga is member of the FDT Group and involved in reviewing and validating the FDT specifications Utthunga is also an initiating member of the FDT India group for marketing and awareness activities in the region To view a listing of all the FDT Accredited Testing Sites please click here httpwwwfdtgrouporgaccredited-test-sites

2013 - 4 Issue P 80

Automated test tools are used for installation inspection and monitoring They can perform a loop check using the perfectly functioning communication as a basis The ADM from Pepperl+Fuchs offers high operating com-fort carries out inspections of the fieldbus topology documents the connected field devices logs deviations and can compare them with the planning document The ADM uses an expert system to precisely indicate irregularities in the installation using simple comprehensible text Typical installation errors such as inadequate shielding grounding errors incorrect termination or short circuits can be remedied quickly

Standardized and User-FriendlyTrebing+Himstedt offers a cross-network monitoring system for Profibus Profinet EtherNetIP Modbus TCP and Industrial Ethernet Networks can be monitored during operation with TH Scope web-based software When combined with network access via the Profibus-Ethernet gateway TH Link the software detects malfunctions very early The diagnostic software can monitor several fieldbus networks and communication protocols in an application and will report standardized NE 107 functional diagnostics making facility maintenance easy ldquoStan-dardized modern and user-friendly operating concepts for asset management systems are indispensablerdquo says Katja Groszlige responsible for Marketing Industrial Communication at Trebing+Himstedt ldquoThe application offers not only central access to different field devices from the FDT Frame Application but also plant-wide parallel monitoring of fieldbus and field devices All of this is available without additional effortrdquo

The user benefits from a standardized diagnostic system for different fieldbus protocols and receives support with commissioning operation inventory and maintenance Users do not require special knowledge of the communication protocols Thatrsquos because errors in the network and devices are shown quickly using intuitive operating interfaces Other tools include automatic alarm signaling for errors or problems and a simple display based on a traffic light

Operational efficiency is key to plant potential The benefits gained by these diverse implementations under-score the value of using FDT Technology to access network and field device diagnostics with harmonized NAMUR NE 107 status reporting When technologies are easy to implement users can utilize them quickly and improve their operations

Operator Efficiency Achieved with Harmonized Diagnostics from Field Devices continued

2013 - 4 Issue P 90

Simplifying Network Reconfiguration With FDT Technology

Clariant had problems reconfiguring its networks but engineers solved it easily using FDT Technolo-gy Ludwig Wenninger plant technics plastics addi-tives manager explains the solution ldquoThe communi-cation DTM and PROFIBUSEthernet gateway from Softing are the central components in our plant Softingrsquos PROFIdtm provides our FDT based engi-neering application remote access to field devices via Ethernetldquo

Clariant a producer of plastic additives is using PROFIBUS to communicate with intelligent HART devices that control the production process The link between PROFIBUS and HART is a Remote-IO b lock that translates 4-20mA signals into digital values and transmits the process data over a fast RS485 IS (Intrinsically Safe) PROFIBUS connection through a barrier (RS485 IS to RS485 signal converter) to a DeltaV system (PROFIBUS master)

The system worked efficiently but it had one major drawback when HART devices were reconfigured To reconfigure the devices staffers had to enter the EX area with a notebook which is certainly not an intrinsically safe device

Re-configuration came with an immense price tag because it was necessary to formally request a gas clear-ance certificate This request begins with informingalerting the local hospital and the local fire department Then the production process must be shut down and the hermetic seals around the EX area must be broken This drawback happened often due to the ever-increasing need to modify the recipe of the plastic additives The new solution was elegant and economical at the same time At the core of the solution is Softingrsquos PRO-FIBUS to Ethernet gateway with its capability to run as a non-interfering PROFIBUS master (Class 2 master) parallel to the DeltaV system In addition an upgrade of the Remote-IO blocks was necessary to support the HARTonDP protocol PactWaretrade a free FDT Frame Application was the solution on the software side With Softingrsquos PROFIdtm the HART gateway DTM and all necessary deviceDTMrsquos integrated into PACTware the staff was able to configure the HART device remotely

ldquoThe communication DTM and PROFIBUSEthernet gateway from Softing are the central components in our plant Softingrsquos PROFIdtm provides our FDT based engineering application remote access to field devices via Ethernet Via the FG PROFIBUS from Softing we can control three Profibus segments in parallel Softingrsquos components fit perfectly into our architecture and allow us to extend our plant in the future in a very cost efficient wayrdquo Lud-wig Wenninger Plant Technics Plastics Additives Clariant

Today Clariantrsquos technicians can access re-con-figure and even diagnose HART devices from their office desktops The configuration data is routed over Ethernet to Softingrsquos gateway and then through the barrier to the Remote-IO blocks The blocks translate the DP data frames into HART signals that are sent to the field devices In view of the fact that this solution has significantly cut plant downtimes it is clear that this investment will pay off very quickly

2013 - 4 Issue P 10

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospects

FDT (Field Device Tool) is a technology for interoperability between field devices and automation systems FDT can serve in device configuration automation system engineering manufacturing operations maintenance and device management FDT Group AISBL a non-profit consortium of over 90 member companies developers and end users maintains the technology FDT is standardized by IEC 62453 ISA 103 and China Nation-al Standard GBT 29618 The full FDT specifications are publicly available on the FDT Group website

FDTrsquos core concept involves two types of software components One is the DTM (Device Type Manager) which acts like a device driver by encapsu-lating the features and behaviors of a particular field device (for example a radar level transmitter or a robotic welding tool) The second compo-nent the Frame Application provides a unified runtime environment for all DTMs The FDT specification fully defines the interface between the Frame Application and DTM (see figure)

With FDT the properties and behaviors of individual fieldbus protocols are managed separately Neither the DTM nor the Frame specifies a field-bus Within FDT the fieldbus is treated as an abstraction This means that the DTM and Frame Application are independent of any fieldbus protocol It also means that FDT is extensible and can be extended to support any present or future fieldbus or communication protocol

A technology update popularly referred to as ldquoFDT2rdquo has been completed and ARC expects most commercial FDT2 products to appear in 2014 ARC interviewed several suppliers that have released or are in the process of developing FDT2 products While the company representatives were unwilling to speak ldquoon the recordrdquo about products still in development they were willing to share some of what they had learned from their programs thus far Those interviewed described many important changes made in FDT2 Here are a few that ARC believes will be most important

Common ComponentsFDT2 contains a set of ldquocommon componentsrdquo These software components serve as reference implementations that developers can use as a complete and fully tested starting point This will speed up development schedules substantially The DTM common component implements all the defined FDT functionality Device suppliers build their own unique device functions within the DTM common component A reference Frame Application which implements all the Frame functionality is also available This has been fully tested for interoperability with the reference DTM The Frame has also been enhanced so that it can easily be em-bedded in other programming tools something that at least one major automation supplier with whom ARC spoke

is doing for the next release of its control programming environment

The FDT fieldbus abstraction has also been improved so that it is possible to effectively decouple not just fieldbus technology but also controller programs from fieldbuses In other words the controller application does not know (or have to know) which fieldbus protocol is providing data Rather the controller application receives process data independent of the particular communication protocol

ARC believes that this level of abstraction will be a boon for FDT for both process and factory automation applications It will greatly enhance the ability of control engineers to deliver variants of their designs that use different fieldbus or industrial Ethernet protocols since they will be able to create a single control program that can use multiple fieldbus tech-nologies without modification

2013 - 4 Issue P 11

Backward CompatibilityTechnology updates are great but not without an easy migration path The FDT2 Frame has been designed to support both the new FDT2 DTMs as well as DTMs from the existing FDT12 This is a critical point for suppliers and end users One supplier ARC interviewed has developed several hundred DTMs This supplier has discon-tinued all its device-specific proprietary software tools and now uses FDT exclusively to configure and manage its products The ability to use both old and new DTMs means that end users and suppliers can migrate smoothly to the new technology The FDT2 Frame can also securely manage the installation of DTMs DTMs for FDT2 can be securely signed a big plus for simplifying device management as well enhancing security

Improved PerformanceThe new FDT2 implementation also shows greatly improved performance The FDT Group commissioned a se-ries of independent benchmark tests to compare FDT2 performance to FDT12 in a number of categories The software has been improved to reduce memory and CPU use for the most common or resource-consuming FDT tasks In general the performance improvements result in an order-of-magnitude reduction in the time required for many tasks (see figure) The improvements derive from improved software design but also from FDT2 moving to the more modern Microsoft NET technology from the older COM and ActiveX

Planning One Deliverable for FDT2 and FDIIn todayrsquos process industry two distinct technologies (FDT and EDDL) are used for device management Going forward FDT and EDDL will be become interoperable through the five-group initiative known as FDI Cooperation which includes FDT Group Fieldbus Foundation HART Communications Foundation Profibus amp Profinet International and the OPC Foundation These groups are cooperating to develop technology for interoperability between FDT2 and EDDL FDI hosts and FDT2 Frame Applications alike will be able to use the resulting FDI Device Packages which play a similar role to the DTM The ability for both FDT frame and FDI hosts to use the same Device Packages will allow device suppliers to create a single deliverable for supporting their devices while providing customers with the choice of using either an FDI or FDT host environment

ARC spoke with a major FDT device supplier that sells mostly to process industries where HART FOUNDATION fieldbus and Profibus are the dominant device networks Its goal is to develop FDI Device Packages that can be used with both FDT and FDI hosts This gives its customers the technology choice and enables it to provide a single package for device support The supplier reports two challenges with this strategy First is schedule since the FDI specification is only due out in 2014 The second challenge is the need to support a broader set of fieldbus technologies than FDI is targeting For this supplier fieldbus variety is not a major concern but for other suppliers now using FDT support for many field communication protocols is of major importance

ConclusionIn ARCrsquos view the two most compelling features of FDT are its extensibility and its powerful level of abstraction Extensibility enables FDT to be used with any fieldbus making FDT equally applicable to process and factory au-tomation FDT currently supports a dozen different fieldbus and communication protocols including the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)

FDTrsquos fieldbus and programming tool abstractions should help simplify solutions for machine and process skid builders ARC has heard machine builders praise this feature in FDT 12 (see this ARC report) but cautioned that it was difficult to achieve If FDT2 greatly simplifies this ability these applications will find FDT a most compelling technology across industry

For further information or to provide feedback on this article please contact your ARC client manager or the author at hforbesarcwebcom ARC Views are published and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group The information is proprietary to ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC

Author Harry Forbes ARC Advisory Group

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospectscontinued

2013 - 4 Issue P 12

New FDT Accredited DTM Testing Site in India

Utthunga is an automation solutions company developing and deploying automation needs of customers in the areas of Factory Process Power and Building domains providing standardized and custom solutions Utthungarsquos solutions portfolio includes -Field device connectivity and integration solutions-Remote diagnostics monitoring and analysis-Factory connectivity solutions-Plant data analytics and publishing to enterprise highway-DTM frame work for faster DTM development-RAD framework for SCADA development-OPC based Enterprise connectivity and dashboards With its solutions backed with a certified management team and ISO 90012008 quality process Utthunga is provid-ing services and high end consulting to the 4 of top 10 OEM companies Recently Utthunga applied to become an Accredited FDT Testing Site to test DTMs for compliance to the FDT spec-ifications to meet the growing need of development occurring in India The FDT Group Test and Certification Com-mittee received the independent audit report of the Utthunga lab and have found they meet all required criteria of the FDT Group Katrien Peeters Manager of the Test and Certification Office has issued a certificate of approval to Utthunga enabling them to conduct FDT DTM compliance testing effective immediately FDT test and certification sites consist of a team of FDT solution experts set up to provide review testing and validation services to manufac-turers developing DTMs for their smart instrumentation Utthunga FDT test lab facility can be utilized to test DTMs for FDT 121 certifications With industry class solutions development services and validation expertise Utthunga will be one stop solution for all FDT needs Utthunga is member of the FDT Group and involved in reviewing and validating the FDT specifications Utthunga is also an initiating member of the FDT India group for marketing and awareness activities in the region To view a listing of all the FDT Accredited Testing Sites please click here httpwwwfdtgrouporgaccredited-test-sites

2013 - 4 Issue P 90

Simplifying Network Reconfiguration With FDT Technology

Clariant had problems reconfiguring its networks but engineers solved it easily using FDT Technolo-gy Ludwig Wenninger plant technics plastics addi-tives manager explains the solution ldquoThe communi-cation DTM and PROFIBUSEthernet gateway from Softing are the central components in our plant Softingrsquos PROFIdtm provides our FDT based engi-neering application remote access to field devices via Ethernetldquo

Clariant a producer of plastic additives is using PROFIBUS to communicate with intelligent HART devices that control the production process The link between PROFIBUS and HART is a Remote-IO b lock that translates 4-20mA signals into digital values and transmits the process data over a fast RS485 IS (Intrinsically Safe) PROFIBUS connection through a barrier (RS485 IS to RS485 signal converter) to a DeltaV system (PROFIBUS master)

The system worked efficiently but it had one major drawback when HART devices were reconfigured To reconfigure the devices staffers had to enter the EX area with a notebook which is certainly not an intrinsically safe device

Re-configuration came with an immense price tag because it was necessary to formally request a gas clear-ance certificate This request begins with informingalerting the local hospital and the local fire department Then the production process must be shut down and the hermetic seals around the EX area must be broken This drawback happened often due to the ever-increasing need to modify the recipe of the plastic additives The new solution was elegant and economical at the same time At the core of the solution is Softingrsquos PRO-FIBUS to Ethernet gateway with its capability to run as a non-interfering PROFIBUS master (Class 2 master) parallel to the DeltaV system In addition an upgrade of the Remote-IO blocks was necessary to support the HARTonDP protocol PactWaretrade a free FDT Frame Application was the solution on the software side With Softingrsquos PROFIdtm the HART gateway DTM and all necessary deviceDTMrsquos integrated into PACTware the staff was able to configure the HART device remotely

ldquoThe communication DTM and PROFIBUSEthernet gateway from Softing are the central components in our plant Softingrsquos PROFIdtm provides our FDT based engineering application remote access to field devices via Ethernet Via the FG PROFIBUS from Softing we can control three Profibus segments in parallel Softingrsquos components fit perfectly into our architecture and allow us to extend our plant in the future in a very cost efficient wayrdquo Lud-wig Wenninger Plant Technics Plastics Additives Clariant

Today Clariantrsquos technicians can access re-con-figure and even diagnose HART devices from their office desktops The configuration data is routed over Ethernet to Softingrsquos gateway and then through the barrier to the Remote-IO blocks The blocks translate the DP data frames into HART signals that are sent to the field devices In view of the fact that this solution has significantly cut plant downtimes it is clear that this investment will pay off very quickly

2013 - 4 Issue P 10

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospects

FDT (Field Device Tool) is a technology for interoperability between field devices and automation systems FDT can serve in device configuration automation system engineering manufacturing operations maintenance and device management FDT Group AISBL a non-profit consortium of over 90 member companies developers and end users maintains the technology FDT is standardized by IEC 62453 ISA 103 and China Nation-al Standard GBT 29618 The full FDT specifications are publicly available on the FDT Group website

FDTrsquos core concept involves two types of software components One is the DTM (Device Type Manager) which acts like a device driver by encapsu-lating the features and behaviors of a particular field device (for example a radar level transmitter or a robotic welding tool) The second compo-nent the Frame Application provides a unified runtime environment for all DTMs The FDT specification fully defines the interface between the Frame Application and DTM (see figure)

With FDT the properties and behaviors of individual fieldbus protocols are managed separately Neither the DTM nor the Frame specifies a field-bus Within FDT the fieldbus is treated as an abstraction This means that the DTM and Frame Application are independent of any fieldbus protocol It also means that FDT is extensible and can be extended to support any present or future fieldbus or communication protocol

A technology update popularly referred to as ldquoFDT2rdquo has been completed and ARC expects most commercial FDT2 products to appear in 2014 ARC interviewed several suppliers that have released or are in the process of developing FDT2 products While the company representatives were unwilling to speak ldquoon the recordrdquo about products still in development they were willing to share some of what they had learned from their programs thus far Those interviewed described many important changes made in FDT2 Here are a few that ARC believes will be most important

Common ComponentsFDT2 contains a set of ldquocommon componentsrdquo These software components serve as reference implementations that developers can use as a complete and fully tested starting point This will speed up development schedules substantially The DTM common component implements all the defined FDT functionality Device suppliers build their own unique device functions within the DTM common component A reference Frame Application which implements all the Frame functionality is also available This has been fully tested for interoperability with the reference DTM The Frame has also been enhanced so that it can easily be em-bedded in other programming tools something that at least one major automation supplier with whom ARC spoke

is doing for the next release of its control programming environment

The FDT fieldbus abstraction has also been improved so that it is possible to effectively decouple not just fieldbus technology but also controller programs from fieldbuses In other words the controller application does not know (or have to know) which fieldbus protocol is providing data Rather the controller application receives process data independent of the particular communication protocol

ARC believes that this level of abstraction will be a boon for FDT for both process and factory automation applications It will greatly enhance the ability of control engineers to deliver variants of their designs that use different fieldbus or industrial Ethernet protocols since they will be able to create a single control program that can use multiple fieldbus tech-nologies without modification

2013 - 4 Issue P 11

Backward CompatibilityTechnology updates are great but not without an easy migration path The FDT2 Frame has been designed to support both the new FDT2 DTMs as well as DTMs from the existing FDT12 This is a critical point for suppliers and end users One supplier ARC interviewed has developed several hundred DTMs This supplier has discon-tinued all its device-specific proprietary software tools and now uses FDT exclusively to configure and manage its products The ability to use both old and new DTMs means that end users and suppliers can migrate smoothly to the new technology The FDT2 Frame can also securely manage the installation of DTMs DTMs for FDT2 can be securely signed a big plus for simplifying device management as well enhancing security

Improved PerformanceThe new FDT2 implementation also shows greatly improved performance The FDT Group commissioned a se-ries of independent benchmark tests to compare FDT2 performance to FDT12 in a number of categories The software has been improved to reduce memory and CPU use for the most common or resource-consuming FDT tasks In general the performance improvements result in an order-of-magnitude reduction in the time required for many tasks (see figure) The improvements derive from improved software design but also from FDT2 moving to the more modern Microsoft NET technology from the older COM and ActiveX

Planning One Deliverable for FDT2 and FDIIn todayrsquos process industry two distinct technologies (FDT and EDDL) are used for device management Going forward FDT and EDDL will be become interoperable through the five-group initiative known as FDI Cooperation which includes FDT Group Fieldbus Foundation HART Communications Foundation Profibus amp Profinet International and the OPC Foundation These groups are cooperating to develop technology for interoperability between FDT2 and EDDL FDI hosts and FDT2 Frame Applications alike will be able to use the resulting FDI Device Packages which play a similar role to the DTM The ability for both FDT frame and FDI hosts to use the same Device Packages will allow device suppliers to create a single deliverable for supporting their devices while providing customers with the choice of using either an FDI or FDT host environment

ARC spoke with a major FDT device supplier that sells mostly to process industries where HART FOUNDATION fieldbus and Profibus are the dominant device networks Its goal is to develop FDI Device Packages that can be used with both FDT and FDI hosts This gives its customers the technology choice and enables it to provide a single package for device support The supplier reports two challenges with this strategy First is schedule since the FDI specification is only due out in 2014 The second challenge is the need to support a broader set of fieldbus technologies than FDI is targeting For this supplier fieldbus variety is not a major concern but for other suppliers now using FDT support for many field communication protocols is of major importance

ConclusionIn ARCrsquos view the two most compelling features of FDT are its extensibility and its powerful level of abstraction Extensibility enables FDT to be used with any fieldbus making FDT equally applicable to process and factory au-tomation FDT currently supports a dozen different fieldbus and communication protocols including the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)

FDTrsquos fieldbus and programming tool abstractions should help simplify solutions for machine and process skid builders ARC has heard machine builders praise this feature in FDT 12 (see this ARC report) but cautioned that it was difficult to achieve If FDT2 greatly simplifies this ability these applications will find FDT a most compelling technology across industry

For further information or to provide feedback on this article please contact your ARC client manager or the author at hforbesarcwebcom ARC Views are published and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group The information is proprietary to ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC

Author Harry Forbes ARC Advisory Group

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospectscontinued

2013 - 4 Issue P 12

New FDT Accredited DTM Testing Site in India

Utthunga is an automation solutions company developing and deploying automation needs of customers in the areas of Factory Process Power and Building domains providing standardized and custom solutions Utthungarsquos solutions portfolio includes -Field device connectivity and integration solutions-Remote diagnostics monitoring and analysis-Factory connectivity solutions-Plant data analytics and publishing to enterprise highway-DTM frame work for faster DTM development-RAD framework for SCADA development-OPC based Enterprise connectivity and dashboards With its solutions backed with a certified management team and ISO 90012008 quality process Utthunga is provid-ing services and high end consulting to the 4 of top 10 OEM companies Recently Utthunga applied to become an Accredited FDT Testing Site to test DTMs for compliance to the FDT spec-ifications to meet the growing need of development occurring in India The FDT Group Test and Certification Com-mittee received the independent audit report of the Utthunga lab and have found they meet all required criteria of the FDT Group Katrien Peeters Manager of the Test and Certification Office has issued a certificate of approval to Utthunga enabling them to conduct FDT DTM compliance testing effective immediately FDT test and certification sites consist of a team of FDT solution experts set up to provide review testing and validation services to manufac-turers developing DTMs for their smart instrumentation Utthunga FDT test lab facility can be utilized to test DTMs for FDT 121 certifications With industry class solutions development services and validation expertise Utthunga will be one stop solution for all FDT needs Utthunga is member of the FDT Group and involved in reviewing and validating the FDT specifications Utthunga is also an initiating member of the FDT India group for marketing and awareness activities in the region To view a listing of all the FDT Accredited Testing Sites please click here httpwwwfdtgrouporgaccredited-test-sites

2013 - 4 Issue P 10

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospects

FDT (Field Device Tool) is a technology for interoperability between field devices and automation systems FDT can serve in device configuration automation system engineering manufacturing operations maintenance and device management FDT Group AISBL a non-profit consortium of over 90 member companies developers and end users maintains the technology FDT is standardized by IEC 62453 ISA 103 and China Nation-al Standard GBT 29618 The full FDT specifications are publicly available on the FDT Group website

FDTrsquos core concept involves two types of software components One is the DTM (Device Type Manager) which acts like a device driver by encapsu-lating the features and behaviors of a particular field device (for example a radar level transmitter or a robotic welding tool) The second compo-nent the Frame Application provides a unified runtime environment for all DTMs The FDT specification fully defines the interface between the Frame Application and DTM (see figure)

With FDT the properties and behaviors of individual fieldbus protocols are managed separately Neither the DTM nor the Frame specifies a field-bus Within FDT the fieldbus is treated as an abstraction This means that the DTM and Frame Application are independent of any fieldbus protocol It also means that FDT is extensible and can be extended to support any present or future fieldbus or communication protocol

A technology update popularly referred to as ldquoFDT2rdquo has been completed and ARC expects most commercial FDT2 products to appear in 2014 ARC interviewed several suppliers that have released or are in the process of developing FDT2 products While the company representatives were unwilling to speak ldquoon the recordrdquo about products still in development they were willing to share some of what they had learned from their programs thus far Those interviewed described many important changes made in FDT2 Here are a few that ARC believes will be most important

Common ComponentsFDT2 contains a set of ldquocommon componentsrdquo These software components serve as reference implementations that developers can use as a complete and fully tested starting point This will speed up development schedules substantially The DTM common component implements all the defined FDT functionality Device suppliers build their own unique device functions within the DTM common component A reference Frame Application which implements all the Frame functionality is also available This has been fully tested for interoperability with the reference DTM The Frame has also been enhanced so that it can easily be em-bedded in other programming tools something that at least one major automation supplier with whom ARC spoke

is doing for the next release of its control programming environment

The FDT fieldbus abstraction has also been improved so that it is possible to effectively decouple not just fieldbus technology but also controller programs from fieldbuses In other words the controller application does not know (or have to know) which fieldbus protocol is providing data Rather the controller application receives process data independent of the particular communication protocol

ARC believes that this level of abstraction will be a boon for FDT for both process and factory automation applications It will greatly enhance the ability of control engineers to deliver variants of their designs that use different fieldbus or industrial Ethernet protocols since they will be able to create a single control program that can use multiple fieldbus tech-nologies without modification

2013 - 4 Issue P 11

Backward CompatibilityTechnology updates are great but not without an easy migration path The FDT2 Frame has been designed to support both the new FDT2 DTMs as well as DTMs from the existing FDT12 This is a critical point for suppliers and end users One supplier ARC interviewed has developed several hundred DTMs This supplier has discon-tinued all its device-specific proprietary software tools and now uses FDT exclusively to configure and manage its products The ability to use both old and new DTMs means that end users and suppliers can migrate smoothly to the new technology The FDT2 Frame can also securely manage the installation of DTMs DTMs for FDT2 can be securely signed a big plus for simplifying device management as well enhancing security

Improved PerformanceThe new FDT2 implementation also shows greatly improved performance The FDT Group commissioned a se-ries of independent benchmark tests to compare FDT2 performance to FDT12 in a number of categories The software has been improved to reduce memory and CPU use for the most common or resource-consuming FDT tasks In general the performance improvements result in an order-of-magnitude reduction in the time required for many tasks (see figure) The improvements derive from improved software design but also from FDT2 moving to the more modern Microsoft NET technology from the older COM and ActiveX

Planning One Deliverable for FDT2 and FDIIn todayrsquos process industry two distinct technologies (FDT and EDDL) are used for device management Going forward FDT and EDDL will be become interoperable through the five-group initiative known as FDI Cooperation which includes FDT Group Fieldbus Foundation HART Communications Foundation Profibus amp Profinet International and the OPC Foundation These groups are cooperating to develop technology for interoperability between FDT2 and EDDL FDI hosts and FDT2 Frame Applications alike will be able to use the resulting FDI Device Packages which play a similar role to the DTM The ability for both FDT frame and FDI hosts to use the same Device Packages will allow device suppliers to create a single deliverable for supporting their devices while providing customers with the choice of using either an FDI or FDT host environment

ARC spoke with a major FDT device supplier that sells mostly to process industries where HART FOUNDATION fieldbus and Profibus are the dominant device networks Its goal is to develop FDI Device Packages that can be used with both FDT and FDI hosts This gives its customers the technology choice and enables it to provide a single package for device support The supplier reports two challenges with this strategy First is schedule since the FDI specification is only due out in 2014 The second challenge is the need to support a broader set of fieldbus technologies than FDI is targeting For this supplier fieldbus variety is not a major concern but for other suppliers now using FDT support for many field communication protocols is of major importance

ConclusionIn ARCrsquos view the two most compelling features of FDT are its extensibility and its powerful level of abstraction Extensibility enables FDT to be used with any fieldbus making FDT equally applicable to process and factory au-tomation FDT currently supports a dozen different fieldbus and communication protocols including the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)

FDTrsquos fieldbus and programming tool abstractions should help simplify solutions for machine and process skid builders ARC has heard machine builders praise this feature in FDT 12 (see this ARC report) but cautioned that it was difficult to achieve If FDT2 greatly simplifies this ability these applications will find FDT a most compelling technology across industry

For further information or to provide feedback on this article please contact your ARC client manager or the author at hforbesarcwebcom ARC Views are published and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group The information is proprietary to ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC

Author Harry Forbes ARC Advisory Group

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospectscontinued

2013 - 4 Issue P 12

New FDT Accredited DTM Testing Site in India

Utthunga is an automation solutions company developing and deploying automation needs of customers in the areas of Factory Process Power and Building domains providing standardized and custom solutions Utthungarsquos solutions portfolio includes -Field device connectivity and integration solutions-Remote diagnostics monitoring and analysis-Factory connectivity solutions-Plant data analytics and publishing to enterprise highway-DTM frame work for faster DTM development-RAD framework for SCADA development-OPC based Enterprise connectivity and dashboards With its solutions backed with a certified management team and ISO 90012008 quality process Utthunga is provid-ing services and high end consulting to the 4 of top 10 OEM companies Recently Utthunga applied to become an Accredited FDT Testing Site to test DTMs for compliance to the FDT spec-ifications to meet the growing need of development occurring in India The FDT Group Test and Certification Com-mittee received the independent audit report of the Utthunga lab and have found they meet all required criteria of the FDT Group Katrien Peeters Manager of the Test and Certification Office has issued a certificate of approval to Utthunga enabling them to conduct FDT DTM compliance testing effective immediately FDT test and certification sites consist of a team of FDT solution experts set up to provide review testing and validation services to manufac-turers developing DTMs for their smart instrumentation Utthunga FDT test lab facility can be utilized to test DTMs for FDT 121 certifications With industry class solutions development services and validation expertise Utthunga will be one stop solution for all FDT needs Utthunga is member of the FDT Group and involved in reviewing and validating the FDT specifications Utthunga is also an initiating member of the FDT India group for marketing and awareness activities in the region To view a listing of all the FDT Accredited Testing Sites please click here httpwwwfdtgrouporgaccredited-test-sites

2013 - 4 Issue P 11

Backward CompatibilityTechnology updates are great but not without an easy migration path The FDT2 Frame has been designed to support both the new FDT2 DTMs as well as DTMs from the existing FDT12 This is a critical point for suppliers and end users One supplier ARC interviewed has developed several hundred DTMs This supplier has discon-tinued all its device-specific proprietary software tools and now uses FDT exclusively to configure and manage its products The ability to use both old and new DTMs means that end users and suppliers can migrate smoothly to the new technology The FDT2 Frame can also securely manage the installation of DTMs DTMs for FDT2 can be securely signed a big plus for simplifying device management as well enhancing security

Improved PerformanceThe new FDT2 implementation also shows greatly improved performance The FDT Group commissioned a se-ries of independent benchmark tests to compare FDT2 performance to FDT12 in a number of categories The software has been improved to reduce memory and CPU use for the most common or resource-consuming FDT tasks In general the performance improvements result in an order-of-magnitude reduction in the time required for many tasks (see figure) The improvements derive from improved software design but also from FDT2 moving to the more modern Microsoft NET technology from the older COM and ActiveX

Planning One Deliverable for FDT2 and FDIIn todayrsquos process industry two distinct technologies (FDT and EDDL) are used for device management Going forward FDT and EDDL will be become interoperable through the five-group initiative known as FDI Cooperation which includes FDT Group Fieldbus Foundation HART Communications Foundation Profibus amp Profinet International and the OPC Foundation These groups are cooperating to develop technology for interoperability between FDT2 and EDDL FDI hosts and FDT2 Frame Applications alike will be able to use the resulting FDI Device Packages which play a similar role to the DTM The ability for both FDT frame and FDI hosts to use the same Device Packages will allow device suppliers to create a single deliverable for supporting their devices while providing customers with the choice of using either an FDI or FDT host environment

ARC spoke with a major FDT device supplier that sells mostly to process industries where HART FOUNDATION fieldbus and Profibus are the dominant device networks Its goal is to develop FDI Device Packages that can be used with both FDT and FDI hosts This gives its customers the technology choice and enables it to provide a single package for device support The supplier reports two challenges with this strategy First is schedule since the FDI specification is only due out in 2014 The second challenge is the need to support a broader set of fieldbus technologies than FDI is targeting For this supplier fieldbus variety is not a major concern but for other suppliers now using FDT support for many field communication protocols is of major importance

ConclusionIn ARCrsquos view the two most compelling features of FDT are its extensibility and its powerful level of abstraction Extensibility enables FDT to be used with any fieldbus making FDT equally applicable to process and factory au-tomation FDT currently supports a dozen different fieldbus and communication protocols including the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)

FDTrsquos fieldbus and programming tool abstractions should help simplify solutions for machine and process skid builders ARC has heard machine builders praise this feature in FDT 12 (see this ARC report) but cautioned that it was difficult to achieve If FDT2 greatly simplifies this ability these applications will find FDT a most compelling technology across industry

For further information or to provide feedback on this article please contact your ARC client manager or the author at hforbesarcwebcom ARC Views are published and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group The information is proprietary to ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC

Author Harry Forbes ARC Advisory Group

ARC View New FDT2 Products to Boost FDT Prospectscontinued

2013 - 4 Issue P 12

New FDT Accredited DTM Testing Site in India

Utthunga is an automation solutions company developing and deploying automation needs of customers in the areas of Factory Process Power and Building domains providing standardized and custom solutions Utthungarsquos solutions portfolio includes -Field device connectivity and integration solutions-Remote diagnostics monitoring and analysis-Factory connectivity solutions-Plant data analytics and publishing to enterprise highway-DTM frame work for faster DTM development-RAD framework for SCADA development-OPC based Enterprise connectivity and dashboards With its solutions backed with a certified management team and ISO 90012008 quality process Utthunga is provid-ing services and high end consulting to the 4 of top 10 OEM companies Recently Utthunga applied to become an Accredited FDT Testing Site to test DTMs for compliance to the FDT spec-ifications to meet the growing need of development occurring in India The FDT Group Test and Certification Com-mittee received the independent audit report of the Utthunga lab and have found they meet all required criteria of the FDT Group Katrien Peeters Manager of the Test and Certification Office has issued a certificate of approval to Utthunga enabling them to conduct FDT DTM compliance testing effective immediately FDT test and certification sites consist of a team of FDT solution experts set up to provide review testing and validation services to manufac-turers developing DTMs for their smart instrumentation Utthunga FDT test lab facility can be utilized to test DTMs for FDT 121 certifications With industry class solutions development services and validation expertise Utthunga will be one stop solution for all FDT needs Utthunga is member of the FDT Group and involved in reviewing and validating the FDT specifications Utthunga is also an initiating member of the FDT India group for marketing and awareness activities in the region To view a listing of all the FDT Accredited Testing Sites please click here httpwwwfdtgrouporgaccredited-test-sites

2013 - 4 Issue P 12

New FDT Accredited DTM Testing Site in India

Utthunga is an automation solutions company developing and deploying automation needs of customers in the areas of Factory Process Power and Building domains providing standardized and custom solutions Utthungarsquos solutions portfolio includes -Field device connectivity and integration solutions-Remote diagnostics monitoring and analysis-Factory connectivity solutions-Plant data analytics and publishing to enterprise highway-DTM frame work for faster DTM development-RAD framework for SCADA development-OPC based Enterprise connectivity and dashboards With its solutions backed with a certified management team and ISO 90012008 quality process Utthunga is provid-ing services and high end consulting to the 4 of top 10 OEM companies Recently Utthunga applied to become an Accredited FDT Testing Site to test DTMs for compliance to the FDT spec-ifications to meet the growing need of development occurring in India The FDT Group Test and Certification Com-mittee received the independent audit report of the Utthunga lab and have found they meet all required criteria of the FDT Group Katrien Peeters Manager of the Test and Certification Office has issued a certificate of approval to Utthunga enabling them to conduct FDT DTM compliance testing effective immediately FDT test and certification sites consist of a team of FDT solution experts set up to provide review testing and validation services to manufac-turers developing DTMs for their smart instrumentation Utthunga FDT test lab facility can be utilized to test DTMs for FDT 121 certifications With industry class solutions development services and validation expertise Utthunga will be one stop solution for all FDT needs Utthunga is member of the FDT Group and involved in reviewing and validating the FDT specifications Utthunga is also an initiating member of the FDT India group for marketing and awareness activities in the region To view a listing of all the FDT Accredited Testing Sites please click here httpwwwfdtgrouporgaccredited-test-sites

2013 - 4 Issue P 13

Product News

Endress+Hauser Enhances FieldCare and DTMs to Simplify OperationsEndress+Hauserrsquos device configuration and Asset Management software FieldCare which is based on FDT Technology is now available with full support for Microsoft Windows 8 The new FieldCare software also includes an extensive update of the two iDTM Versions for HART and FOUNDATION fieldbus adding all new devices that have their DDs registered with the respective foundations iDTM can integrate 3rd party devices into FieldCare that do not have a na-tive DTM by interpreting their registered DD This support covers more than

1400 HART devices and more than 500 FOUNDATION fieldbus devices

In addition some specialized modules have been added to the Endress+Hauser DTMs such as the concentration module Anyone who has had to work with Coriolis flow meters Brix tables and the application-specific measuring ranges or concentration measurement in general knows just how cumbersome it can be to manually configure the application by working with the raw data in Excel sheets This task has now been made easier with the new con-centration module for FieldCare It allows the user to choose from a list of standard fluids or to import custom data from Excel to calculate the required density coefficients and to analyze the resulting error plot based on the appli-cation-specific requirements Once the correct coefficients have been calculated they can be downloaded into the flow meter automatically making the entire process easier

For additional information please contact infosolutionsendresscom

iDTM FDI ndash The Newest Tool for Device Integration Brings SimplificationsUntil recently end user in the field of device integration often had to decide between the base technologies FDT Technology and EDDL which often meant waiving some advantages that the other technology would provide On the other hand device manufacturers had to give their customers the choice by providing EDDs and DTMs

As a business partner CodeWrights has supported device manufacturers in developing software for both technologies Since 2008 it has combined both technologies in the iDTMTM product It offers a complete DTM which con-tains an official EDD-Interpreter from a communication foundation and one or more EDD files from one device manufacturer This means a 100 reuse of available EDD files and a very short time-to-market for the corresponding device DTM This Interpreter-DTM is available and proven for HART and FOUNDATION fieldbus Several international device manufacturing compa-

nies and their customers are already benefiting from this valuable product

Reusing existing EDDs and using the standard interpreters in a DTM helps reduce test efforts significantly But there are still different EDD language dialects for HART FOUNDATION fieldbus and PROFIBUS as well as for the respec-tive development tools and interpreters

2013 - 4 Issue P 14

Product News

iDTM FDI ndash The Newest Tool for Device Integration Brings Simplifications continuedThatrsquos where the FDI (Field Device Integration) project comes into play Three years ago five major automation foun-dations - FDT Group Fieldbus Foundation HART Communication Foundation PROFIBUS amp PROFINET Internation-al and OPC Foundation - combined their efforts and began to develop a single common solution for integrating field devices using HART Foundation Fieldbus PROFIBUS or PROFINET One major part is the FDI Package which is the specification of the device driver format for FDI systems Along with the specification the major target of the FDI Project is to provide one common set of tools This includes a development environment a single FDI Package Interpreter and common software components for FDI Hosts

CodeWrights has been awarded with a development project to develop the ldquoFDI Package IDErdquo and some common software components Other software parts are under development by major process automation vendor compa-nies Details on the products and their release dates can be found at httpwwwfdi-cooperationcom

Device manufacturers can start preparing to develop and provide FDI packages by using the IDE They will also have to provide other kind of driver technologies that work with host software that is now in the field CodeWrights is developing a new product called iDTM-FDI It is based on the existing software for the EDD-based iDTM and uses the previously- developed common FDI components It is intended to provide the key link between device integra-tion technologies available now and those coming in the future The FDI Packages containing EDD files are used as the driving force for the iDTM giving you the following advantages

1 Reduces Development TimeHelps to keep your overall effort for Driver Development and Testing an absolute minimum With the existence of three technologies EDD FDT and FDI you have to provide an additional artifact But you no longer need your own DTM development the iDTM reuses your EDD andor FDI artifacts without touching them

2 Harmonized Functions and User Interfaces Device manufacturers are required to support the integration technologies used by their customers Inevitably manufacturers are expected to provide the same functions in all integration technologies and display the same user interfaces iDTM-FDI is programmed to bring up the complete function set as defined in an EDD andor in an FDI package with the same user interface without restrictions ndash without the need to program one additional line of code

3 Low Life-Cycle CostOne of the big advantages of the EDD technology is the sharp focus on backward compatibility of the interpreter and the EDD files Over the years this has shown a very stable functional combination FDI Packages the toolset and the common software components will show the same long-term stability In addition the iDTM product (also the new iDTM-FDI) allows device manufacturers to update the contained FDI Packages by themselves

CodeWrights is continuously contributing to the product and technology development in the field of device integra-tion The iDTM-FDI will as its predecessors have done help device manufacturers to get the best out of the technol-ogies in a cost-efficient way

For more information please visit wwwcodewrightsbiz

2013 - 4 Issue P 15

Product News

Talk to an FDT Expert at our Process Solutions User Group (PSUG) in Houston TX USA

New DTM for Softingrsquos Modbus to FOUNDATION fieldbus Gateway

Discover how Rockwell Automationreg and field device technologies can deliver to help optimize your process world PSUG gives you the chance to interact with more than 700 attendees and expand your industry knowledge at our annual PSUG meeting on November 11-12 2013 at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston TX

Yoursquoll hear how the PlantPAx process automation systems utilizing FDT (Field Device Tool) were implemented as well as application best practices from more than 32 international customers You will also have the opportunity tobull Attend educational and lab sessions bull Share best practicesbull Influence system development priorities

bull Network with users from around the world

Then extend your experience at Automation Fairreg on November 13 and 14 Itrsquos the industryrsquos premier event on advanced automation technologies integrated control power safety and information and a wide variety of smart safe and sustainable manufacturing solutions We are dedicated to serving our customers to the best of our ability Donrsquot miss out on the unique opportunities available at PSUG and Automation Fairreg Registration is now open

Softing has released the latest version of the FF-HSE-LD CommDTM for its FoundationTM fieldbus to Modbus Gateway (FG-110 FF) Version 130 conforms to the FDT specification 12 and can be used without a specific license key or license dongle The easy-to-use software consists of an FF HSE Communication DTM and an FF Linking Device Gateway DTM in addi-tion to supporting Microsoft Windows XP 7 and 8 operating systems

The software ensures a seamless integration of standard FDT Frame Appli-cations like SMART VISION FieldMate Field Device Manager or PACTware with Softingrsquos FG-110 FF or Softingrsquos Foundation fieldbus Interface Module FIM-110 FF The FF-HSE-LD CommDTM allows transparent access to field devices that support the FDT standard and are connected to the referring FF H1 networks The software is included with Softingrsquos gateway solutions FG-110 FF and FIM-110 FF (CD-ROM) It can be downloaded from the Softing website for free

raquo Contact Usraquo Certified Product Catalograquo Frequently Asked Questions raquo Membershipraquo News and Eventsraquo Newsletter Registrationraquo Newsletter Archiveraquo Press Releasesraquo Technical Brochure

gtgt FDT End User RoadshowNovember 12 2013Qingdao China

gtgt SPS Fair in NurnbergNovember 26-28 2013Nurnberg Germany

gtgt ISA Automation Training Workshops and ConferenceDecember 7-12 Dammam Saudi Arabia

gtgt FDT Exhibit at Industrial Automation-IndiaDecember 17 - 20 2013Delhi India

gtgt Texas AampM Instrumentation Symposium for the Process IndustriesJanuary 20-23 2014College Station TX

gtgt ARC ForumFebruary 10-13 2014Orlando FL

gtgt FDT End User RoadshowFebruary 19 2014Gothenburg Sweden

gtgt View more events

FDT Events

FDT Resource Links Solid Technology Strong Membership

For further information please visit wwwfdtgrouporg or contact the FDT Group Business OfficeFDT Group AISBL - BP 20 - 1370 Jodoigne - Belgium

Phone +32 (0)10 22 22 51 - Fax +32 (0)10 77 90 81 - Email businessofficefdtgrouporgreg 2013 FDT Group AISBL - All product brands or product names may be trademarks of their respective owners