Control Magazine Coverage of General Assembly

The Fieldbus Foundation was very fortunate to have our media partner Control attend our General Assembly in Shanghai, China.  You can read some excellent coverage of the event, courtesy of Control Group Publisher Keith Larson.  Here is a brief roundup of some of the key stories related to the General Assembly:

Chinese Industry Reaping Fieldbus Benefits: Good Summary of End User Presentations at GA

Images from 2013 Shanghai General Assembly

Fieldbus Foundation 2013 General Assembly: Largest Fieldbus Event in China

Interview with Walt Boyes of Control about Project Gemstone

If you look back over the past couple of years it seems clear that FOUNDATION fieldbus is entering a new era.  Many efforts are underway that are improving our technology to make it easier for end users to deploy and utilize FOUNDATION fieldbus in new and existing plants.  Recent updates to our Interoperability Test Kit (ITK), for example, are making it easier to replace devices.  Our new Host Profile registration process provides a greater level of interoperability between devices and different supplier hosts.  FOUNDATION for ROM gives users the ability to manage information from devices on different wired and wireless networks in a single infrastructure.

At the same time, many of our "power" users who have had fieldbus installed for a long time now are providing us with valuable insights into how we can continue to improve the technology.  Our goal at Fieldbus Foundation is to make fieldbus the easiest to use and most effective technology in the world of process automation.

It only makes sense then, that we should have a continuous improvement project that takes a holistic view of many of the things we are already doing, such as FOUNDATION for ROM, FDI, ISA108, ongoing revisions to our ITK, and ongoing efforts to improve the usability experience with FOUNDATION fieldbus, which we are collectively calling Project Gemstone.

You can read more about Project Gemstone in this interview I had with Walt Boyes of Control magazine.  

Fieldbus Foundation Project Gemstone Designed to Aid End Users

New Paper on Endress+Hauser Approach to Fieldbus Diagnostics

FOUNDATION fieldbus has a unique approach to management of device diagnostics. The publish/subscribe structure of FOUNDATION fieldbus means that diagnostic information is available immediately to a wide range of workers in the plant. The challenge is to organize that data in a way that turns it into useful information for the right people at the right time. That’s why the Fieldbus Foundation created the Fieldbus Diagnostic Profile addition to our specification. The Field Diagnostic Profile incorporates the NAMUR NE 107 recommendations, which state the diagnostic data should be presented in a standard manner, with standard coloring and symbology, so it is easily understandable by the different worker roles that must have access to the information.

As with all our technology specifications, Fieldbus Foundation provides a standard framework on how data should be handled and provided to those that need it. The suppliers in turn have the ability to add their own competitive advantage by providing ways to manage an even wider range of diagnostic information within our standard structure. This is what Endress+Hauser have done with their approach to FOUNDATION fieldbus standard diagnostics, and they are making this approach available to other automation suppliers as well.

Endress+Hauser is one of the world’s leading process automation suppliers. The company was one of the founding members of the Fieldbus Foundation, and has a long history of involvement standards making bodies and committees. The company’s new approach to categorizing fieldbus diagnostics has value not just because it can provide a wide range of diagnostic information about its devices, from electronics to sensing element to the process itself. The Endress+Hauser approach also gives the company the ability to form new diagnostic models based on the information from and relationships between multiple devices in the plant. This brings the diagnostic capability to the asset, unit, and plant level. Endress+Hauser also wants to make this diagnostic capability available to other vendors.  Read the rest at the link:


Taking Field Diagnostics to the Next Level: Endress+Hauser

Fieldbus and FPSOs

Fieldbus is an ideal fit for Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading operations, otherwise known as FPSOs.  As the name states, FPSOs are floating vessels that can collect, process, and store oil from offshore platforms, templates, or other sources. The oil can later be pumped to a tanker or pipeline for transportation.  FPSOs are an ingenious solution for offshore applications.  They are cheaper and easier to build than offshore platforms.  Old oil tankers can be converted into FPSOs, but there are also FPSOs built from the ground up in various shapes and sizes.  Most people are probably familiar with the oil tanker conversion units.  Various research firms have estimates on FPSO spending, with estimates ranging as high as $10 billion for the current market. Oil companies love a cost effective solution, however, and spending on FPSOs is expected to increase well into the double digits for the foreseeable future.

The Terra Nova FPSO Operated by Petro Canada
Photo: AlfvanBeem (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

FPSOs are cramped places where real estate for anything, much less automation equipment, is scarce. Fieldbus, particularly when using H1 cards with integrated power, significantly reduces the footprint and weight of the process automation system.  Devices these days are no longer are integrated with just one signal each.  A control valve, intelligent on/off valve, flowmeter, or level transmitter, for example, may have 3 signals each.  This means that system I/O counts are higher than in years gone by. With FOUNDATION fieldbus, however, you work with device count, not I/O count.  This means that a 6,000 I/O conventional system turns into a 2,000 device system with a huge reduction in I/O hardware.

This is what we refer to as "Virtual Marshalling" at the Fieldbus Foundation. You simply don't need anywhere near as much hardware to get the job done, and many of the traditional I/O functions that were once handled by purpose built hardware are instead handled in the software.

Since the “topsides”automation of FPSOs consists of process modules fabricated in different yards, FOUNDATION fieldbus enables these modules to be connected with the rest of the ship using only a few cables. This makes fieldbus Ideal for fast track projects, and what project isn't fast track these days?

No I/O cards are installed on the process modules out on deck. Fieldbus runs from small simple junction boxes back to the H1 cards inside the rack room. Couplers in the field junction boxes are rugged and encapsulated and are suitable for Zone 1. With Fieldbus Intrinsically Safe Concept (FISCO) the junction boxes are passive.

Pemex / BW Offshore Yuum K'uk'Nriab (Lord of the Seas) FPSO - Emerson

Material Related to Fieldbus and FPSOs from our Singapore Seminar

BP Angola Block 31 NE FPSO, Plutao, Saturno, Marte and Venus (PSVM) wells - Yokogawa System

BP Angola Greater Plutonio FPSO Angola - Emerson System

Then there are also FLNG vessels being built using FOUNDATION fieldbus as we speak. One of these is Shell Prelude FLNG

Come and See us at Field Communication Lounge Hanover Fair!

Fieldbus Foundation will be featured at the Field Communication Lounge at this year's Hanover Fair, happening now!  Stop by the booth and let us know what you think.  Inside the Field Communication Lounge, the leading process and factory automation organizations and their members will exhibit their respective communication and integration technologies in a co-located demonstration and display area, making it convenient for show visitors. The lounge will be located at a new location in Hall 9, Stand D76 this year.

Hanover Fair 2013

New White Paper on FDI

Historically, the two primary technologies used for presenting and managing information from intelligent devices are FDT and EDDL. Both technologies are complimentary in some ways and overlap in other ways. Many in the industry felt that rationalizing the two technologies to form a single solution would be a good idea, particularly since all the major suppliers support both FDT and EDDL technology. This was how the Field Device Integration (FDI) project was born.

FDI activities continued, but were somewhat sporadic, until 2011, when all of the five major technology foundations, including FDT Group, HART Communication Foundation, OPC Foundation, PROFIBUS International and Fieldbus Foundation signed an agreement to form FDI Cooperation LLC, a company dedicated to seeing through the development of the FDI specification its associated development  tools, and product testing and registration.

We at the Fieldbus Foundation have produced a new white paper that hopefully will take a lot of the mystery out of FDI and provide a clear explanation of what FDI is and where it is headed.

Field Device Integration: Making Device Management Easier

InTech Article on Fieldbus Project Commissioning

This month's InTech has a great article about fieldbus project commissioning written by Augusto Pereira and Ian Verhappen.  Augusto and Ian have done a lot of fieldbus projects and they have written a good book on fieldbus that is available through ISA at their bookstore.  In this article they give some good tips on necessary equipment for your fieldbus installation, commissioning practices, and they have some interesting things to say about fieldbus network diagnostics.  Key takeaways are you can save yourself a lot of time by investing in registered products, including cable, and follow a few simple rules to keep your installation painless.

Projects Commissioning with Fieldbus Foundation