5 Fieldbus

5.1 WHAT IS FIELDBUS

Fieldbus is an all-digital, serial, two-way multi-drop communication link between intel-
ligent field devices. Fieldbus serves as a Local Area Network (LAN) for process con-
trol, remote Input-Output (I/O), and high-speed industrial automation applications. A
fieldbus system encompasses the physical wiring between the field devices, the nature
of connection between them, voltage level for communication, timings and a protocol
standard that defines the rules such that proper communication between field devices
takes place. A two way communication that a fieldbus is, it is possible to read data from
the smart field sensors and also write data into them.
Fieldbus replaces centralized control networks with distributed control networks.
Foundation Fieldbus H1 and PROFIBUS PA are two device-level protocol standards
used in process control.
Several terminologies are used in a fieldbus system. These are segment, trunk,
and spur, which are pictorially shown in Figure 5.1. A segment is a piece of shielded
cable with twisted lines and terminators at either end of the segment. The trunk is the
main cable line which runs along the entire segment. A spur is the wire connecting
each field device with the trunk line.

5.2 EVOLUTION OF FIELDBUS

With digital technology having made its way into the communication field in a big
way, fieldbus technology in the process automation system made its debut around
three decades back.
With the introduction of fieldbus in the 1990s, different vendors developed their own
fieldbus protocols to grab more of market share. This led to protocol mismatch between
different vendors and ultimately gave rise to integratibility problem. The design engi-
neers were thus confronted with interoperability problem between different protocols –
this led to isolated islands of automation which were very difficult to bridge.
Several issues like proprietary protocols, slow transmission speed, and different
transmission data formats were responsible for slow adaption of fieldbus technology
in the process automation fields during the initial years. In 1985, industry veterans
sat together to overcome the above problems such that a true interoperable fieldbus
standard could emerge. Such a standard would provide bus power, Intrinsic Safety
(IS), and the ability to transmit data over long distances without data quality degra-
dation. As the then existing problems were attended to and eliminated, fieldbus tech-
nology was adapted in existing plant expansions and new plants that came into being.
Transmission in control automation fields started with pneumatic transmission,
followed by voltage and then 4–20 mA current transmission systems. The sensor’s

203
204 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.1 Field devices are connected by segment, trunk, and spur.

output, either in voltage or current transmission forms, was first transferred to the con-
trol room, some distance away from the point of sensing, and the control signal was
then taken to the actuators in the field. The number of wires needed for such a voltage
or current transmission system, even for a moderate sized plant, is quite high leading
to complexity and difficulty in troubleshooting in case of breakdown. Figure 5.2 shows
a conventional point-to-point communication and a fieldbus-based system. The figure
explicitly explains the simplicity of connections for a fieldbus-based system.
Transmission of information digitally led to deployment of Direct Digital Control
(DDC) technique in process automation fields in which the central computer was

FIGURE 5.2 (a) Conventional point-to-point and (b) Fieldbus-based communication system.
Fieldbus 205

FIGURE 5.3 The DCS and FCS architectures.

housed in the control room. The failure of the central computer would lead to total
failure in control strategy and eventually, the plant operation would be at grave risk.
This gave rise to Distributed Control System (DCS) in which around 20–30 loops are
controlled by a single computer. The failure of this computer would affect the loops
under its control only and not the total plant operations – as in the case of DDC.
The architecture of DCS is based on 4–20 mA current output for field transmitters
and positioners. In the fieldbus architecture, also called Field Control System (FCS),
there are only two networking layers – a field-level network and a host-level network.
In FCS, the control is taken into the field and it is much more decentralized than the
earlier ones. The DCS and FCS architectures are shown in Figure 5.3.

5.3 TYPES
Different fieldbuses like Foundation Fieldbus, PROFIBUS, Highway Addressable
Remote Transducer (HART), DeviceNet, ControlNet, Interbus, Modbus, AS-i, CAN
bus, Lon Works, Ethernet, WorldFIP are used in discrete and process automation fields.

5.4 COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS SYSTEMS

As technological advancements continued to evolve, existing technologies are
replaced by newer ones, bringing in its wake associated advantages. While digital
communication in process automation resulted in better control of processes on the
one hand, networking of processes resulted in numerous advantages on the other
hand. Figure 5.4 shows a conventional process control with 4–20 mA current trans-
mission scheme and a fieldbus-based process control. For the conventional case, a
separate current transmission line is required for each Process Variable (PV) and it is
unidirectional, while for a fieldbus-based system, many variables can be taken care
of by a single transmission line and that it is bidirectional.
206 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.4 Traditional versus fieldbus.

Figure 5.5 shows that the reach of fieldbus system extends up to the sensor level,
while the same for a conventional system can extend up to the remote I/O only.
In the case of fieldbus systems, the I/O and control are all housed in the smart
sensor in the field, while a separate subsystem is required for a traditional system. In
this case, the controller is housed in the control room. This is shown in Figure 5.6.

FIGURE 5.5 Extending the reach of fieldbus.

Fieldbus 207

FIGURE 5.6 Control and I/Os in the field for a fieldbus system.

Again, a comparison is shown in Figure 5.7 between a traditional system and a

fieldbus-based system for fire prone process industries like petro chemical plants.
It is seen from the figure that for a traditional system, an intrinsic barrier (IS) is
needed for each and every field device, while for the latter, one IS barrier is needed
for several devices.

FIGURE 5.7 One IS barrier for several field devices.

208 Industrial Automation Technologies

5.5 TOPOLOGY
The manner in which fieldbus devices are connected to the data highway is known
as topology. Plant geography and placement of devices determine which topology
is best suited for a given situation. Different topologies which are employed are
point-to-point, bus with spurs or multi-drop, tree or chicken foot, daisy chain, and
mixed topology. In the point-to-point topology, the segment consists of two devices
as shown in Figure 5.8.
The bus with spurs or multi-drop technology is shown in Figure 5.9. The devices
are connected to the segment via individual small cables called spurs. The spur
lengths can vary between 1 m and 120 m. The total spur length per segment will
have to obey the existing rule.
When several devices are in close proximity with each other, the tree or chicken
foot technology is employed as shown in Figure 5.10. The devices are connected to
the segment via a junction box or marshalling panel or I/O card.
In the daisy chain technology, shown in Figure 5.11, devices are series connected
in a particular segment.
Mixed topology is a combination of more than one technology already discussed.
It is shown in Figure 5.12. The particular combination in a given situation depends on
physical locations of the devices to derive the advantages associated with individual
devices.

5.6 BENEFITS
Fieldbus is not a product but a technology employed at the lowest rung of the hierar-
chical levels of the five-part hierarchy prevalent in a process industry.
From the design to the commissioning stage and beyond, deploying fieldbus tech-
nology for plant automation has numerous advantages. There are different stages

FIGURE 5.8 A point-to-point topology.

Fieldbus 209

FIGURE 5.9 Bus with spurs or multi-drop topology.

FIGURE 5.10 Tree or chicken foot topology.

FIGURE 5.11 Daisy chain topology.

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FIGURE 5.12 A mixed topology.

like planning, installation, operation, maintenance, renovation, and possible future

expansion when a new plant is being established.
As fieldbus involves digital communication, integration of total plant auto-
mation is possible by proper planning. Fieldbus technology reduces wiring to
the extent of 80% compared to the conventional one (which involves one-to-one
wiring scheme) resulting in reduced cost and time for installation. Thus faults
in wiring can be very easily detected leading to less downtime and improved
productivity.
Field devices in a fieldbus system have very rich features with enhanced func-
tionalities like self-diagnostic and calibration capabilities. Thus, ‘in situ’ calibration
of instruments is possible and any malfunctioning of devices can be detected and
removed, which would bring down the maintenance time significantly. A field device
controller controls a single loop and any controller failure affects that particular
loop only. By software functionality, this failure of the controller can be reported
and at the same time a single controller failure does not affect plant operations in a
significant way.
Since fieldbus is an all-digital technology, failure rates are minimal and would
also introduce less error compared to its predecessors. Again, since fieldbus
devices are interoperable, they can be seamlessly replaced and devices from dif-
ferent manufacturers can work together without any loss of functionality. This has
become possible because of standardization of specifications of fieldbus instru-
ments manufactured by different manufacturers. Furthermore, fieldbus eliminates
the need for I/O subsystems. It also can detect, identify, and assign addresses to
the devices.
Thus, the use of fieldbus would lead to reduced downtime with predictive mainte-
nance strategy and detailed device diagnostics.
Fieldbus 211

5.7 FOUNDATION FIELDBUS: INTRODUCTION

Foundation Fieldbus is a fieldbus technology developed by Fieldbus Foundation – a non-­
profit-making consortium that recommends and develops the technical specifications for
Foundation Fieldbus. The specifications are based on ISA/ANSI S50.02 and IEC 61158.
The standard specifies the communication requirements and the methodology to be fol-
lowed for effective communication to take place. Manufacturers have to comply with
the specifications recommended in the standard so that instruments manufactured by
different companies are interoperable, i.e., a particular instrument manufactured by a
particular company can be replaced by an instrument having identical specifications and
manufactured by another company. The Fieldbus Foundation came into being in 1994
after the merger of Interoperable Systems Project and WorldFip North America.
The traditional 4–20 mA analog current signal is based on ISA S50.1. The ISA
standard committee met in 1985 to develop a standard to replace analog current
transmission with digital communication for the instrumentation and automation
sector. The standard committee recommended and defined two standards – a low-
speed H1 for the sensor level that replaces the analog current transmission. A higher-
speed H2 was also recommended that acts as a backbone to H1. In 2000, H2 was
replaced by High-Speed Ethernet (HSE).
Foundation Fieldbus signals are encoded in Manchester coded biphase-L tech-
nique. Voltage supplied to a fieldbus device can vary from 9 V to 32 V. When a field
device transmits, it delivers ±10 mA at 31.25 kbps into a 50 Ω resistor. It thus gener-
ates a 1 V peak-to-peak voltage. The DC supply voltage is modulated by this signal.
This is shown in Figure 5.13.

FIGURE 5.13 Voltage waveform on the bus for a transmitting device. (Courtesy: SMAR:
Fieldbus Tutorial-A Foundation Fieldbus Technology Overview. USA. http://www.smar.com/
PDFs/catalogues/FBTUTCE.pdf.)
212 Industrial Automation Technologies

5.7.1 Features
The features associated with Foundation Fieldbus are as follows:

• It is a bidirectional, half duplex, digital process control and automation

protocol.
• It supports interoperability, i.e., devices from different manufacturers (hav-
ing identical specifications) can seamlessly be connected.
• It has a two-level architecture – a lower-level H1 operating at 31.25 kbps for
the sensor-level and a higher-level H2 operating at 1 or 2.5 Mbps.
• Maximum distance: 1,900 m.
• Can be extended with repeaters. Maximum number of repeaters that can be
used is four, so that maximum length that can be covered is approximately
9,500 m.
• Expanded view of process and devices/instruments.

5.7.2 Architecture
Foundation Fieldbus has a two-level architecture: H1 at the lower level that con-
nects the field devices and H2 at the upper level connecting the different H1 bus
segments. H1 operates at a speed of 31.25 kbps, while H2 at 1–2.5 Mbps. Later, H2
was replaced by HSE operating at 100 Mbps. The two-level Foundation Fieldbus
architecture is shown in Figure 5.14.

FIGURE 5.14 The two-level Foundation Fieldbus architecture.

Fieldbus 213

H1 supports total control of field devices with Analog Input (AI) and Analog
Output (AO) and controller being placed at the field level. Thus the architecture helps
to eliminate any control room equipment. It also supports cascade control – linking
field devices and control loops in dedicated controllers.
Both H1 and H2 run on the same protocol and perform identical services,
although their physical and data link layers are quite different. The two-level archi-
tecture of Foundation Fieldbus is implemented by inserting a ‘user layer’ – known
as ‘layer 8’.
Benefits of using H1 at the device level include configuring the devices remotely,
increased data availability, increased accuracy in measurement, in situ calibration,
reduced number of wires and IS barriers, etc.
The upper-level H2 (HSE) helps in integrating different plant systems through
the control backbone. Resource allocation for maintenance can be assigned via asset
management.

5.7.3 Comparison with OSI Model

The lower-level H1 technology that connects fieldbus devices is based on Open
Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. While the standard OSI has seven
layers for data communication, H1 has only three layers: Physical Layer (PHL),
Data Link Layer (DLL), and Application Layer (APL). The APL of fieldbus model
is divided into two: Fieldbus Message Specification (FMS) and Fieldbus Access
Sublayer (FAS). FAS maps FMS into the data link layer. There is a layer above
layer 7, called ‘User APL’, also known as Layer 8. Figure 5.15 shows the OSI refer-
ence model and fieldbus model.

FIGURE 5.15 OSI reference model and the fieldbus model.

214 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.16 OSI model and the fieldbus model: (a) protocol layers (b) data encapsulation.

The Foundation specifications are compliant with IEC 61804 (for function blocks
for process control and Electronic Device Description Language [EDDL]) and IEC
61508 (for functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety
instrumented systems [SIF]).
Layers 3 to 6 of OSI model are absent in a Fieldbus system. Layers 2 and 7 are
mostly implemented in software and called the ‘Communication Stack’.
Figure 5.16 shows how data passes through different layers starting from APL up
to PHL. At each layer, data is encapsulated by adding Protocol Control Information
(PCI) to the message that it receives from its just preceding (higher) layer. The total
information that a layer shifts to its immediate lower layer is called Protocol Data
Unit (PDU) of the former. As an example, the FAS contains the FMS PDU along
with the PCI of FAS.
The PHL receives its Data Link (DL) PDU from the DLL, to which are added
Preamble, Start Delimiter (SD), and End Delimiter (ED). From the PHL, it is then
put on the fieldbus medium either electrically or optically. Data is sent at the rate of
31.25 kbps. Although this speed is not quite high, it serves the purpose of the auto-
mation industry quite reliably.

5.7.4 Medium Access Control (MAC)

Layer 2, i.e., DLL of fieldbus model manages data transfer, their priority, addresses,
data transfer from one node to another. The most important job carried out by this
layer is Medium Access Control (MAC). It also prevents the accessing of the bus by
more than one fieldbus device at the same time. A Link Active Scheduler (LAS) con-
trols the access of the bus by proper software programming so that only one device
is allowed access to the bus at any given instant of time.
Fieldbus 215

FIGURE 5.17 Sequential steps for an LM class device becoming a LAS. (Courtesy:
Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Fieldbus Book-A Tutorial, Technical Information
TI 38K02A01-01E, 2000.)

In a fieldbus system, there may be many links which are connected by bridges.
The number of devices in a link is governed by prevalent connection rules. Devices
are identified by DL-address consisting of three fields: link (2 bytes), node (1 byte),
and selector (1 byte). All devices in a link have the same address. If communication
takes place between two devices belonging to the same link, the link address is omit-
ted. A node in a link is identified by a 1 byte node address. The 1 byte selector field
gives a device its internal 8-bit address.
Fieldbus devices are classified into BASIC, Link Master (LM), and Bridge types.
A BASIC class device can never act as a LAS, while an LM can. A Bridge device can
act as a LAS in addition to its original functionality of connecting devices belonging
to different links. The different fieldbus devices have different characteristics and in
a link, there can be more than one LM device. But only one LM device can act as
LAS at any given instant of time. At the beginning, with more than one LM device
residing in a link, the particular LM device with the least node address wins this
contention. Figure 5.17 shows how an LM class device becomes a LAS.

5.7.5 Scheduled Communication

In this, data transfer takes place in a synchronous manner between devices residing
on the fieldbus. A LAS controls this periodic data transfer from a publisher (source
of data) to subscribers (data sink) using software programming already inserted into
the system. This is a publisher-subscriber type of communication.
A LAS issues a Compel Data (CD) to a device when its turn comes for upload-
ing its data. The identified device (here acts as a publisher) uploads its data on the
link, and the device configured to receive data (here acts as a subscriber) ultimately
accepts the data. The scheme is shown in Figure 5.18.
216 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.18 Scheduled (synchronous) data transfer technique. (Courtesy: Glanzer D. A.

Technical Overview, Foundation Fieldbus, FD-043, Rev 3.0, 1996, (Rev, 1998, 2003). Fieldbus
Foundation, Austin, TX. www.fieldbus.org/images/stories/technology/developmentresources/
development_resources/documents/techoverview.pdf.)

5.7.6 Unscheduled Communication
It is an asynchronous manner of data communication between fieldbus devices
and uses either a client-server or a report distribution type for transferring data.
Unscheduled communication is usually applied for user initiated changes such as
tuning change, set point change, mode change, etc. Figure 5.19 shows the technique
for unscheduled data transfer technique.
Unscheduled messages are inserted and transmitted between schedule communi-
cations. LAS issues a Pass Token (PT) message to a device. In the figure, the PT is

FIGURE 5.19 Unscheduled (asynchronous) data transfer technique. (Courtesy: Glanzer D. A.

Technical Overview, Foundation Fieldbus, FD-043, Rev 3.0, 1996, (Rev, 1998, 2003). Fieldbus
Foundation, Austin, TX. www.fieldbus.org/images/stories/technology/developmentresources/
development_resources/documents/techoverview.pdf.)
Fieldbus 217

issued to device X. The message is transmitted by X until it is finished or until the

‘designated token hold time’ has expired – whichever is less. The message can be
sent to a single destination like Y or to Y and Z in a multicast manner.

5.7.7 A Foundation Fieldbus-Based Process Control

In the fieldbus model, there is a layer 8 – called the ‘User APL’, which consists of
function block, resource block, and transducer block. Devices connected to the bus
are configured by resource block and transducer block, while control strategy is built
using the function block.
A process control loop using function blocks is shown in Figure 5.20. Data gener-
ated in a block is made available at its output and acts as the input to another block.
Thus the output of AI block acts as the input to the PID block. The output of the PID
block is the input to the AO block, etc.

5.7.8 Device Identification

There are three ways to identify a device on the fieldbus. These are Device Identifier
(ID), Physical Device (PD) tag, and node (physical) address.
The device ID is a 32-byte unique number. No two devices can have the same
number. The number is burnt into the device at the time of manufacturing the device
at the manufacturer’s premises. This number can never be changed. The PD tag is also
a 32-byte number assigned by the user of the device in the plant. When a device is
changed with a new one, the latter is assigned the same PD tag number as the one with
which it is replaced. The node or physical address is a 1-byte number in a fieldbus seg-
ment and is again assigned by the user at the time of configuring the network. Since
the node address is of 1 byte only, it is mostly used for communication on the bus.

5.7.9 Redundancy
Redundancy in a network system is incorporated to ensure availability of data in
times of breakdown. The more the redundancy of a system, the more is the possibil-
ity of availability of data when some part of the system collapses.

FIGURE 5.20 A process control loop using function blocks. (Courtesy: SMAR: Fieldbus
Tutorial-A Foundation Fieldbus Technology Overview. USA. http://www.smar.com/PDFs/
catalogues/FBTUTCE.pdf.)
218 Industrial Automation Technologies

Foundation Fieldbus is a two-level network with H1 at the device (sensor) level

and HSE at the host level. HSE is Ethernet-based and is central to all control
operations in the fieldbus system. Since HSE operates at the higher level and coor-
dinates the activities of the subsystems under it, it is imperative that HSE remains
the most robust and fault-tolerant and maximum redundancy is incorporated
into it.
Redundancy can be incorporated at the device level, transmitter level, media
level, network level, and host level. Decentralization of operations in fieldbus sys-
tems adds a considerable degree of fault-tolerance to the system and also it becomes
very easy to localize a fault.
Sensor redundancy is achieved in a system by inserting two sensors in parallel to
measure the PV value at a point. The outputs of the two sensors are connected to the
transmitter. The output of the sensor which is better is picked up by the transmitter.
When this sensor fails, the other sensor takes over, thereby no shutdown is required.
Transmitter redundancy involves employing more than one transmitter per sensor.
System software is so programmed that the better transmitter’s output is sent. There are
several ways to achieve media and network redundancy – among them, the dual ring
topology is extremely reliable and fault-tolerant. This is shown in Figure 5.21. It creates
four paths for the data to reach the workstations and thus it is extremely robust in nature.

FIGURE 5.21 Media and network redundancy using dual ring topology. (Courtesy: J. Berge,
Fieldbus for Process Control: Engineering, Operation, and Maintenance, ISA, USA, p. 386, 2004.)
Fieldbus 219

5.8 PROFIBUS: INTRODUCTION

Developed in 1989, initially by Siemens, PROFIBUS (PROcessFIeldBUS) is an
open fieldbus standard which can be applied to both process automation and factory
manufacturing automation. It is vendor independent and hence interoperable with
other fieldbus standards. Profibus is used for fast, time critical applications involving
complex communications. Profibus follows the OSI/ISO (International Standards
Organization) model for communication and is based on German National Standard
DIN 19 245 Parts 1 and 2 and later on ratified by European National Standard EN
50170 Vol. 2. PROFIBUS is part of IEC 61158 (‘Digital data communication for
measurement and control – Fieldbus for use in industrial control systems’) and IEC
61784 (‘Profile sets for continuous and discrete manufacturing relative to fieldbus use
in industrial control systems’).
PROFIBUS supports two types of field devices: a master device and a slave
device, respectively, called ‘master’ and ‘slave’ stations. A master can transmit mes-
sages when it has the bus control. A slave device, like a transmitter or a sensor, can
send a message on being requested by a master. A slave can also acknowledge a
received message.

5.8.1 Profibus Family

The PROFIBUS family has three versions: PA (intrinsically safe), DP (master/
slave), and FMS (multi-master/peer-to-peer) standing for ‘Process Automation’,
‘Decentralized Periphery’ and ‘Fieldbus Message Specification’, respectively.
PA differs from DP in several major counts: PA supports devices in explo-
sion hazardous areas, data transfers on the physical layer takes place complying
IEC 61158-2, devices can be powered on bus cable, higher freedom in selection of
topology.
DP can handle fast communication, remote I/Os, etc. In this mode, multi-masters
are used with a slave being assigned to one master only. It implies that the masters
can read inputs from a specific device, but only one master can write outputs to that
device.
In PROFIBUS FMS version, peer-to-peer communication is possible, i.e., one
master can communicate with another master. FMS messages have more overhead
than DP messages.
Sometimes DP and FMS versions are used together, which is called the ‘combi’
mode. This is used when a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is used in con-
junction with a PC, in which case the primary master communicates with the sec-
ondary master via FMS.

5.8.2 Transmission Technology
PROFIBUS uses different transmission technologies like RS485, RS485-IS, MBP,
MBP-IS, and fiber optic. Table 5.1 summarizes the different transmission technolo-
gies adopted with regard to their data rate, maximum cable length, protection, cable
types, safety issues, data security, topology, etc. at the physical level.
220 Industrial Automation Technologies

TABLE 5.1
Different Physical Layer Transmission Technologies Adopted in PROFIBUS

MBP RS485 RS485-IS Fiber-Optic

Data Digital, bit Digital, Digital, Optical,
transmission synchronous, differential differential digital, NRZ
Manchester signals signals
encoding according to according to
RS485, NRZ RS485, NRZ
Transmission rate 31.25 kbps 9.6–12,000 9.6–1,500 kbps 9.6–12,000
kbps kbps
Data security Preamble, HD = 4, Parity HD = 4, Parity HD = 4, Parity
error bit, start/end bit, start/end bit, start/end
protected, delimiter delimiter delimiter
start/end
delimiter
Cable Shielded, Shielded, Shielded, Multimode
twisted pair, twisted pair twisted4- glass fiber,
copper copper, cable wire, cable single-mode
type A type A glass fiber,
PCF, plastic
Remote feeding Optional Available over Available over Available over
available over additional additional hybrid line
single wire wire wire
Protection type IS (EExia/ib) None IS (EExib) None
Topology Line and tree Line topology Line topology Star and ring
topology with with with topology
termination; termination termination typical; line
also in topology
combination possible
Number of stations Up to 32 Up to 32 Up to 32 Up to 126
stations per stations per stations per stations per
segment; total segment segment, up network
sum of max. without to126 stations
126 per repeater; up with repeater
network to 126
stations with
repeater
Number of repeaters Maximum 4 Maximum 9 Maximum 9 Unlimited
repeaters repeaters with repeaters with with signal
signal signal refreshing
refreshing refreshing (time delay of
signal)
Fieldbus 221

A segment includes 32 devices. If more devices are there, repeaters are used to
expand the reach of the network.
RS485-IS is used in potentially explosive areas (type EEx-i) that use a 4-wire
medium. The maximum current and voltage levels for each node, as well as seg-
ment, must not exceed the permissible levels to avoid any potential explosive
situation.
MBP or Manchester Coded (Bus Powered) technology implements the simul-
taneous supply of power to the connected field devices and communication of
data over a single cable. This thus reduces wiring overhead significantly and
results in a much simpler and safer installation. It is a synchronous transmission
scheme with 31.25 kbps rate of transmission. MBP-IS is implemented in haz-
ardous areas like chemical, gas, and oil industries. Possibility of an explosion
is avoided by limiting the power availability to each device and network as per
design procedure.
Fiber-optic transmission schemes are employed for industries with considerable
amount of electromagnetic disturbances spaced at considerable distances apart.

5.8.3 Communication Protocols

Layer 2 of PROFIBUS (corresponding to layer 2 of OSI), also known as Fieldbus
Data Link (FDL) handles bus access protocol for three PROFIBUS variants: PA,
DP, and FMS. In addition, FDL also handles data security, error detection, and data
frames. FDL manages the communication procedure between master-slave and
token passing method for multi-master system. The protocol is designed such that the
three variants work seamlessly together by offering high speed, highly deterministic
operation at the field level, reduced costing by employing two wires for PA, and an
extended capability at the control level for FMS. Layer 7 (APL) acts as an interface
between the application programs and the different profiles – FMS, DP, or PA exist-
ing in the user layer.
PROFIBUS PA is specially designed for meeting the requirements of communi-
cations in process control automation. Again DP has three variants: DPV0, DPV1,
and DPV2. DPV0 offers basic functionalities that include cyclic communication and
diagnostic (both channel and station level) reporting. DPV1 (along with DPV2) pro-
vides cyclic and acyclic communication. Other services provided by DPV1 include
alarm services, parameterization, diagnostics, field device control, and calibration of
field devices. DPV2 is specially meant for services in the field of drive control. DPV2
can undertake direct slave-to-slave communication without any help from the mas-
ter, thereby considerably reducing the bus response time. Finally, FMS is designed
for operations at the cell (or control) level. Figure 5.22 shows the protocol stack of
PROFIBUS with reference to ISO/OSI.

5.8.4 Device Classes

Devices are categorized in three classes in PROFIBUS. These are (a) Class 1
PROFIBUS DP Master (DPM1) (b) Class 2 PROFIBUS DP Master (DPM2) and
(c) PROFIBUS slave.
222 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.22 PROFIBUS protocol stack with reference to the ISO/OSI model. (Courtesy:
A. A. Verwer, Introduction to PROFIBUS, Manchester Metropolitan University, Department
of Engineering, Automation Systems Center, PROFIBUS Competence Center, 2005.)

DPM1 are normally used for cyclic data exchange with slaves like PLCs or PCs
on a precise time sharing basis. The following are the characteristics of this class of
devices: masters can pass the token between themselves, can write/read data into/
from the slaves, and can adjust data rate.
DPM2 are used for device and system commissioning and setting/altering device
parameter values acyclically for DPV1 and DPV2. It is used for initial device con-
figuration and may not be permanently connected to the system. The following are
the characteristics of this class of devices: used for diagnostic purposes and slave
commissioning, to act as supervisory masters, to control slaves at any given point of
time, can only read slaves but do not have write access.
PROFIBUS slave devices can be transducers, valves, remote I/Os, etc. and can
respond to polling by sending device data. Slaves can be of two types: compact devices
and modular devices. Compact devices have a fixed I/O configuration which a modular
device does not have. Slave devices have the following characteristics: they do not pos-
sess bus control, can only respond to a master’s request, and can acknowledge messages.
Finally, in process automation, some devices can act both as a master and as a slave.

5.8.5 Profibus in Automation

A typical PROFIBUS network includes both process and factory automation.
Figure 5.23 shows how PROFIBUS technology is applied at different levels of the
automation pyramid. At the field level, both PROFIBUS PA and PROFIBUS DP are
applied – PA is applied for lower speed (including fire hazardous areas) and DP is
applied for higher speed, respectively. FMS is applied at the cell or control level.

5.8.6 Communication via Profibus DP Bus Access

While cyclic communication is supported by three versions of DP, acyclic communica-
tion is possible only in DPV1 and DPV2. DPM1 devices like PCs and PLCs exchange
Fieldbus 223

FIGURE 5.23 A typical PROFIBUS network includes both process and factory automation.
(Courtesy: A. A. Verwer, Introduction to PROFIBUS, Manchester Metropolitan University,
Department of Engineering, Automation Systems Center, PROFIBUS Competence Center, 2005.)

data with slaves in a cyclic manner at a predefined time interval. The master has the
token and collects data from slave1 first, followed by slave2, and so on until data from
the last slave in the cycle is collected. Any remaining time available in the program
cycle is used for acyclic communication with any slave. Figures 5.24 and 5.25 show
PROFIBUS DP bus access by cyclic and acyclic communications, respectively.
Again slave-to-slave communication is possible in DPV2, bypassing the
master connected to the slaves. The process saves around 90% time. It is a
publisher-subscriber type of communication with a slave, acting as subscriber,
reads data from another slave which acts as the publisher. The scheme is shown
in Figure 5.26.

5.8.7 Bus Access in Master-Slave Configuration

Field devices like sensors and actuators are connected with PROFIBUS PA. It is,
in turn, connected to PROFIBUS DP. A segment coupler or link interfaces RS-485
(PROFIBUS DP) and IEC 61158-2 (PROFIBUS PA) physical layers.
Bus access in PROFIBUS PA is executed in a master-slave configuration. In a
multi-master system, token passing method is used between masters with a single
master remaining in control of the bus for a precise length of time. This master
224 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.24 PROFIBUS DP bus access by cyclic communication. (Courtesy: B. G. Liptak,

Instrument Engineers’ Handbook, Process Software Digital Network, 3rd Edition, CRC Press.)

is then in active condition and regulates data traffic in DP-PA environment. The
devices on the PROFIBUS PA are accessed either by a segment coupler or by a link.
A segment coupler is transparent to PROFIBUS DP, while a link is not. Because of its
transparent nature, a segment coupler does not have a PROFIBUS DP address. In con-
trast, a link has to have a PROFIBUS DP address because it is opaque to PROFIBUS DP.
A segment coupler routes only the signal from PROFIBUS DP to PROFIBUS PA.
Thus each device on PROFIBUS PA needs an address for proper communication

FIGURE 5.25 PROFIBUS DP bus access by acyclic communication. (Courtesy: B. G. Liptak,

Instrument Engineers’ Handbook, Process Software Digital Network, 3rd Edition, CRC Press.)
Fieldbus 225

FIGURE 5.26 Slave-to-slave communication by DPV2. (Courtesy: System Description,

PROFIBUS International Support Center, Karlsruhe, Germany, Copyright by PNO 10/02,
October 2002.)

with PROFIBUS DP. Thus, as far as PROFIBUS DP is concerned, the devices

(existing on PROFIBUS PA) merely act as slaves. Figure 5.27 shows how PROFIBUS
PA accesses the bus with the help of a segment coupler.
When a link is used, a PROFIBUS DP cannot ‘see’ a PROFIBUS PA because of
the opaque nature of the link. The link acts as a bus master on the PROFIBUS PA
side and at the same time acts as a slave on the PROFIBUS DP side. When a link is

FIGURE 5.27 Bus access in PROFIBUS PA system via segment coupler. (Courtesy: B. G. Liptak,
Instrument Engineers’ Handbook, Process Software Digital Network, 3rd Edition, CRC Press.)
226 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.28 Bus access in PROFIBUS PA system via a link. (Courtesy: B. G. Liptak,
Instrument Engineers’ Handbook, Process Software Digital Network, 3rd Edition, CRC Press.)

used, each field device is assigned a PROFIBUS PA address which is unique for that
link and is not valid for other PROFIBUS PA segments. The master (here the link)
polls the devices cyclically as per the stored program. Bus access in PROFIBUS PA
using a link is shown in Figure 5.28.

5.8.8 Redundancy
The more the redundancy included in a system, the less the downtime becomes,
thereby increasing system availability. Redundancy can be incorporated at different
places in a PROFIBUS system; e.g., master redundancy, media redundancy, segment
coupler redundancy, ring redundancy, and slave redundancy.
In master redundancy, a second master is available and it becomes active if the
primary master fails. In media redundancy, cabling is made such that if there is
any fault in cabling, the other would then take over, thereby ensuring redundancy.
Segment coupler redundancy implies that if a DP–PA gateway fails, the other will
take over the function of the current one. Ring redundancy ensures media redun-
dancy on the PA side.
Slave redundancy provides high data availability, short reversing time, no data
loss, and a fault-tolerant system. Slave redundancy ensures installation of field
devices in such a fashion that if the existing device fails, the standby device would
take over. Some of the attributes needed for slave redundancy are (a) slave devices
must contain two independent PROFIBUS interfaces and (b) presence of two inde-
pendent protocol stacks is a must in the devices with a special redundancy expansion.
Fieldbus 227

5.9 HART: HIGHWAY ADDRESSABLE REMOTE TRANSDUCER

HART is a bidirectional communication protocol that allows data access between
intelligent field devices and host system. A host may be a software application
program from a plant’s process control network, a laptop, a technician’s hand-
held device, asset management, or any other system using a control platform. It is
the first protocol that is ‘hybrid’ in nature with the digital communication signal
being imposed on the 4–20 mA analog transmission signal. A host is called a
master and a field device is called a slave. A slave can be a two wire or a four
wire device with intrinsically safe versions for use in hazardous environments.
The HART protocol can be used in single mode, multimode, and burst mode.

5.9.1 Introduction
Introduced in the 1980s, HART is an open access process control network protocol.
It is hybrid in nature which uses Bell 202 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) technique
to superpose digital communication signal on the 4–20 mA analog current transmis-
sion system. HART is compatible with other existing systems and is supported by
HART Communication Foundation (HCF).
As technological progress made its way in the process control and automation field
and information transmission made rapid strides from pneumatic to analog current
system to digital transmission. HART extended the analog current transmission sys-
tem with bidirectional digital communication being superposed on the same existing
wire. This FSK modulated digital signal is called the HART signal. It carries device
diagnostics, configurations, calibration, and any other process-related information.

5.9.2 Advantages
Some of the advantages associated with HART protocol are:
• Simultaneous analog and digital communication
• Compatible with conventional analog instrumentation schemes
• Supports multivariable field devices
• Flexible data access via up to two masters
• Open de facto standard
• Backward compatible
• Only protocol that supports both analog and digital, unlike other fieldbuses
which are digital in nature
• Either point-to-point or multi-drop operation
• Adequate response time of approximately 0.5 s.

5.9.3 HART Protocol
HART is a master-slave protocol implying that a field device (a slave) communicates
with the master only when instructed to do so. The HART protocol makes use of
Bell 202 FSK standard, which superimposes digital communication on the 4–20 mA
analog current transmission system. As FSK signal is phase continuous, it does not
interfere with the 4–20 mA analog signal. The HART protocol can be used in all
228 Industrial Automation Technologies

digital communication with field devices in various configurations like point-to-

point, multi-drop, and burst.
The HART communication protocol allows for a convenient and efficient
way for parameterization of smart field devices. The existing cables could
carry HART signals and the field personnel were able to carry out in situ calibration
of field instruments with a simple handheld master. HART protocol continued to
develop and evolve itself with passage of time and technology upgradation.
HART is the only protocol that supports both analog and digital communication
(hybrid) at the same time over the same pair of wires. It utilizes only layers 1, 2, and
7 of the OSI model, and the layers 3–6 are not used.

5.9.4 Encoding and Waveform

HART signals are encoded and superposed on the 4–20 mA current signal transmis-
sion line before being sent. It makes use of FSK with 1,200 Hz representing binary
1 and 2,200 Hz for binary 0. The magnitude of FSK signal is ± 0.5 mA. Since the
average value of DC signal over a single period is zero, the FSK signal does not add
any DC component on the existing 4–20 mA analog signal.
Figure 5.29 shows the digital HART signal superimposed on the 4–20 mA analog
current signal.

5.9.5 HART Character
Asynchronous mode of communication is employed for HART data transmis-
sion. One byte HART data is transmitted along with one start bit, one stop bit,

FIGURE 5.29 HART signal superposed on the current signal. (Courtesy: HART
Communication Foundation. Application Guide HCF LIT 34. HART Field Communications
Protocol, Austin, TX, 1999.)
Fieldbus 229

FIGURE 5.30 HART character.

and one parity bit. Thus a HART character is composed of 11 bits. The parity bit
provides data security. A HART character is composed of 11 bits and is shown
in Figure 5.30.

5.9.6 Address Formats
A field device, which acts as a slave, must have a unique address. This is because
each command contains the address of a particular field device and each device
examines each command, before initiating any data transfer. A field device or a slave
can also be addressed through its own tag (i.e., an identifier assigned by a user).
Addressing in a HART system can be done in two ways: polling address and
unique identifier. Polling address is single byte and is also known as ‘short address’.
Unique identifier is of five bytes and is called ‘long address’.
The formats for short and long frames for proper addressing are shown in
(a) and (b) of Figure 5.31. The first bit of the short address distinguishes the two mas-
ters, while the next bit indicates burst mode. The rest four bits distinguish the field
devices (from 0 to 15)– with 0 for single-unit mode and 1–15 for multi-drop mode.
The short frame format is used with older HART devices which do not support the
long address format.
The long frame format has five bytes and it is a hardware address consisting of
one byte manufacturer code, one byte device type code, and a three byte sequential
number. This five byte ID is unique for each device. This unique ID is administered
by HCF to avoid any possibility of address duplication of any two HART devices.
The master uses this unique long address to communicate with the slaves.

FIGURE 5.31 HART address field formats: (a) short frame (b) long frame.
230 Industrial Automation Technologies

In single mode, the master polls address 0 to get the unique slave ID. In the
multi-drop mode, the master checks, in sequence, all the polling addresses (from 0
to 15) to check for device presence. Then the list of live devices on the network is
presented by the master. A user can alternatively enter the tag (which is unique for a
device) of the intended device and the master will broadcast the same. The slave with
the unique ID and the tag responds against this query from the master. The polling
address, in conjunction with the unique ID, indicates whether the message exchange
is from a primary or a secondary master (like a handheld device) and whether the
slave is in the burst mode or not.

5.9.7 HART Networks
A HART network can operate in two configurations: point-to-point and multi-
drop mode. In the point-to-point network, the traditional 4–20 mA current signal
is used to control the PV and it remains unaffected by the HART signal. The
configuration parameters of the device are transferred digitally over the HART
protocol. The digital HART signal is used for commissioning, maintenance and
diagnostic calibration, and a host of other purposes. The point-to-point network
scheme is shown in Figure 5.32.
In multimode network configuration, two-wire field devices are connected in
parallel and connected to the two masters. It takes around 500 ms to read data
from a single variable and hence approximately 7.5 s would be required to go
through and complete a single network cycle. The scheme is shown in Figure 5.33.
Multi-drop scheme is used when the devices are widely spaced. Device addresses
are maintained with addresses greater than zero and device currents limited to a
typical value of 4 mA.

FIGURE 5.32 Point-to-point network configuration.

Fieldbus 231

FIGURE 5.33 Multimode network configuration.

5.9.8 Communication Layers

The HART protocol uses only three of the seven layers in the standard OSI protocol.
These layers are APL, DLL, and PHL. Table 5.2 shows the OSI layers along with
HART protocol layers.

5.9.8.1 Physical Layer

The physical layer of HART uses the FSK technique based on Bell 202 modem
standard. A 1 and 0 are modulated into 1,200 Hz and 2,200 Hz, respectively. A
HART modem is used at both the sending and the receiving ends for modulation and
demodulation purposes, respectively.
The 4–20 mA current signal and the FSK-modulated HART signals have differ-
ent communication bands as shown in Figure 5.34 and hence are non-interfering in
nature. The HART signal is filtered out by analog devices.

TABLE 5.2
Comparison of HART Protocol
Layers and OSI Layers

OSI Layers HART Layers

Application HART commands
Presentation
Session
Transport
Network
Datalink HART protocol rules
Physical Bell 202
232 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.34 Frequency bands for 4–20 mA current signal and HART signal. (Courtesy:
B. G. Liptak, Instrument Engineers’ Handbook, Process Software Digital Network, 3rd Edition,
CRC Press.)

The HART masters are connected in parallel to the field devices so that they can
either be connected or disconnected because the current loop cannot be interrupted
during system operation.

5.9.8.2 Data Link Layer

The HART DLL is a master-slave protocol and a field device replies only when it is so
instructed. There can be two masters – one is called the primary master and controls the
system, while the secondary master is a handheld device (used in the field) and acts as a
communicator. Timing rules, already existing in the software, decide when a master is
going to initiate a transaction. In the multi-drop mode, there can be more than 15 slaves.
The HART message frame format, also sometimes called a HART telegram, is
shown in Figure 5.35. It consists of nine fields.
Preamble is the first byte in the field which is sent and it synchronizes all the
receivers connected to it. Preamble is followed by a single byte delimiter. The con-
tent of the delimiter denotes if the frame is a request from a master, a response from a
slave, or a request from a slave operating in the burst mode. It also indicates whether
the address used is a polling address or a unique ID.

FIGURE 5.35 A HART character.

Fieldbus 233

The next field is the address field which may be a single byte (for short frame
format) field used for polling address or five bytes (long frame format) for unique
ID address. The fourth field is a single byte command field representing the HART
command associated with the message. The command field is not interpreted by the
DLL but the DLL simply passes it to/from the APL. The byte count field is of single
byte and indicates how many more bytes are still left for the message to be com-
pleted, excluding the checksum. The receiver will thus be in a position to check the
end of the message from this field. The next field is the command response code and
is included in response messages only. This field from the slave indicates the type of
error occurred in the received message. In case of erroneous reception, the correct
message reception would also be indicated by this field. The next one is a single byte
field device status field and is included in response messages indicating the health of
the device. The data field is not interpreted by the DLL and is simply passed on to
the APL. If data is received correctly, the checksum value will remain the same for
both the transmitting and receiving ends.

5.9.8.3 Application Layer

The APL of HART defines commands, responses, data types, and status. The com-
munication routines of HART master devices and programs are based on these com-
mands. Commands from the master can seek for data, any start-up service, or any
diagnostic service or information. The slave, in turn, responds by sending back the
required information to the master.
The command set of HART includes three types: universal commands, com-
mon practice commands, and device-specific commands. The host application may
implement any of the three command types as per the application needs.

5.10 INTRINSICALLY SAFE FIELDBUS SYSTEMS

Chemical and petrochemical industries have to deal with highly flammable gases
and oils and a high degree of caution has to be maintained to prevent any fire or
explosion in these fire prone industries. Several fire prevention techniques are in
vogue to contain the possibilities of any fire occurring in such industries.
Risk of fire or explosion in fire hazardous areas are aggravated in the
presence of hot surfaces and electrical sparks. Such risks may be minimized
by working with lesser working voltages and energy levels. This energy
limited protection technique, called ‘Intrinsic Safety’, is the basis for fire pre-
vention where electronic instrumentation is used for proper plant operation and
control.
Oxidizer (air or oxygen), fuels (flammable vapors, liquids, gases, fibers, com-
bustible dusts), and ignition energy (either thermal or electrical) contribute to
sparks or fire taking place and commonly known as ‘ignition triangle’, shown in
Figure 5.36. Today’s protection methods are based on eliminating one or more of the
three components of the ignition triangle to reduce the chances of fire in a hazardous
environment.
Explosion proof enclosures, purging, etc. are some of the measures normally
undertaken in fire prone industries to contain fire hazards, apart from IS.
234 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.36 The ignition triangle.

5.10.1 Introduction
For Foundation Fieldbus H1 or PROFIBUS PA (MBP), the fieldbus standard IEC
61158-2 defines the maximum dimensions for a fieldbus segment for safe area opera-
tions. IEC 60079 standard defines safe operations of fieldbus in the case of a fire
hazardous environment.
Classification of hazardous areas is based on identification of flammable gases
and vapors, their characteristics, and the chances of their coming into contact with
sparks, and arcing hot environments. Safety standards have already been put in place
for safe operations of equipment in hazardous areas. Standards have been classi-
fied in National Fire Protection Agency standard 70 – the National Electrical Code.
Two types of classifications are normally followed: division classification system and
zone classification system.
In division classification system, a hazardous area is identified with class, divi-
sion, and group. A class deals with whether a flammable substance is gas, dust, or
fiber. Division deals with the probability of the presence of flammable substances
and group deals with the physical properties of the flammable material. Classes are
divided into I, II, and III, which are again subdivided.
In zone classification system, a hazardous area is divided into three zones: zone
0, zone 1, and zone 2. These were introduced in 1999 by National Electric Code.
Zone 0 refers to presence of flammable mixtures of gaseous vapors continuously or
for long periods of time. In zone 1, flammable mixtures are expected to occur under
normal circumstances, while in zone 2, a flammable mixture is unlikely to be pres-
ent under normal circumstances and would quickly disperse if they do occur.
Finally, a divisions classification system and a zone classification system are nor-
mally used in North America and the rest of the world, respectively.
Figure 5.37 shows both division wise and zone wise hazardous area classifications.

5.10.2 An Intrinsically Safe Fieldbus System

Topologically, an intrinsically safe fieldbus system and a normal fieldbus system are
identical and do not differ much. In the former, fewer devices are placed per wire and
there is a safety barrier instead of a regular power supply impedance. In intrinsically
safe systems, field devices are so designed that they do not inject any power into the bus.
Fieldbus 235

FIGURE 5.37 Hazardous area classifications. (Courtesy: Fieldbus Wiring Guide, 4th Edition,
Austin, TX, Doc.No. 501-123, Rev.: E.0.)

For an intrinsically safe system, only one power supply is employed, i.e., no redun-
dancy is allowed. Barriers are placed in safe areas so that they become cheaper. If
in some cases, a barrier is to be placed in a hazardous area, it must be housed in
flameproof enclosure having flameproof seals. Figure 5.38 shows a safety barrier that
separates a safe area from a hazardous area.
Over the years, intrinsically safe fieldbus systems have evolved and became more
and more robust and reliable with more safety features incorporated into them.
Figure 5.39 depicts how IS is developed over the years.

FIGURE 5.38 A safety barrier separates a safe area from a hazardous area. (Courtesy: B.
G. Liptak, Instrument Engineers’ Handbook, Process Software Digital Network, 3rd Edition,
CRC Press.)
236 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.39 Development of different intrinsically safe fieldbus systems. (Courtesy:

A. Beck and A. Hennecke, Intrinsically Safe Fieldbus in Hazardous areas, Technical White
Paper, EDM TDOCT-1548_ENG. Pepperl+Fuchs GmBH, Mannheim, Germany.)

5.10.3 Entity Concept
It is defined in IEC 60079-11 and NEC 515 and is a method for validation of intrinsically
safe operations by employing intrinsically safe parameters. The parameters are volt-
age, current, power, inductance, and capacitance. The cable capacitance and inductance
are considered lump and must be considered along with capacitance and inductance of
the devices employed in the segment. In Entity concept, a linear output characteristic
between current and voltage for the barrier is employed. The output power for Exia IIC
is about 1.2 W at 11 V DC, with a maximum current availability of 60 mA. This puts a
limit on the maximum number of devices that can be connected per barrier.
When a fault occurs, the power supply to the barrier is automatically discon-
nected. Maximum number of devices per barrier for a power of 1.2 W is about two
to three, which practically eliminates the acceptability of Entity concept from being
adopted for an intrinsically safe fieldbus system.

5.10.4 FISCO Model
Unlike the linear output characteristics (between current and voltage) for an Entity
concept, the Fieldbus Intrinsically Safe Concept (FISCO) model, developed by PTB,
has trapezoidal output characteristics. It provides more power compared to Entity,
paving the way for more devices to be connected per barrier. Some of the advantages
that FISCO has over the Entity model are: (a) more power availability per barrier
(b) simplifications in calculations, and (c) standardized installation parameters.
FISCO model does not allow any provision for redundant power supply. Cables,
power supplies, and devices require FISCO certification and validation before being
put in place for operations.
Fieldbus 237

In FISCO model, calculations, etc. are done by manufacturers and thus offers a
very easy method for installation. For short cable lengths, some 4–8 devices per seg-
ment can be connected, depending on the gas group.
The ratings for FISCO power supplies are around 250 mA (Group C, D, IIB) and
110 mA (Group A, B, IIC).

5.10.5 HPTC Model
Pepperl + Fuchs introduced the High Power Trunk Concept (HPTC) in 2002. In this
model, more power is available per segment compared to the previous two methods
already described. It removed the limitations with regard to segment length and the
number of devices per segment. This requires the cable to be armored and putting
the same into duct – thus providing mechanical protection against explosion in haz-
ardous areas. Field devices are connected to the trunk cable via IS barriers to reduce
power to intrinsically safe levels, as shown in Figure 5.40.
In HPTC, standard power supplies are employed. These power supplies are less
costly and easily available. Unlike the previously described models, HTPC allows
redundant configuration. The two power supplies are placed in parallel and share
the load evenly. In case one power supply fails, the other immediately takes over.
Also, since, under normal circumstances, both the power supplies share the load, life
expectancy of both increases. Some of the attributes of HPTC are (a) highest pos-
sible overall cable length (b) redundancy in power supply (c) ease of validation of IS
requiring no calculations (d) Entity and FISCO compliant devices can be mixed with

FIGURE 5.40 Block diagram of HPTC for hazardous area. (Courtesy: A. Beck and A.
Hennecke, Intrinsically Safe Fieldbus in Hazardous areas, Technical White Paper, EDM
TDOCT-1548_ENG. Pepperl+Fuchs GmBH, Mannheim, Germany.)
238 Industrial Automation Technologies

HPTC in a segment (e) field devices can be serviced without ‘hot work’ permit, and
(f) standard power supplies can safely be employed.

5.10.6 DART Model

Dynamic Arc Recognition and Termination (DART) distinguishes itself from other
models of IS applications by not limiting power during normal operation of the system.
Since DART ensures high availability of power during normal operations, it leads to
higher cable runs and many devices per segment can be connected without any need for
additional protected installation. DART detects a potential fault condition by evaluating
the characteristic change in current during fault condition and disconnecting power sup-
ply before it becomes incendive. The rate of change of current di/dt during occurrence
of fault is highly deterministic – thus a fault condition can easily be detected. Hence any
catastrophic consequence caused by a potential fault condition can be averted.
DART retains all the attributes of HPTC. Along with that, the trunk is intrinsi-
cally safe in a DART system thereby allowing maintenance along the trunk without
any hot work permit.
Sparks may occur during ‘make’ or ‘brake’ in an electrical circuit which may lead to
explosions, particularly in fire prone installations. Energy in spark may cause the exist-
ing gas to attain ignition temperature causing explosions. The typical behavior of spark
is shown in Figure 5.41. It shows that spark remains non-incendive during the initial
phase, but reaches critical phase within several microseconds and becomes incendive.
A DART-compliant power supply feeds the system with the full 8–50 W, compared
to approximately 2 W as in Entity model. When a system fault occurs, DART detects
the resulting rate of change of current di/dt (that occurs in the initial phase of the spark)
and switches off the power supply to the system in approximately 5 µs, much before

FIGURE 5.41 Electrical behavior of spark. (Courtesy: A. Beck and A. Hennecke,

Intrinsically Safe Fieldbus in Hazardous areas, Technical White Paper, EDM TDOCT-1548_ENG.
Pepperl+Fuchs GmBH, Mannheim, Germany.)
Fieldbus 239

FIGURE 5.42 The highly characteristic di/dt associated with a spark. (Courtesy: A. Beck
and A. Hennecke, Intrinsically Safe Fieldbus in Hazardous areas, Technical White Paper,
EDM TDOCT-1548_ENG. Pepperl+Fuchs GmBH, Mannheim, Germany.)

the critical phase or incendive condition starts. It is shown in Figure 5.42. Thus system
power is reduced to a level which would allow safe plant operations. Since power in the
spark is robbed of its energy, the system does not become incendive.
The DART model is very simple to install and maintain. Thus, huge sav-
ings both in terms of capital and operating costs are ensured. DART fieldbus
is certified by PTB as per IEC 60079-11 with an IEC-Ex certificate. It supports
32 devices per segment, which is the maximum permissible for a normal fieldbus
system. Thus, complexities in connection are very much reduced. A simple DART
topology is ensured because of deployment of less number of junction boxes,
power supplies, barriers, etc.

5.11 WIRELESS FIELDBUS

After the success of the fieldbus technology in the process control field, a need
was felt to have wireless fieldbus connectivity in the process and automation field
for situations where the field instruments and devices have to be placed in remote
locations and are not very easily accessible. Wire connectivity for remote devices
poses a practical challenge of harsh environment, recurrent breakdowns, mainte-
nance issues, etc.
Wireless fieldbus network technologies have been introduced that connect sen-
sors, actuators, controllers, data acquisition systems, etc. The main disadvantage
of having wireless field devices is the need for battery power, as batteries must
be frequently changed. Changing batteries frequently is a major maintenance
issue. But today’s wireless field devices are very power efficient – thereby extend-
ing the battery life considerably. In addition, nowadays, field devices are mostly
solar powered and thus replacement of batteries is becoming a less occurring
phenomenon.
240 Industrial Automation Technologies

The major wireless fieldbuses are WirelessHART (WHART) (IEC 62591),

ISA100.11a Wireless (ISA100.11a-2011, IEC 62734), and WIA-PA (IEC 62601).

5.11.1 WHART
Wireless Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (WHART) is the first open
wireless communication standard designed for process control industries. It was
introduced in 2007 and is a part of IEC 61158. It was approved by International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 2010 as a wireless standard IEC 62591
Ed. 1.0.
WHART provides a very robust and reliable wireless communication using
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) channel hopping scheme based on IEEE
802.15.4. It is used for device status and diagnostics monitoring, calibration, trou-
bleshooting, critical data monitoring, commissioning, and also supervisory process
control.
Existing wireless technologies like Bluetooth, ZigBee, and Wi-Fi are not rec-
ommended for industrial process control applications because of the drawbacks
associated with each technology. Bluetooth mainly caters to PAN (Personal Area
Network) having a range of approximately 10 m, which falls way below the process
industries’ requirements. Again, Bluetooth supports only star type network topology
having a master connected to a maximum of seven slaves. This also goes against its
acceptance in process industries. Although ZigBee supports DSSS, its performance
cannot be guaranteed in the presence of industrial noisy environment. Wi-Fi does
not support channel hopping and also its power consumption is relatively high, thus
rendering it a bad choice for process industries.
As wireless technology is becoming more and more robust in industrial
environments, wireless fieldbus technology is gaining more foothold in process
industries.

5.11.1.1 Key Features

WHART is a network consisting of wired and wireless (hybrid) devices and
instruments and is backward compatible. It is self-healing, self-organizing, time-
synchronized redundant path wireless mesh network communications protocol
designed to meet the requirements of process industries. It operates in the 2.4 GHz
license free ISM radio band utilizing IEEE 802.15.4 compatible DSSS radio with a
channel hopping facility.
It is a highly secured centrally managed communications facility that uses AES-
128 block ciphers with individual join and session keys and a data link level network
key. WHART uses Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology to arbitrate
and coordinate communications between field devices. It thus drastically reduces the
probability of collisions. Some facilities that the system offers are autosegmented
block transfer of large data sets, multi-messaging modes which include one way pub-
lishing of process data, spontaneous notification of exceptions, and ad hoc request
response.
Power consumption in WHART is drastically reduced by prescheduling the net-
work manager in such a way that radio transmitters remain awake only in the allotted
Fieldbus 241

slots. A single network manager configures the network and schedules and routes the
data packets correctly. The security manager manages the distribution of various keys.
WHART employs 15 channels in the 2.4-GHz ISM band – the channel selection
is based on Absolute Slot Number (ASN). Slots can be of various types. Data traffic
on WHART can either be periodic or be sporadic. The field devices have mandatory
routing capability.

5.11.1.2 Network Architecture

Figure 5.43 shows a WHART network architecture consisting of wired and wireless
devices and components. The architecture consists of WHART field devices, HART-
enabled field devices, handheld field devices, access points, gateway, adapters, net-
work manager, security manager, and host applications.
The gateway is responsible for communication between wireless and wired field
devices. WHART field devices are connected by either point-to-point or mesh topol-
ogy. When new devices join the network, the network manager reschedules routing
information. For any wireless device, there are at least two connected neighbors that
route the traffic using graph routing.

Host Application
(e.g. Asset
Management)
Access
Point Wireless
Gateway Handheld

Network Manager
WirelessHART
Field Devices
Process Automation
Controller
Security Manager
Wireless
Adapter
Access
Point

HART-Enabled
Field Devices

FIGURE 5.43 WHART network architecture. (Courtesy: ter/PM%20Central%20Web%20

Documents/EMR_WirelessHART_SysEngGuide.pdf.)
242 Industrial Automation Technologies

5.11.1.3 Protocol Stack

In the protocol stack of WHART, presentation layer and session layer of OSI proto-
col are absent. But it has a Central Network Manager, which manages the routing and
arbitration of the communication schedules. The protocol stack of WHART is shown
in Figure 5.44 along with the OSI protocol.
The physical layer is based on IEEE 802.15.4 having a data rate of 250 kbps with
an operating frequency of 2,400–2,483.5 MHz. The channels are numbered from 11
to 25 having a 5 MHZ gap between any two successive channels. The modulation
used for communication is QPSK with DSSS. The PDU of physical layer is IEEE-
compliant having a maximum payload of 127 bytes. Channel hopping is permitted
on a packet-by-packet basis.
The data link layer takes the responsibility for error free and secure communica-
tion between devices on the network in distinct time slots. To ensure secure com-
munication in the data link layer, the DLPDU is ciphered using a 128-bit Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) cipher algorithm.
The network layer performs several functions like packet routing, end-to-end
secure communication, encapsulating the transport layer message, blocking data
transfer, end-to-end security, acknowledging the broadcasts, etc. These functions are
realized by the network layer PDU which has eight fields.
The transport layer PDU ensures end-to-end packet delivery. Data sets are seg-
mented at the source and reassembled at the destination. This layer encapsulates the
data from the APL. It also acts as a convergence point between HART and WHART.
The standard HART APL uses commands which reside at the topmost layer of
WHART. The commands are universal in nature. The APL in WHART is responsi-
ble for parsing the message, extracting the command number, executing the specific
command, and generating responses.

FIGURE 5.44 Protocol stack of WHART and OSI model.

Fieldbus 243

FIGURE 5.45 Distributed architecture of network components. (Courtesy: WireleeHART,

Device Types-Gateways, HCF_LIT-119, Rev. 1.0, June 23, 2010, Gerrit Lohmann-
Pepperl+Fuchs, HART Communication Foundation, Austin, TX 78759, USA.)

5.11.1.4 Network Components

Network components in WHART system include the following: network manager,
security manager, access points, virtual gateway, adapters, host interface, routers,
and field devices (both wired and wireless). A distributed architecture of network
components is shown in Figure 5.45.
Wireless messages are received and sent via the access points and passed on to
the sensors via the host interface. In doing so it takes the help of both the network
manager and the security manager.

5.11.2 ISA 100.11a

ISA100.11a was endorsed as a wireless communication standard by International
Society of Automation (ISA) in 2009. It can integrate with Foundation Fieldbus,
HART, PROFIBUS, and others through device adapters, network protocol pass
through tunneling by mapping– using interface objects, etc. It is a highly secure and
reliable communication standard in the area of industrial automation for noncritical
monitoring and control applications.
244 Industrial Automation Technologies

5.11.2.1 Key Features

There are many features associated with ISA100.11a, which include the following. It
is a highly reliable, scalable network and supports redundancy and interoperability.
The presentation layer and session layer of OSI model are absent in ISA100.11a.
It supports star, mesh, star-mesh networks and adheres to IEEE 802.15.4 standard
physical layer. It supports deterministic communication through TDMA for real-
time data transfer with the facility of variable slot time. It can blacklist channels that
constantly interfere with reliable data transmission. It uses channels 11–25 with an
optional channel 26. Number of field devices may be typically 50–100 with optional
router capability. Data is modulated by a combination of Frequency Hopping Spread
Spectrum (FHSS) and DSSS. Channel hopping takes place on a packet-by-packet
basis and supports slotted, slow, and a combination of these two. It supports five
preprogrammed hopping patterns. It supports two addressing patterns: a 128-bit long
address (IPv6) and a16-bit short address. The end devices consume very low power.
The battery life of an end device varies from 2 to 5 years. It enforces a two-layer
security: at the data link layer and transport layer. Communication in ISA100.11a can
take place in various modes such as between two nodes belonging to the same sub-
net, between two nodes belonging to different subnets, between a node and control
system, and between a legacy node and control system.

5.11.2.2 Network Architecture

The architecture of ISA100.11a is shown in Figure 5.46. Different types of devices
are shown in the figure along with subnets, backbone routers, backbone network,
gateway, system manager, security manager, and control network. Data from a
device can reach a router via different paths, as shown in the figure.

5.11.2.3 Protocol Stack

The protocol stack of ISA 100.11a with reference to OSI model is shown in
Figure 5.47. It is compliant with Internet of Things. The presentation layer and the
session layer of OSI model are absent in ISA100.11a. The APL of ISA100.11a is sub-
divided into upper APL and application sublayer. Here the data link layer is divided
into upper data link layer, MAC extension, and MAC sublayer.
In ISA100.11a, different standards are adopted for different layers in accordance
with industry accepted norms. This is shown in Figure 5.48.
The physical layer acts as an interface with the physical medium through which
actual message transmission takes place. It transmits and receives data packets with
a modulation technique based on DSSS along with FHSS. It uses channels 11–25
with optional channel 26. Each channel uses a bandwidth of 2 MHz and channel
separation of 5 MHz between any two successive channels. Power in each channel
is limited to 10 mW.
Main responsibilities of data link layer are access and synchronization, handling
of acknowledgment frames, and a reliable peer-to-peer radio entities. The upper
DLL routes data within DLL subnets. It also takes care of the link and mesh aspects
of the subnet level network. The DL subnet operations are managed by system man-
ager. The PDU of DLL (DPDU) of ISA100.11a is more complex than its counterpart
Fieldbus 245

FIGURE 5.46 Architecture of ISA100.11a. (Courtesy: G. Wang. Comparison and Evaluation

of Industrial Wireless Sensor Network Standards: ISA100.11a and WirelessHART. Master of
Science Thesis, Communication Engineering, 2011.)

FIGURE 5.47 Protocol stack of ISA100.11a and OSI model.

246 Industrial Automation Technologies

FIGURE 5.48 Different standards adopted in ISA100.11a. (Courtesy: Instrumentation,

Systems and Automation Society (ISA), 2010. The Technology behind the ISA 100.11a
Standard-An Exploration. ISA 100 Wireless Compliance Institute.)

in WHART. However, at the same time it offers more flexibility and better perfor-
mance than the latter. The DPDU has a sublayer called data link layer header. This
takes care of routing, congestion control, security aspect, and optional solicitation
message.
The network layer performs mesh-to-mesh routing, performs fragmentation, and
reassembles data packets. It has an address translation mechanism. It has a short
address for DL subnets and a 128-bit long address for backbone routers.
The transport layer transfers data between end systems or host to host. It is also
responsible for end-to-end error recovery. It uses the User Datagram Protocol for
connectionless service over IPv6. It offers better data integrity, encryption, and data
authentication.