Autumn 1997

Fast and accurate access to plant process data is unquestionably a critical component of improved processing and manufacturing profitability. Yet, throughout the UK, Europe and the USA, industry has, until recently, been slow to adopt the digital open system plant communications architecture that, using a simple wiring structure, offers optimum control and comprehensive data acquisition. Here, Daniel OSullivan looks at the development of fieldbus technology and discusses its applicability to condition monitoring.

Fieldbuses release the hidden data

and managers have traditionally accessed shop-floor process data by using a host control system into which all field instrumentation and automated manufacturing cells are fed, and generally attached by often complicated, lengthy wiring networks.

riginally developed in the mid-1980s, open architecture technology commonly known as fieldbus, field communications or factory networking did undoubtedly experience extensive prejudice, though potential end-users' qualms were directed towards the apparent lack of international standards rather than at the concept itself. In fact, since last year's ratification of EN 50170 (the European standard for digital field communications) the thirteenyear-old technology has gained rapid and substantial enthusiasm. This is not just because end-users have recognised the benefits of digital field communications but because instrumentation and associated product producers have also accelerated developments which have led to an impressive array of standardised solutions. In the past, much of the problem lay within the sphere of instrument-to-host system compatibility, for the technology spans several types of protocol, initially developed by companies such as ABB, Bosch, Honeywell and Siemens, to support the sale of industrial computers and instrumentation manufactured within their organisations. Though it would be unwise to state that each protocol offers exactly the same benefit to end-users, it is accurate to claim that some are more popular than others. Overall, though, the majority offer substantial savings over traditional analogue processing and manufacturing systems which worldwide cost producers around 35.5 billion (US$60 billion) every year in plant maintenance a level of spending that is three times greater than capital investment. Furthermore, the criticality of real-time, on-line information access provided by such technology can only become greater as systems evolve to handle more sophisticated levels of process and manufacturing automation. In simplified form, plant engineers

The fieldbus solution

All critical plant functions, inclusive of design, enterprise management and operations can be spanned with this fast-moving technology, its layers capable of reducing design cycles, accelerating installation and commissioning times, and improving reliability. Fieldbuses, through protocols such as CANopen, DeviceNET, LONWorks, PROFIBUS, P-NET, SDS and WorldFIP, can be instrumental in preparing the

effective control strategies that encompass future growth potential. They can also manage the ways in which costs can be reduced, and in so much as that assets can be better managed, real-time management information and automated documentation is a major benefit. Reasonably, it can be argued that as much as 40% of the cost of installing traditional systems can be saved when a fieldbus alternative is chosen; the inputs/ outputs literally hooked onto a single twisted pair of wires. After system commissioning, the fieldbus principle enables highly effective two-way signalling between host computer and individual instruments together with device-to-device communication. Worldwide, there are millions of nodes now in use, spanning many industrial sectors, and because it is

espite the rising uptake in fieldbus systems in Europe and America, confusion among potential new end-users remains commonplace when determining which system architecture or protocol is best suited to their individual requirements. Yet, in reality, this should no longer be the case as help is readily available through protocol vendor and user groups and, more recently, from a totally independent UK-based organisation, FieldComms International Ltd (FCI). Based in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, and with offices in London and Hampshire, FCI is a specialist organiser of combined conferences and exhibitions that focus on digital data acquisition and factory networking. The companys annual FieldComms-UK conference and exhibition delivers greater understanding to delegates involved in the critical areas of design, enterprise management and operations. A major part of the conferences is a structured educational programme for which delegates may earn professional development units (PDU) aimed at explaining the fieldbus principle at whatever level of understanding that individual delegates possess. Overall, the capabilities of protocols, such as PROFIBUS, DeviceNet, AS-Interface, Foundation Fieldbus, SDS, P-NET, LONWorks, WorldFIP, CANopen and Interbus-S, are detailed through technical papers from key industry figures, vendors' technical presentations, and panel sessions covering all the identifiable solutions available in today's marketplace. The fourth annual FieldComms show and conference will be held at Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK, in October 1998. For further information, contact: Lyndsey Carter, FieldComms International Ltd, 1 West Street, Titchfield, Hampshire PO14 4DH, UK; tel: +44-1329-846166, fax: +44-1329-512063, e-mail: <lyndseyc@gghnet.demon.co.uk>.

Which protocol?

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becoming clear that international standardisation will not need to be effected, fieldbus devices are being developed internationally to such an extent that endusers are frequently far freer of vendor selection in terms of add-on purchases.

Pioneering multimedia development

Under the UK Department of Technology-supported HIFLIRTS (High Integrity data communications for Light Rail Transport Systems) project, teamleader ERA Technology has been pioneering a product that initially involving the transfer of multimedia information over WorldFIP could eventually also impact on the condition monitoring sector. An important part of the project has been the implementation of compressed digital voice and video transmission as part of the development of a system aimed at enhancing passenger and staff security on trains. The FIP bus forms part of the trains control structure and may be used typically for condition monitoring, lighting and door control, traction and braking systems. HIFLIRTS has demonstrated that in addition to this conventional use of the bus it may also be used to carry compressed digital video and audio signals. The system developed under HIFLIRTS uses proprietary PC compatible video conferencing cards that are interfaced with CEGELEC CC121 bi-medium FIP interface cards. The FIP bus is used to transfer video and bi-directional audio data from a simulated passenger help point in a carriage to the driver's cab. Data is placed on the FIP bus as a variable rather than as a message. The maximum raw data rate used for multimedia data has been measured at 570 kbit/s out of a useful capacity of about 750 kbit/s. This allows CIF 4:2:0 images (352 pixels by 288 lines) to be transferred at a frame rate of 8.8 frames/s with a video compression ratio of 25 times. This resolution and frame rate would be sufficient for many industrial applications. However,

a 2.5 Mbit/s FIP bus would allow nearly real-time video or a significantly higher bit-rate for non-multimedia traffic.

The way forward

Based upon the work carried out under the HIFLIRTS programme and other ongoing multimedia projects, ERA is exploring the development of a multimedia-over-FIP product family. ERA envisages that this would allow a user to transport video, audio and data information over a FIP bus to and from personal computers and multiple remote locations. Typical applications would include enhanced site security, safety monitoring, condition monitoring, remote database and technical support access, process monitoring and even process control if image processing capabilities are added to the system.

Fieldbuses and condition monitoring

According to John Beeston, director, International Communications, and UK representative for the WorldFIP protocol umbrella organisation, WorldFIP is ideally suited to condition monitoring applications. Speaking recently, he said: "It has unique features supporting condition monitoring features that are not evident in Foundation Fieldbus, PROFIBUS, ControlNet or DeviceNet etc." Among these features is the protocol's ability to support cyclic, event and background message traffic on the same bus. "The cyclic and event traffic is not distributed by the background messages," he explained, adding: "This is extremely important as it allows access for condition monitoring purposes to data in intelligent low-level devices along the same piece of wire and without disturbing the realtime control." WorldFIP's producer-consumer model is said to allow addition of a node to an existing network without disturbing the existing traffic, meaning that a PC can be added to any network for condition monitoring analysis without fear of disturbance nor change to application programs. According to Beeston this cannot be achieved with master-slave networks such as PROFIBUS DP or DeviceNet.

Alternative condition monitoring protocols

In some respects, the CAN and P-NET protocols also offers support. Internationally standardised (ISO 11898), CAN is supported by several semiconductor manufacturers non-destructive bus arbitration, and it offers advanced error management capabilities, though only eight data bytes can be transmitted within a single data frame, and its maximum

A single protocol
End-users can mix simple and complex devices some, perhaps using cyclic data, others utilising event and message traffic on the same WorldFIP network, thus representing a uniquely simple access, whereas the same functionality can only be achieved in other protocols by mixing, for instance, PROFIBUS DP and FMS, said Beeston. Apparently, the cyclic data in WorldFIP is always delivered exactly on time, guaranteeing independence of control from information traffic an area in which Foundation Fieldbus is said to offer the closest, though not fully functioning alternative. In this respect, a WorldFIP network supports both the variable demands of condition monitoring and the fixed demands of control: all on a single network and with the guarantee of an interferencefree established control system which, Beeston concluded, cannot be achieved with any other protocol.

Automation on board the Dutch car and foot-passenger ferry, M/S Schulpengat, is performed by P-NET modules. The entire system is grouped into 19 sub-systems, each of which deal with specific functions on the vessel.

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Autumn 1997
cabling length also depends on the data rate. Based in Silkeborg, Denmark, the International P-NET user organisation ApS claims to have had a number of successes in the marine equivalent of condition monitoring. Citing the case of Dutch car and foot-passenger ferry, M/S Schulpengat operating between the island of Texel and the port of Den Helger, the organisation states that the ship's on-board automation system is one of 50 designed and programmed by Danish company Ingeniorfirma Per Hornsved (IPH). The ships automation is performed by means of P-NET modules, and the entire system is grouped into 19 sub-systems, each dealing with specific functions on the ferry. Two redundant graphical PC supervision systems each having its own PC network are connected to the P-NET. The IPH system includes a number of subordinate data acquisition and control systems. These are based on IPH's Marine Automation System, and are interconnected by two double redundant local P-NET networks.

Looking ahead
Fieldbus technology is no longer an uncertainty. Since its 1985 origins there has always been a European market and the reality is that the 14 leading protocols are widely accepted. Already hundreds of plants throughout the world are monitored and controlled using some form of fieldbus, and there can be few significant systems users who have not already formulated, or are not planning, a strategy for exploiting the technology.

PROFIBUS boasts huge European success

ccording to the latest Fieldbus market study from research firm Consultic, PROFIBUS has a dominant share of the European market. Of the 47 000 fieldbus systems installed in Germany during 1996, the protocol swathed a 43% share, backed by 41% percent of Europe's remaining key markets. Demonstrating a clear upward trend in fieldbus systems utilisation over previous research in 1994 and 1992, the latest study, which was conducted between October 1996 and January 1997, also revealed that, although the trend to open and standardised systems is clearly identifiable, manufacturer-specific systems have lost their importance. In this particular respect, PROFIBUS offers end-users inter-operability together with product and sourcing options from numerous suppliers. Having extended its volume by a factor of seven (apparently at the expense of INTERBUS-S which dropped from 28.3% in 1994 to 22.2% IN 1996), its widespread support is further reflected by the fact that virtually all programmable logic controller (PLC) vendors with

Figure 2. Growth in Fieldbus systems in Germany.

Figure 1. Fieldbus market shares in Germany (end-user and OEM).

PROFI-PLC (the special interest PLC grouping which has chosen and actively promotes PROFIBUS) membership have the protocol as their preferred open fieldbus solution. However, based on detailed research in Germany and on expert interviews in Great Britain, France and Italy, the study also uncovered a drop in the average number of stations per fieldbus system from 14 in 1992 to 11. On the up-side, it showed, however, that, in Germany, more than twice as many PROFIBUS systems are used than any other (Figure 1). While indicating that the overall fieldbus market will grow this year and next, respectively by 21% percent and 16% (Figure 2) by which time PROFIBUS looks set to claim a 50% market share. At 47 000 installations in 1996, the Consultic report was able to demonstrate a trebling in the number of annual European fieldbus installations and further reflected end-users' faith in PROFIBUS by showing a 23% growth rate in the German market, alone. (In Germany, interviews were carried out amongst 216 OEMs and 309 end-users in machine tools, machines, plant engineering, producer goods, capital equipment and consumer goods industries. Use within motor vehicles was excluded.) PLCs are a prime automation component in fieldbus systems, but INTERBUS-S has limited PLC support, hence it is believed, its influence is decreasing. CAN, which is number three protocol in the German market, grew slightly to 8.7% including vendor specific variations such as DeviceNet, CIA and SDS.

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