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ISA100 Continues Progress on Family of Standards

ISA100, the Wireless Systems for Automation standards committee, made significant progress at recent meetings held in conjunction with ISA EXPO in Houston, Texas. Over one hundred ISA100 members and guests participated in the meetings, held 14-17 October, and the committee continues to welcome input from new members.

The ISA100 committee displayed four core themes in a wireless technology booth at ISA EXPO, including concepts regarding ensured coexistence, the ISA100.11a draft standard, the family of standards, and featured subcommittees, or family members. Featured subcommittees in the display included ISA100.12 – WirelessHART Convergence, ISA100.14 – Trustworthy Wireless, ISA100.15 – Backhaul Networks, and ISA100.21 – People and Asset Tracking and Identification.

ISA100 held a full committee meeting, where progress in concurrent ongoing efforts was addressed. The committee also held a meeting dedicated to ISA100.11a, the initial draft standard in the family of standards, and the working group and its task groups reviewed comments received for Draft 2 of the standard. Over 1800 comments were received and will be evaluated before a new draft is released.

"The comments received for the draft of ISA100.11a were well thought out, technically relevant, and will ultimately improve the standard for the end users," said ISA100 co-chair Wayne Manges of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. "Every comment we receive helps to ensure that this standard will serve the best interests of industry, and we’re committed to an open environment with maximum participation in the process."

The User Working Group met for a half day preceding the ISA100 meetings to allow end users to attend and participate in the on-going committee work. The group discussed the needs for Application Profiles not included in the standard. It also discussed how users would like the work on WirelessHART Convergence (ISA100.12) to proceed. This discussion continued into the ISA100.12 meetings and resulted in users defining five possible integration scenarios that will be further analyzed during the ISA100.12 subcommittee work.

The ISA100.12 subcommittee’s series of meetings during the week were targeted at scoping the work to be addressed by the group. Guest speakers during the meetings reviewed user requirements and the applicability of dual-mode gateway, backhaul concepts, and other technologies.

"I was very impressed at the level of dedication and inventiveness shown by the end-users who took the time to attend the .12 meetings," said Paul Sereiko, co-chair of ISA100.12. "They gave us a great deal of valuable input that will influence the direction of work that this subcommittee will take during the coming year."

The ISA100.21 subcommittee’s technical display within the ISA100 booth demonstrated co-resident 802.11-based and "conventional" RFID asset tracking systems operating in the same RF footprint as a number of pre-release ISA100.11a field devices. Booth visitors could attend technical presentations on Wireless Asset Tracking solutions in the EXPO X-pod, then walk across the aisle and see the systems operating with the added benefit of being able to ask questions of the ISA100 booth volunteers.

The ISA100 Coexistence working group, WG5, held technical discussions which complemented the spectrum analyzer measurements that were conducted during the first two days of ISA EXPO. Of prominent note were measurements showing over 100 active WiFi access points (APs) all co-resident while pre-release ISA100.11a field transmitters and ISA100.21 asset tracking systems were operating. "From an electromagnetic interference (EMI) perspective, the EXPO floor represented an unnatural RF congestion environment – one not anticipated in most, if not all, industrial settings," said Dr. Peter Fuhr of Apprion, co-chair of WG21. "Witnessing field instruments operating in this setting, with supporting spectrum analyzer measurements, allowed many end users to see some of the fruits of the labor regarding the technical aspects of co-channel interference that the various ISA100 work groups are addressing."

Other working groups met during the week as well, each with different goals and areas of focus. ISA100.14, the Trustworthy Wireless subcommittee, continued work on a document describing trustworthiness in industrial wireless automation. ISA100.15, the Backhaul Networks working group, had very productive and successful meetings at ISA EXPO, and has received strong support from users. The group has collected and reviewed use cases in order to derive user requirements for backhaul networks. "Users are very actively involved in backhaul network standardization activity. Industry has realized the great needs of this standardization solution, and this foundation of use case requirements will guide the ISA100.15 group in establishing a detailed backhaul network requirement," said Dr. Penny Chen of Yokogawa, co-chair of ISA100.15. Other working groups met to establish plans and requirements for asset tracking, coexistence, interoperability, and other interest areas.

Other active groups within the committee include the Factory Automation Study Group and the ZigBee Interest Group. The Factory Automation Study Group has developed a model of four key areas of communication to assist in the scoping of the group’s effort to develop requirements and recommended practice documents. "The group has done a nice job of focusing in on the types of wireless communication that is important to consider for Factory Automation applications," said co-chair Cliff Whitehead of Rockwell Automation. "Our four Task Groups will have clear direction for advancing the work on our deliverable documents.

" ISA100 continues to be a very active committee with contributions from around the world and from many diverse industries. The interest level in industry is extremely high. Our committee members tell us that they're getting a great deal of professional and personal satisfaction from contributing to such important work," said ISA100 co-chair Patrick Schweitzer of Exxon-Mobil. "Many, many people are consistently dedicating their time and talent to this effort, and we know there are many others who share these core values. For those who might like to participate but aren't sure how, we invite you to contact ISA."

ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute Conducts Demonstration at ISA EXPO 2008

ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) successfully conducted a demonstration of the ISA100.11a wireless industrial automation network at ISA EXPO 2008, 14-16 October in Houston, TX.

The demonstration employed technology based on the latest draft of the ISA100.11a industrial wireless communications standard. The demonstration highlighted the mesh and interoperability capabilities of the proposed ISA100.11a standard by showing ISA100.11a Field Routers from many different vendors formed into a self-healing and dynamically adaptive mesh network.

Devices from 14 different instrumentation vendors formed the wireless network of interoperable devices all seamlessly working together using the ISA100.11a draft technology. These devices included various wireless platforms from fully integrated devices to devices with attached wireless adaptors. Wired HART devices were included in the demonstration and used the wireless adaptors to communicate HART information like stranded diagnostics over the ISA100.11a network to a host system.

The wireless demonstration system was comprised of three separate yet integrated ISA100.11a networks with devices sending process control data to a simulated, centralized plant-wide host monitoring system where the data was collected and displayed. The console operator at the host system could configure devices to periodically send data or could issue on-demand reads of the data from devices in the wireless network. More advanced capabilities exhibited by the ISA100.11a demo system included live process control loops, remote configurability, as well as simple “over the air” upgrades of the entire ISA100.11a system including the wireless field devices. The wireless sensor networks also communicated to a DCS via a gateway developed according to the ISA100.11a draft.

The demonstration included protocol stacks from two different developers to prove that the ISA100.11a draft standard document included sufficient detail to allow multiple developers from various nationalities across the globe to develop a fully functioning ISA100.11a system.

The first stack supplier was Atlanta-based Nivis, LLC, which coordinated the overall WCI demonstration. Nivis has also developed an Evaluation Kit for use by vendors who need development support for devices that will use protocol stacks in their products based on the ISA100.11a wireless standard. The Evaluation Kit is a user-friendly assessment tool that allows developers to swiftly build an ISA100.11a network and evaluate its performance.

The second stack was developed in China by the Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CQUPT). It was developed as a research project by over 40 college students and 8 different teachers all working from the same ISA100.11a draft document. The CQUPT stack was exhibited in the WCI booth as a standalone network with wireless devices from multiple vendors communicating with each other and also using the draft ISA100.11a standard technology.

The WCI booth fielded many questions, as interest in the ISA100.11a wireless standard was extremely high. The most frequently asked question was, “How and why are vendors developing products now when the ISA100.11a standard has not been fully approved?” The answer is two-fold; 1) The ISA100.11a standard development process is being conducted in a parallel fashion so technical specifications, test specifications, and stack developments are all currently underway. This approach accelerates technical discoveries and corrections at a much more rapid pace to ensure a high quality standard is produced in a timely fashion; and 2) The developers and vendors involved are very experienced wireless suppliers who have participated in the standards development process and have confidence that the approved ISA100.l1a standard will not deviate far from the current draft ISA100.11a standard.

“Today, and in the upcoming years, as products are developed and field tested based upon the ISA100 standards, the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute will provide feedback to the ISA100 Standards Committee to complement the development of technical standards. The ISA100.11a demonstration at ISAEXPO is an example of this coordinated effort,” said WCI Chair Herman Storey with Shell Global Systems.

Companies participating in the technology demonstration booth at ISA Expo 2008 included Barton Cameron, CQUPT, Dresser Masonielan, Flowserve, Fuji Electric, GE MDS, Hach, Honeywell, ITT, Krohne, Metso, Nivis, Omron, Sensicast, Teledyne, Yamatake, Yokogawa, Williamson, and WIKA.

Fieldbus Foundation and ISA Announce Collaborative Wireless Initiative

Agreement will facilitate implementation of wireless backhaul transport networks

The Fieldbus Foundation and ISA have announced an agreement to facilitate the implementation of wireless backhaul transport networks.  This technology initiative is based on shared interests in serving the needs of end users and suppliers of wireless systems in industrial automation.

Representatives from both organizations discussed the wireless project at ISA EXPO 2008 in Houston, Texas, a leading international exposition focused on the technology and techniques of automation and control.

At an ISA100 meeting in June, ISA100 leaders established a new working group, ISA100.15—Wireless Backhaul Networks Working Group—to develop and maintain a standard to address one or more dedicated or shared wireless backhaul(s) to support technologies running multiple applications.  The first of these backbones will be the Fieldbus Foundation’s High Speed Ethernet (HSE) implementation.

To expedite the work, the Fieldbus Foundation and ISA have entered into a cross-licensing agreement allowing the two organizations to collaborate on wireless networks.  To enable the ISA100.15 working group to develop the wireless backhaul standard, it will be necessary to use extracts of Fieldbus Foundation specifications as well as parts of other ISA standards in development.

Dave Glanzer, Fieldbus Foundation director of technology development and co-chair of the ISA100.15 working group noted, “The Fieldbus Foundation recognizes the opportunities that are emerging with wireless applications and believes that effectively interfacing with ISA100 systems will serve as a basis for extending the value and applicability of FOUNDATION™ technology in industry.”

“I am pleased to be playing a critical role in helping ISA100 fulfill its mission, and fostering collaboration between ISA100 and the Fieldbus Foundation,” said Dr. Penny Chen, principal systems architect with Yokogawa and co-chair of the working group.

Wireless technology has improved in performance and ease-of-use, and a variety of wireless technologies are now being deployed for different applications in mixed environments.  These developments bring the need for a wireless backhaul transport network to facilitate interoperability, end-to-end security, and end-to-end quality of service. End users have reported a strong need for this because multiple wireless technologies have been deployed in the same environment for various applications, all needing transport over the common shared wireless media backhaul.

As part of the wireless backhaul network initiative, the Fieldbus Foundation and ISA will develop a standard to interface between different technologies suitable for backhaul networking; address wireless co-existence (frequency sharing) related to the backhaul networks; define prioritization of multiple applications and ensure quality of service; support multiple application protocol translators; and address security issues on backhaul networks.  ISA will publish the technical documents as a standard within the ISA100 family of standards, and the standard will be jointly owned by the two organizations and used accordingly in the marketplace.

For more information about ISA100, visit www.isa.org/isa100wireless or call (919) 549-8411. For more information about Fieldbus Foundation visit www.fieldbus.org or call (512) 794-8890.

NIST Collaborates with ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute to Validate ISA100.11a Draft Standard

As part of its ongoing effort to assure the usefulness of the ISA100.11a Industrial Wireless Standard, the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) is collaborating with NIST on a Validation Study to independently perform simulations of network performance characteristics using data from early adopters of the Standard. The Validation Study will analyze performance data and determine if the real world works as simulated.

This initiative provides a way of validating certain performance dimensions of the ISA100.11a Standard itself during the early stages of adoption by the industrial automation controls community. In addition, the study supports one of the key goals of the WCI: to provide field tested feedback to the ISA100 Standards Committee for ensuring that the standard meets its intended objectives with satisfactory performance characteristics.

The Validation Study expects to provide insights beneficial to suppliers who are launching new products based on the ISA100.11a technology and to operators who are investing in the deployment and management of these leading edge technologies.

The general approach is to encourage early adopters to make performance data available to the study effort under appropriate confidentiality protections. The data will be analyzed to determine if the real world works as simulated. If it doesn’t, everyone involved will be interested in determining why and seek solutions for closing the gap and improving the Standard.

Jay Werb, WCI’s Technical Director, commented, “WCI can test products and prove that they conform to the ISA100.11a Industrial Standard, but sooner rather than later, someone needs to prove that the Standard actually works on a realistic scale.”

“We are currently planning a rigorous user-site beta test battery that is primarily aimed at validating the interoperability of ISA100.11a technologies in a heterogeneous vendor environment,” said Herman Story of Shell Global Solutions. “However, we still need the Validation Study to validate performance in a scaled-up real world environment.”

Companies are encouraged to participate in the Validation Study and interested parties should contact Andre Ristaino, ASCI Managing Director, for details at aristaino@isa.org or 919-990-9222.