Membership Prospectus - PDF Download
The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute facilitates the effective implementation and understanding of the planned ISA100 universal family of industrial wireless standards through:
The mission of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute is to assure that the consensus industry standards arising from the work of ISA100 Standards Committee on Wireless Systems for Automation are applied effectively and consistently. The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute fulfills its functions as a natural complement to the ISA100 standards development activity, and ISA marketing and training activities for the ISA100 standards.
The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute is constituted as an industry group within the Automation Standards Compliance Institute (ASCI), an organization created to facilitate the proper use and application of automation standards through development and implementation of conformance assessment programs and related activities. It is open to participation from end users, technology suppliers, research and development, academia, and other industry consortia and standards bodies.
Current members of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute include:
WCI Governing Board
Further details on the concept are available below.
(Download Concept Document - Download Overview Slides)
Several hundred industry professionals are engaged in the work activity of ISA100 Standards Committee on Wireless Systems for Automation. The committee is developing consensus industry standards that address wireless manufacturing and control systems in the areas of the environment in which the wireless technology is deployed, technology life cycle for wireless equipment and systems, and application of wireless technology. (See Appendix A for full scope and purpose of the Committee.)
In working to assure confidence in, and the integrity of, wireless technology, and to provide criteria for implementation in manufacturing automation and control systems, the ISA100 Committee has launched a number of project teams. Each team's goal is to develop documents that will help users make the right decision on industrial wireless implementations.
The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute facilitates the effective implementation and understanding of the ISA100 universal family of industrial wireless standards through:
The mission of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute is to assure that the consensus industry standards arising from the work of ISA100 Standards Committee on Wireless Systems for Automation are applied effectively and consistently. The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute fulfills its functions as a natural complement to the ISA100 standards development activity, and ISA marketing and training activities for the ISA100 standards. It is open to participation from end users, technology suppliers, research and development, academia, and other industry consortia and standards bodies.
The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute is constituted as an industry group within the Automation Standards Compliance Institute (ASCI). ASCI is an organization created to facilitate the proper use and application of automation standards through development and implementation of conformance assessment programs and related activities. It is operated for the benefit of industry and the profession, and provides a stable long-term entity that transcends individuals, products, and companies. ASCI provides a vital link between ISA's unbiased standards development activity and the implementation of those standards.
ASCI activities are market-driven with financial support arising from membership dues, training and technical support fees, and certification fees. A legal and organizational infrastructure is in place so quick and low-cost start up of an organization like the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute is possible. This established infrastructure includes considerations such as legal incorporation, bylaws, governance systems, administrative staff resources, IT infrastructure, and accounting systems.
Within ASCI, industry interest groups govern specific programs, like the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute. A governance structure arises from the member organizations that join and support the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute. The strategic scope and policies are defined by a Governing Board, the market development activities are overseen by a Marketing Committee, and the technical support and compliance activities are overseen by a Technical Steering Committee.
While the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute is focused on compliance, and associated awareness and technical support, of the ISA100 standards, it is important that this activity be undertaken in coordination with other industry consortia and standards bodies. Since the ISA100 wireless standards are universal in their applicability, and facilitate interoperability and co-existence with other communication and sensing protocols, and control system architectures, it is important that open and collaborative communications occur with the organizations that oversee these other standards and protocols. For example, in the case of compliance testing it is important that any organization licensed to test and grant the ISA100 Wireless Compliant brand represent it as a universal solution and not one uniquely available in association with some other certification. Effectively collaborating with groups such as Fieldbus Foundation, Profibus, HART, OPC, and others is necessary and important in this regard.
Central to the ultimate success of the ISA100 standards development activity is recognition among the industrial community of the existence of the standards and their value when properly applied. This requires a concerted communications campaign that properly positions the ISA100 standards in the marketplace as uniquely universal family of industrial wireless standards. The ISA100 standards transcend specific protocols and architectures currently used in automation and control systems or in consumer or general purpose wireless applications. The ISA100 standards are vendor-neutral, user-driven technology applications for the industrial market.
The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute serves to communicate this unique position of the standards to the community of suppliers, end users, technology providers, and others. In so doing, it helps assure that the ISA100 standards are properly applied and the standards development work is leveraged to greatest benefit of the community.
A key component of the market awareness activities of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute is establishing appropriate brand recognition and promulgating the value of that brand. This brand positioning encompasses both the ISA100 wireless standards brand as well as the brand associated with compliance with those standards. The brands should be simple, recognizable, memorable, logical, and reputable, as reflected in these two sample brands.
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One of the characteristics of the ISA100 standards is the concept of classes. As such, the ISA100 Wireless compliance brand most likely will have multiple designations aligned with classes. While this characteristic is straight forward to test and manage from a technical perspective, brand class variants must be properly articulated to ensure clarity of the differences. With effective messaging to the industrial automation community, all participants can be clear on the meaning of the designations.
Well-conceived linkages between the standard/class, the standard/class compliance testing, through to the standard/class product logo will provide the necessary continuity to ensure that the designated compliance has consistent interpretation by the industrial automation community. Over time, the product logos should have easy recognition and provide immediate understanding of the designation's meaning. The branding and brand logos must clearly define the capabilities in devices with the ISA100 wireless logo and should meet the following objectives:
Successfully building the ISA100 wireless brand and brand logos is a critical success factor for industry participation in the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute compliance activity.
An organized continuing communications campaign is vital to assuring that the industrial community is aware of the ISA100 standards and the availability of compliant solutions. Through the efforts of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute, a program entailing the following elements at a minimum can be expected to build the desired level of visibility.
Beyond general awareness, there also is an important role for the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute to provide technical support to the industrial community in deploying the ISA100 solution set. Technology providers in some instances need development tools and access to competent technical staff. Systems integrators and engineering contractors benefit from technical resources that supplement their own experiences with the implementation of the standards. End users require technical assistance in identifying the right technical solution for their specific application.
Technical support is provided in many forms.
Technical staff retained by the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute can further the understanding and adoption of ISA100 standards through contributions to the ongoing development and maintenance of the standards. In addition, technical staff can contribute to the development of technology solutions that facilitate the implementation of the standards, and facilitate the organization and conduct of field trials and demonstrations to promulgate critical concepts like product interoperability and coexistence.
At the core of efforts to promulgate the understanding and implementation of the ISA100 wireless standards is a compliance program that certifies that products or systems comply with the strictures of the ISA100 standards. This entails activities such as
The compliance program entails an initial step of defining the test methodology and verifying that conformance metrics exist for all critical parameters. Since the ISA100 standards are being developed with the recognition that conformance testing is desired, it is likely that the standards will be fully suitable for testing. However, if there are any required quantitative metrics that are not suitably specified within the standard, then the Technical Steering Committee facilitates rapid consensus development of the needed supplemental test parameters.
The definition of the certification program for ISA100 standards is established by consensus agreement among the members of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute under the direction of the Technical Steering Committee. The program is summarized here.
Certification provides formal recognition of a product's conformance to an industry standard specification with advantages to suppliers and buyers:
Certification programs are based on a supplier's claim of conformance, which may (depending on the certification program that is defined and approved by the members) use testing as an indicator of conformance. Suppliers often use test suites to establish confidence that their product conforms, and to achieve certification, the supplier must provide a warranty of conformance, indicating that their product is conformant.
This warranty ensures that:
This warranty of conformance by suppliers is usually based on the use of a trademark in connection with certified products. The terms under which the trademark is licensed include a strong legal representation by the supplier that the product registered in the program fully conforms to the relevant specification(s). The warranty is made by suppliers, not the owner of the specification, owner of the trademark, or the certification authority.
A certification program is tailored to fit the needs of consortia, and depending on the definition of the program, could include but is not limited to some or all of the following options:
The methodology for testing, if it becomes part of the Certification Program will be modeled after a practice such as the following.
The certification process must be clearly defined, including any pre-requisites that must be met prior to registering a product or procedure for certification. The steps required to achieve certification must be clearly described along with the expected timeframes for the process.
The policies must define the appropriate steps to be taken to validate that a product or procedure is conformant. In this step, the alternatives will be discussed to determine what validation steps make sense and policies will be established for any necessary validation procedures, tools, or test suites.
The program must clearly identify any obligations on customers who either wish to certify or have certified a product or procedure in the program, as well as any rights the customer may have as a result of participating in the program.
An effective certification program must be able to provide applicants with a responsive service through which they can get answers to questions of interpretation about the standard or best practices guide, or report problems with any test suites, validation procedures or the certification system.
The renewal process covers identification of the period of time for which a certification registration is valid, requirements for maintaining the certification, and the process for renewal.
The policy must define the requirements for maintaining certification when making modifications to a certified product or practice. This involves defining the types of modifications that could be made and identifying the re-certification requirements in each case.
Agree on logo and trademark to be used in conjunction with the certification program and register with PTO.
Once the overarching policies have been defined for each of the areas described above, they will be incorporated into a Certification Policy document. Once agreement on the overarching program definition has been reached within the Working Group(s), the Certification Policy will be submitted to the formal review and approval process.
As technical standards and profiles are approved, the following specific areas will be defined for each of the technical standards/profiles and will together with the General Policy described above, comprise the definition of the supplemental certification program for a particular standard/profile:
The conformance requirements for a technical standard or profile certification are specified in a Conformance Requirements Document. A Conformance Requirements Document is a precisely defined and documented set of requirements against which Certifiable Entities may be certified.
A Conformance Statement is the Organization's documented set of claims describing precisely the way in which the Certifiable Entity meets the Conformance Requirements, including which optional requirements are implemented. It provides a precise characterization of the Certified Entity. A Conformance Statement is produced by completing the relevant Conformance Statement Questionnaire.
A supplemental policy will only be necessary if any of the general policy requirements need to be altered to accommodate the specific standard/profile that is being developed.
The scheme for testing and the granting of compliance certificates is the most critical role for the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute and requires careful consideration of market needs and technical realities. The program(s) need careful continuing oversight from the members to assure that it serves the collective needs of the community and is a credible reference for suppliers and end users alike.
The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute facilitates the effective implementation and understanding of the ISA100 family of industrial wireless standards through three interrelated components of
The mission of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute is to assure that the consensus industry standards arising from the work of ISA100 Standards Committee on Wireless Systems for Automation are applied effectively and consistently. The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute fulfills its functions as a natural complement to the ISA100 standards development activity, and ISA marketing and training activities for the ISA100 standards.
In fulfilling this mission, the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute:
The benefits directly accruing to members of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute are unique to the driving force or motivation for each member to join. In the case of suppliers, it may be to establish market credibility for a product line through the affiliation with a reputable organization or to publicize standards-based interoperability. In the case of an end user, it may be to gain access to a network of wireless subject matter experts to facilitate more effective business and technology decisions or to simplify purchasing decisions using ISA standards-based interoperability as key decision criteria. For a systems integrator, it may be to market credibility through affiliation and to gain recognition through participation in a professional certificate of competence program.
A list of potential benefits is shown in Appendix B.
The ISA100 Standards Committee on Wireless Systems for Automation addresses wireless manufacturing and control systems in the areas of the environment in which the wireless technology is deployed, technology life cycle for wireless equipment and systems, and application of wireless technology. The wireless environment includes the definition of wireless, radio frequencies (starting point), vibration, temperature, humidity, EMC, interoperability, coexistence with existing systems, and physical equipment location. Global short-, medium-, and long-term technology needs are incorporated on a non-exclusive technology basis with no bias towards or against a particular wireless technology. The standards themselves may influence the allocation and use of resources and spectrum.
Application of the technology includes:
The ISA100 Committee is establishing standards, recommended practices, technical reports, and related information that define procedures for implementing wireless systems in the automation and control environment with a focus on the field level (Level 0). Guidance is directed towards those responsible for the complete life cycle including the designing, implementing, on-going maintenance, scalability or managing manufacturing and control systems, and shall apply to users, system integrators, practitioners, and control systems manufacturers and vendors.
The Committee's focus is to improve the confidence, integrity, and availability of components or systems used for manufacturing or control, and provide criteria for procuring and implementing wireless technology in the control system environment. Compliance with the Committee's guidance will improve manufacturing and control system deployment, and will help identify vulnerabilities and address them, thereby reducing the risk of compromising or causing manufacturing control systems degradation or failure.
In working to assure confidence in, and the integrity of, wireless technology, and to provide criteria for implementation in manufacturing automation and control systems, the ISA100 Committee has launched a number of project teams. Each team's goal is to develop documents that will help users make the right decision on industrial wireless implementations.
Benefits for members of the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute include: