Toronto Section   

Serving the ISA Members and the Corporate Community 

in Central & Eastern Ontario

                                                             Published article on FDT by Kevin Martyn >> here
 

MONTHLY DINNER MEETING - Thursday, April 26, 2007 

 

 
Kevin Martyn from Magnetrol provided the members with an enlightening presentation on how one can communicate with field devices using the new FDT technology. Kevin also announced that the FDT and the EDDL groups have merged and will be developing the new FDI standard that most of the field device manufacturers will adopt.

The presentation also included a live demo illustrating how the freely available  PACware software could be used to configure and communicate with a Magnetrol  HART based radar level transmitter. The demonstration also illustrated how easy it was to communicate with a Yokogawa dp cell using the same setup and software and no other documentation or product knowledge required.

 

Topic:

 

 

FDT - Field Device Tools 

 

The FDT  is a software standard that allows users to communicate with transmitters utilizing their local PC. It is supported by most major instrumentation manufacturers, yet, surprisingly, some

users have not yet heard of this breakthrough. 

 

These days most transmitters (level . flow, etc.) are smart microprocessor based devices. They have extensive internal information and advanced diagnostic capability that is not easily seen nor used. Implementation of the FDT standard in transmitters basically unleashes that advanced capability. Fortunately there is free software out there that you can use to implement it. This approach saves the user from having to purchase expensive and limited, hand-held configuration devices and gives them sophisticated troubleshooting capability from a laptop, PDA, or directly from the control system. It works with all those brands that support the standard regardless of communication protocol, and is

most commonly used with HART capable instruments over a standard 4-20 mA loop.

 

During this presentation Kevin will provide a live demonstration to show how easy it is to use the FDT software to communicate with equipment from Magnetrol and Yokogawa. 

For more information on FDT read Kevin Martyn's article >> more

 

Speaker:

 

Kevin Martyn, General Manager of Magnetrol Canada

Kevin has been in the instrumentation business for 28 years. He has written numerous articles for instrumentation trade magazines, and is a member of the board of the Canadian Process Control Association. Kevin has presented at several of our ISA dinner meetings and as always, presents a very informative and educational presentation.

 

Sank-a-Set:

Presentation:

Cost:

OSPE & WEAO

Location:

 

RSVP:

 

5 pm - 7 pm   Social hour and Dinner. Your dinner must be ordered before 6 pm. Cash Bar

7 pm (or so)   Brief announcement from the President and intro to the speaker.

$5 Students   $10 ISA Members   $20 Non-members   Free to attend the presentation only

All members are welcome to attend $15 (includes dinner)

PARK PLAZA Toronto Airport  (Parking is FREE)

33 Carlson Court - Toronto, Ontario M9W 6H5 Phone: (416) 675-1234 FAX: (416) 675-3436

RSVP at office@isatoronto.org