Communication technology provides simple, secure wireless communication

WirelessHART from the HART Communication Foundation has earned international standard status.

May 10, 2011

WirelessHART, a  communication technology built on the foundation of the HART Communication Protocol, has earned international standard status and has proven its ability to fulfill users’ requirements for simple, reliable and secure wireless communication in thousands of applications working in concert with millions of installed HART devices and systems worldwide, according to the HART Communication Foundation. 

“Enhancing the proven HART Protocol to include wireless communication capabilities greatly shortened the time required for industry acceptance,” said Ron Helson, Executive Director, HART Communication Foundation. “WirelessHART by design provides the same familiar ease of use and complements the HART instrumentation already installed in users’ plants. Its secure backward compatibility, interoperability and reliability make it easy for both users and suppliers to support wired and wireless devices connected to the same automation systems, operating side-by-side and using the same tools,” Helson said.

Wil Chin, Research Director, ARC Advisory Group commented: “After an auspicious start, WirelessHART has crossed the ‘Chasm’ and is entering the ‘Early Majority’ phase of the technology adoption curve. The thousands of sites that have validated the value and performance of WirelessHART in pilot programs will accelerate its adoption in mainstream applications and drive healthy growth for the foreseeable future.”

The WirelessHART standard supports star, point-to-point and/or mesh topologies and requires no specialized tools or expertise for deployment. The technology is reportedly easy to implement, provides built-in reliability in all industrial environments, and employs 128-bit AES encryption, multi-tiered, always-on security to protect the network and the data being transferred at all times. WirelessHART builds on proven international standards—the HART Communication Protocol (IEC 61158), EDDL (IEC 61804-3), IEEE 802.15.4 radio and frequency/channel hopping, spread spectrum and mesh networking technologies.

www.hartcomm.org

HART Communication Foundation

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– Edited by Amanda McLeman, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com