HART’s DDL unanimously approved by IEC as international standard

Austin, TX—The HART Communication Foundation (HCF) reports that the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC, Geneva, Switzerland) recently approved Device Description Language (DDL) in a unanimous vote as its International Standard 61804-2.

By Control Engineering Staff April 20, 2004

Austin, TX— The HART Communication Foundation (HCF) reports that the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC, Geneva, Switzerland) recently approved Device Description Language (DDL) in a unanimous vote as its International Standard 61804-2.

DDL is the standard on which HART is based, and HART was the first communication technology to implement DDL as its standard. DDL is the only technology that HCF endorses for configuring HART devices.

“For more than a decade, DDL has proven its value to both users and manufacturers as a standard environment for accessing unique features of HART-enabled devices,” says Ron Helson, HCF’s executive director. “HCF is committed to DDL and is actively working to enhance the technology with new tools and capabilities to further strengthen the platform and facilitate new product applications.”

DDL has been a key element of the HART technology since 1990. It has proven to be an efficient and stable platform to describe the capabilities of HART-enabled products in one, open, consistent format. Device descriptions, created in DDL, provide information for handheld configurators, host control systems and asset management applications to access, display and modify device unique parameters in HART smart field devices.

HCF adds that its HART Field Communications Protocol is the global standard for smart process instrumentation communication. More than 14 million HART-capable devices are installed worldwide. Seventy percent of all smart process measurement and control instruments installed each year communicate using HART technology.

Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Jim Montague, news editor
jmontague@reedbusiness.com