Many users unfamiliar with smart sensor standard

A large majority of industrial electronic temperature controller users are unfamiliar with the IEEE 1451 smart sensor standard, a recent study found. According to ” The Global Market for Industrial Electronic Temperature Controllers, Eighth Edition ” from Venture Development Corp . (VDC), of the users who were familiar with the standard, only 11% are using smart sensors with TEDS (transducer electronic data sheets).

The standard attempts to reduce the cost of creating unique smart sensors for each bus/network to which they would be connected. A TEDS is an embedded memory chip in a sensor that contains data that enable the sensor to automatically identify itself once con-nected to a bus or network. For more information on the standard, click here .

A more detailed look at the survey shows that 80% of those asked said they were not familiar with IEEE 1451 Smart Sensor Standard. Slightly more than 2% of the users said they were using smart sensors with TEDS; another 10% expected to begin using them by the end of 2006. VDC analyst Jake Millette commented, “There are obvious benefits to us-ing smart sensors with digital bus/network interfaces, including the ability to upgrade and incorporate advances in the future. IEEE 1451 with TEDS is one means of making such implementations attractive to users. If temperature controller and sensor suppliers can work together on adopting this standard and educate their customers on its advantages, it can benefit all.”

For additional background on this and other IEEE standards, also visit the IEEE and IEEE Standards Association Web sites.

—Jeanine Katzel, senior editor, Control Engineering, jkatzel@reedbusiness.com

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