SafetyBus p Club makes surprise choice for new chairman

Hannover, Germany - At the Annual Members' Meeting of the independent SafetyBUS p Club International e.V. held here, Dr Richard Piggin was elected Chairman for the next three years. This is the first time that a Chairman has been elected from outside Germany, the birthplace of SafetyBUS. Club members say this reflects the way in which SafetyBUS p is being adopted for safety-critical applications around the world.

By Control Engineering Staff May 24, 2002

Dr. Richard Piggin

Hannover, Germany – At the Annual Members’ Meeting of the independent SafetyBUS p Club International e.V . held here, Dr Richard Piggin was elected Chairman for the next three years. This is the first time that a Chairman has been elected from outside Germany, the birthplace of SafetyBUS. Club members say this reflects the way in which SafetyBUS p is being adopted for safety-critical applications around the world.

Several new initiatives of the club were also announced. One of the most important developments is an agreement to establish a Conformance Test Centre at the University of Warwick in the U.K.

While most industrial fieldbus foundations have conformance test centres, because of the safety issues relating to the SafetyBUS p system, the facility at the University of Warwick will be going a step further, Dr. Piggin explained. Whereas other conformance test centres merely check the conformance of the network interface, the SafetyBUS p Conformance Test Centre will also check the conformance of the device’s operation, which is essential to ensure that the safety functionality meets the specification, he said.

In addition, a set of integration tools has been launched to assist vendors who wish to incorporate a SafetyBUS p interface within their products. There are four PC-based software tools (a PSS (programmable safety system) ISI monitor, an application simulator, an error text editor and an MFP analyser) as well as an evaluation board and a DDF generator.

The SafetyBus p Club was founded in 1999 and comprises over 40 members; there are some 30,000 SafetyBUS p installed nodes to date.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskMichael Babb, editor, Control Engineering-Europemichael.babb@cahnerseurope.com