Siemens, Emerson to expand systems to support global standards

By Control Engineering Staff July 18, 2006

Austin, TX — Emerson Process Management and Siemens Automation & Drives will expand their system interfaces to enable both to increase support of global fieldbus standards. The two announced they will exchange technology and engineering support that will extend their systems and software to offer greater interoperability and functionality. First products are expected to be available mid-2007.

The cooperative effort is the result of work the companies have done with user-supplier consortiums to deliver open and interoperable field instrumentation and electric drives using Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL). Siemens will add interfaces to its Simatic PCS 7 process control system and Process Device Manager (PDM) tool to support F OUNDATION fieldbus standards. The move will allow Siemens to connect to F OUNDATION fieldbus instruments and valve controllers from Emerson and other companies who support the protocol.

Emerson will add an interface for Profibus DP and Profinet to its DeltaV and Ovation control systems and AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager application to its existing support of F OUNDATION fieldbus and HART standards. This expansion will allow Emerson to connect to drives, motor starters, and discrete devices from Siemens and other companies who support Profibus DP and Profinet.

Emerson and Siemens will use the pending OPC UA (OLE for process control unified architecture) standard from the OPC Foundation in their host systems. Fieldbus Foundation , HART Communication Foundation , and Profibus Nutzerorganisation recommend the combination of EDDL and OPC UA for data exchange. The technology promotes consistent use of EDDL for data description and presentation to the user interface. EDDL is also used to describe the information exchange between any OPC server and client applications, achieving significant independence from operating systems and their variants. In addition, both companies will support development of OPC UA specifications and EDDL enhancements.

—Control Engineering Daily News Desk

Jeanine Katzel , senior editor