Profibus welcomes clarification of fieldbus situation

Citation

(1998), "Profibus welcomes clarification of fieldbus situation", Sensor Review, Vol. 18 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.1998.08718cab.004

Profibus welcomes clarification of fieldbus situation

Profibus welcomes clarification of fieldbus situation

Keyword Fieldbus

Following the 25 February decision of the IEC 1158 Committee of Action to accept the delayed Brazilian vote on the fieldbus data link layer (DLL), thereby allowing both the DLL and the application layer (AL) through to final draft international standard (FDIS) voting, Profibus International issued the following statement.

Profibus International acknowledges that the IEC1158 DLL and AL are supported by the appropriate majority of participating countries and looks forward to contributing towards the voting on the final draft international standard (FDIS). A concern is to make sure that the documentation is correct in order that the interests of fieldbus users are protected. It is noted that a large number of deficiencies in the proposed standard were reported by many countries voting in October 1997.

Profibus representatives have reservations about IEC1158 because it is process industry-led and unproven. A stable H1 (low speed) sub-set for the process industries may exist but an H2 (high speed) solution for factory automation does not and may not be viable. The proposed standard could be ambiguous and unworkable.

Profibus is a fully integrated and standardized H1 + H2 solution today, working at up to 12Mb/s and fully proven in both factory automation and process control. Profibus International believes that Profibus is a more efficient and cost-effective solution for most applications.

Profibus remains the world's most successful fieldbus. There are over 150,000 applications, 1.5 million installed devices (worth over $5 billion), 250 supporting companies and over 1,200 compliant products.

Profibus International Chairman Klaus-Peter Lindner commented: "Despite our technical and marketing concerns, Profibus International welcomes the clarification brought about by this development. Profibus will continue to lead the fieldbus world".

Profibus International is the umbrella organization of the Profibus User Groups based in 20 countries.

International press contact: Geoff Hodgkinson. Tel: +44 (0) 1329 843043; Fax: +44 (0) 1329 512063; e-mail: profibus_pr@gghcomms.demon.co.uk