Tokyo, Japan - May 19, 2009
Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it is promoting efforts to develop the ISA100.11a*1 wireless communication standard for the process automation (PA) industry. Based on this standard, Yokogawa will develop a new field digital network platform that will enhance productivity by eliminating the difficulties users currently face with incompatible wireless communication protocols and making possible the systematic integration of wired and wireless technologies.
Wireless networks offer the following advantages to the PA industry:
- Reduced wiring and engineering costs
- The ability to install sensors in difficult-to-wire locations
- Improved plant safety through low-cost online device diagnostics
Despite such benefits, wireless networks have seen limited use to date in the PA industry due to the requirement for advanced technologies that ensure high reliability, real-time response, environmental resistance, and explosion-proof protection, and because of the aforementioned use of incompatible wireless communication protocols.
Yokogawa is supporting development of the ISA100.11a standard because it has the following benefits:
- High reliability that ensures safe production operations and information security
- Is based on IPv6*2 and can accommodate larger networks
- Offers excellent compatibility with existing instrumented systems that use non-wireless protocols such as FOUNDATION™ fieldbus, HART®, PROFIBUS, and Modbus®
- Is suitable for a wide range of applications, from monitoring to control
As a member of the ISA100 Standards Committee on Wireless Systems for Automation, Yokogawa will engage in a wide range of activities to promote development of the ISA100.11a international standard. Yokogawa will also strengthen its expertise in field installations by conducting product testing in the field and proposing wireless applications. In addition, Yokogawa will develop systems products and field devices that comply with this standard, and plans to release them in the first half of fiscal 2010.
*1 A proposed wireless communications standard for the PA industry that was approved in April 2009 by the ISA100 Standards Committee of the International Society of Automation (ISA). Subsequent to this approval by the committee, it is expected that the draft standard will be approved by the ISA Standards and Practices Board, ratified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and published. The standard will then be submitted for the review of the IECSC65C Subcommittee of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
*2 A next-generation internet layer protocol that succeeds the current, widely used IPv4 protocol.
About Yokogawa
Yokogawa's global network of 19 manufacturing facilities and 89 companies spans 40 countries. Since its founding in 1915, the US$4 billion company has been engaged in cutting-edge research and innovation, securing more than 7,500 patents and registrations, including the world's first digital sensors for flow and pressure measurement. Industrial automation and control, test and measurement, information systems and industry support are the core businesses of Yokogawa. For more information about Yokogawa, please visit our web site at www.yokogawa.com.