Purpose
To develop or adopt, and to facilitate the application of standards and technical reports that represent device and interface descriptions for function control and data access of field devices in automation systems.
Scope
The generic language used to describe the properties of automation system components shall be capable of describing:
- device parameters and their dependencies
- device functions
- graphical representations, for example charts
- interactions with control devices
The Field Device Integration (FDI) standard, IEC 62769, specifies a client/server architecture wherein device packages provided by a device manufacturer configure a server. The clients access the device-specific information of the device package via a standardized information model.
The FDI standard integrates concepts of both the Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL, standardized in IEC 61804-3) and Field Device Technology (FDT, standardized in IEC 62453). Overlapping functionality of EDD and FDT DTM aspects are concentrated in one component. This reduces efforts for device manufacturers who use FDI technology and increases the scalability of description of devices from simple devices with a low number of variables to complex devices with advanced remote control and configuration interactions. Also, FDI standardizes an explicit common information model for field devices which is implicitly contained in the existing EDDL technology.
The EDDL standard is used to create an "Electronic Device Descriptions (EDD)" file. These files may be used with appropriate tools to generate interpretative code to support parameter handling, operation, and monitoring of automation system components. Tool implementation is outside the scope of this specification. The EDDL Standard specifies the semantic and lexical structure in a syntax independent manner. A specific syntax shall be defined, but it is possible to use the semantic model with a different syntax.
All components, device package, client, server, information model and the interface between client and server are within the scope of these standards. The intended result is a seamless integration of legacy and newly developed field device components in control and engineering systems.
If you are interested in joining ISA104 with any of these ongoing work efforts or would like additional information, please contact:
Torry Bailey
ISA Standards Administrator
tbailey@isa.org
(919) 990-9311
More About ISA104 (PDF file, 295kb)