9 Glossary of Terms

In the sense of this specification:

ActiveX	Component technology based on the Microsoft Component Object Model (COM/DCOM). Former standard was OLE controls (OCX)
Addressing	An address is a communication protocol specific identifier. Due to that the namespace, the format, ... is defined by the given protocol
Channel	Channels describe process values and their properties which are available via fieldbus communication. Usually the access to these data is not done via a DTM, but the channel description within the public data allows a Frame Application to configure its controller for a protocol specific access to these data.
Communication	Fieldbus protocol specific data transfer between a DTM and a device or between two devices. Communication can be caused by user action or by device internal processes
Configuration	System configuration created by configuring the plant components and the topology
Configure	To configure means setting parameters at the instance data set as well as the logical association of plant components to build up the plant topology (offline)
Connection	Established data path for communication with an selected device
Data	See transient- and persistent data
DCS	Distributed control system
DCS Manufacturer / System Manufacturer	In this context the manufacturer of the engineering system
Device	A piece of hardware which can be connected to a FIELDBUS system. It can be either a master, a slave, a bus coupler, or...
Device Manufacturer	In this context a manufacturer of fieldbus devices, usually slave devices.
Document	To document means to generate the documentation
Documentation	Documentation is the human readable information about a device instance. Meant is in the context of FDT the printed documentation and the documentation provided via XML as well. The documentation can consist of several documents.
DTM	Device Type Manager. A software component to handle a field device. This software component contains business rules to handle the field device's logic. Optionally, it contains the visual user interface.
Fielddevice	Sensor or actor for measuring or positioning as a plant component
Frame Application	Represents the components which build the DTM environment. This can be an engineering tool, a standalone tool or a web page
FDT Model	A model to describe the interaction between DTM and Frame Application
Communication Channel	A communication channel is a channel a device can be connected to. In general such a channel is the master of an underlying fieldbus system.
GSD	A text file containing a description of e.g. the PROFIBUS device with a predetermined syntax. It is delivered with e.g. the PROFIBUS device or can be obtained from the manufacturer.
MIDL	Microsoft Interface Definition Language.
Multi user environment	This term is used to specify an environment which allows that more than one DTM instance can get access to an identical instance data set
Net	A single bus system or a group of connected bus systems
Nested Communication	Communication path built up by a cascaded sequence of communication channels.
OPC	OLE for Process Control
Parameterization	Setting parameters at a device according to the task of the device (online)
Persistent Data	Permanent stored data
PLC	Programmable Logic Controller
Process	Industrial process accessed through field devices. Data acquisition and control.
Project Design	Configuration of devices and process units to build up a net
SCADA	Supervisory/System control and data acquisition
Session	A session encapsulates one or more data transctions. These transcations can be changes initiated by a DTM (e.g. during configuration) or by a Frame Application (e.g. changes within the topology). It is in the responsibility of the Frame Application to guarantee the data consistency within a session
Transient Data	Temporary data during configuration. Turn to persistent data after storage
UML	Unified Modeling Language
XML	Extensible Markup Language

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Last updated 2015-02-05 15:17
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