1.2 Introduction: State of the Art

The large number of different device types and suppliers within a control system project makes the configuration task difficult and time-consuming today. Different tools must be mastered and data must be exchanged between these tools. The data exchange is not standardized. Therefore, data conversions are often necessary, requiring detailed specialist knowledge. In the end, the consistency of data, documentation and configurations can be guaranteed by an intensive system test only.

The central workplace for service and diagnostic tasks in the control system does neither fully cover the functional capabilities of the fieldbus devices nor can the different device-specific tools be integrated into the system’s software tools. Typically, device-specific tools can only be connected directly to a fieldbus line or directly to the field device.

Figure 1: Different tools and multiple data input have determined field device integration to date