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Looking Ahead: ISA100 Heads to China

The ISA100.11a working group, following a very successful meeting in February, is planning an early April committee meeting in Chongqing, China. During the meeting, the working group expects to vote on issuing the ISA100.11a draft standard for initial work group balloting, which is the first step in the consensus based approval process for the standard.

The series of meetings held last month in Orlando included several workshops where leaders and editors presented technical material from the standard under development.

"The workshops allowed the leadership to share what we've been working on with a wider audience, and gave people a chance to ask questions and make suggestions about the standard. This is a major part of the consensus building process for an open standard like ISA100.11a," said ISA100 co-chair Wayne Manges of Oak Ridge National Labs.

Several open items were discussed and resolved in various task groups, including the security task group, where several motions were put forward and passed. "In the security task force, we had about 7 open items that needed to be discussed before consensus could be reached and motions could be made and passed. That process is critical for the progress of the standard," said ISA100.11a co-chair Pat Kinney of Kinney Consulting.

"When major competitors like Yokogawa, Honeywell, and Emerson come together to get motions passed in sessions, the users win, and that's what we saw in Orlando," added Manges.

About 40 individuals representing more than 30 companies attended the work group meeting and workshops, with about 50 people attending an ISA100 overview session. The overview session provided information about the work of the committee, the ISA100.11a standard, the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute, interoperability, and user expectations.

"In addition to giving us a chance to share what we've done and get feedback on open items, the work we did in Orlando kept us on track to deliver a draft of the standard for ballot in April at our China meeting," said ISA100.11a co-chair Dan Sexton of GE Global Research.

The April meeting will be held 1-4 April at the Empark Grand Hotel in Chongqing, China. For more information about ISA100, or to register to attend the meeting, visit www.isa.org/standards or call Charley Robinson at (919) 990-9213.

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ISA100 Forms New Interest Group

ISA100 recently formed an interest group for wireless networks in factory and discrete automation. A teleconference was held with participants representing automation equipment vendors and users interested in understanding where wireless networks may be applied in different environments.

During the October ISA100 meeting in Houston, Texas, support formed to address the need for standards for wireless networks in environments in addition to the processing environments on which the first ISA100 standard focuses. The new interest group is oriented toward factory automation, discrete parts manufacturing, high-speed machines and other non-process applications. Jim Reizner of Procter & Gamble and Mark O'Hearne of Millennial Net lead the group.

The interest group was formed to explore opportunities and requirements that are distinctly different from those currently under consideration in ISA100 working groups. The interest group is surveying the market to define a broad scope of interest in the community, identify interested parties, and analyze current contributions from other organizations. The group will then consider if a standards effort led by ISA is warranted, based on use cases and current efforts underway with other organizations. If so, the group will develop the scope, purpose, deliverables, and schedule for a proposed new working group - which will then work to define and develop the standard for ISA and ANSI approval.

In the coming weeks, the group is reaching out to the automation industry to determine the interest level for developing a standard for a wireless factory/discrete automation system to serve hybrid and discrete industries such as consumer goods, electronics, automotive, aerospace and others. In contrast to environments driving the ISA100.11a (release 1) and other emerging interest groups, this group will consider assembly, batch, blending, packing, robotics, shop floor data collection and other applications. These are likely to drive different demands for mobility, scalability, point density and lower latency.

During the initial conference call to discuss the interest group, participants from Procter & Gamble, General Motors, and Ford voiced user perspectives about how their environments are different from what is currently covered in ISA100.11a. High-speed production lines involve many types of sensors beyond the process sensors (e.g. pressure, flow and temperature) covered by ISA100.11a. In many plants, it is inconvenient or impractical to run wires for sensor I/O, and eliminating high flexure forces associated with cables is a high priority for many manufacturers. Participants also agreed that their companies want to use wireless to build automated production machines, as well as for assembly lines and material conveyors.

For more information on how to participate in the interest group, contact Charley Robinson at crobinson@isa.org or +1(919)990-9213.

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ISA Announces Co-Located ISA100 Wireless Solutions Summit and Manufacturing IT Forum in May

ISA will hold an ISA100 Wireless Solutions Summit and a Manufacturing IT Forum in May in Cleveland, Ohio. The second annual ISA100 Wireless Summit, which will be held 18-19 May, brings wireless industry experts, end users, and exhibitors together to discuss wireless solutions in the industrial environment.

"The ISA100 Wireless Solutions Summit allows attendees to learn from and network with the most renowned industrial wireless experts in the world," said ISA Director of Standards and Publishing Services T.S. "Chip" Lee. "Plus, the attendees will have a chance to hear details of actual experiences from end users as they evaluate their wireless options and explore the benefits of this important technology."

The ISA100 Wireless Solutions Summit will feature presentations, case studies, and panel discussions covering the technologies that are the key to successful wireless implementation in industrial applications.

Attendees will be able to explore the details and progress of the ISA100 Universal Family of Wireless Standards, and during the exhibition, products and system solutions coming to the marketplace will be on display.

Topics planned for the summit include "An Overview of Industrial Wireless - Applications and Technologies," "Trustworthy Wireless - Security without Wires," "People and Asset Tracking and Identification - Industrial Challenges and Solutions," and "ISA100 - The End User's Perspective."

The first-ever Manufacturing IT Forum, held 20-21 May, will focus on bridging the divide between manufacturing and IT, and is supported by leading publications and industrial and professional organizations.

"IT departments are becoming owners of manufacturing automation systems, and automation is touching everything from devices to logistics and beyond," said ISA Business Development Manager Bob Crigler.

"Opportunities, conflicts, and technologies are creating new dynamics for owner-operators, suppliers and integrators of IT systems in manufacturing environments. ISA has developed a program to address those concerns and help attendees walk away with plans and paths for improvements in efficiency and operational excellence."

The conference will focus on establishing an understanding of how the most successful companies have addressed the issues and used Manufacturing IT as a competitive advantage. Through case studies and panel discussions, attendees will learn about applications of technology, organizational structures and best practices for transformation of systems, processes and business.

Panel discussions will be moderated by editors of major industry publications and will cover technology, organization and a look into the future. Technology topics will include SOA, Active Directory, and security, among others.

For Manufacturing IT conference topics, registration details, and more, visit www.isa.org/mfgit. To learn more about the ISA100 Wireless Solutions Summit, visit www.isa.org/isa100summit. Attendees can also register by phone at (919) 549-8411. Registration discounts are available for attending both conferences, and for registering before 15 April. Companies interested in exhibiting are encouraged to contact Chris Johnson at cjohnson@isa.org or (919) 990-9230.

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WINA Governance Elected

The Wireless Industrial Networking alliance, WINA, announced the 2008 strategic leadership team elected to the Board of Directors. Serving as WINA President, Ian McPherson will lead the organization in its efforts to develop and promote educational programs that communicate the benefits of industrial wireless.

"Wireless technology is a crucial part of the future of our industry. Companies want to optimize resource efficiency and productivity, and we can teach them how to achieve those goals through industrial wireless," said WINA President Ian McPherson, who also serves as co-founder and vice president of Apprion.

As the premier organization providing a forum for industrial wireless technology education, information, and an exchange of ideas for future development of industrial wireless technologies, WINA has focused on catalyzing the exchange of information and strategic direction between government, academia, technology producers and industrial end users on a global basis. Commensurate with its mission, WINA also announced expansion on a global basis through the opening of an Asia Pacific Chapter. Sachin Gupta will serve as Director, WINA - Asia Pacific, in a newly created role.

"I am delighted to pass the leadership baton, and welcome the incoming team at a seminal time for this organization. Wireless technology and wireless networking systems hold great promise to help our industry use energy and materials more efficiently, lower systems and infrastructure costs, increase productivity, and ensure worker safety," said Hesh Kagen, WINA's outgoing president.

About WINA The Wireless Industrial Networking Alliance (WINA) is a coalition of industrial end-user companies, technology suppliers, industry organizations, software developers, system integrators, and others interested in the advancement of wireless solutions for industry. For more information, please visit www.wina.org.

2008 WINA Board of Directors:

  • President: Ian McPherson, Apprion
  • Vice President: Dave Kaufman, Honeywell
  • Vice President, Marketing & Communications: Steve Toteda, Dust Networks
  • Secretary: Vacant
  • Treasurer: Randy Klassen, OMNEX
  • Past President: Hesh Kagan, Invensys

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Spotlight On: ISA100.11a Work Group

The ISA100.11a editor team met recently at ISA headquarters in Research Triangle Park, NC. The team met to study the comments received from the review of the preliminary draft ISA100.11a standard that was conducted by members of the working group over the past few weeks.

Participants included members of the ISA100.11a working group and the ISA100 committee, all of whom were invited to attend. Several joined via teleconference during the three day meeting.

320 comments were received on the draft from 12 members of the working group, and those comments formed the basis of the work during the meetings.

ISA100.11a co-chairs Dan Sexton of GE Global Research and Pat Kinney of Kinney Consulting reported that the team resolved numerous technical issues in areas of the standard such as the DLL, Transport layer, and Application layer with consensus recommendations for further edits and development of the draft standard.

"The meetings last week were extremely productive, which bodes well for the availability of the draft standard for initial review and ballot by the working group starting next month at our meeting in China," said ISA100 committee member Dave Kaufmann of Honeywell.

The next ISA100 committee meeting will be held 1-4 April at the Empark Grand Hotel in Chongqing, China. At this meeting, the ISA100.11a draft standard is scheduled to be issued for initial work group balloting over the succeeding several weeks, which is the first step in the consensus based approval process for the standard.

"In this ad hoc meeting the technical editing team worked expeditiously in reaching consensus in the informal comment resolution process taking place in preparation for the first WG level letter ballot," said ISA100 committee member José A. Gutierrez of Emerson. "The work we did last week will be a key factor in the ability to achieve consensus agreement on the final standard in a timely manner."

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ISA100 Answers your Technical Questions about the Developing Standard

Ask ISA100 Question #1:

Why should we have an application sub-layer in the standard?

Answer: The Application Sub-Layer is a very unique feature of the ISA100 specification that promotes interoperability. It also provides a set of common functionality, available to all applications, that allows different applications in the Application Layer (AL) to communicate to each other and to different layers of the stack through a common interface.

The application layer is divided into an Upper Application Layer (UAL) and an Application Sub-Layer (ASL). The ASL determines how all the applications are plugged together not only in the devices, but across the devices. It provides a level of abstraction for the application writer thereby making it unnecessary to know what types of services are available at the transport level and the extent of services available at that level.

Every ISA100.11a device contains an application process called the Device Management Application Process (DMAP). The DMAP manages the local communication aspects of the device in which it resides and is responsible for setting up the Application Sub-Layer connections that are usually set up when the device is commissioned. In more advanced devices these connections may change over time. Some devices have not only a DMAP, but also at least one additional User Application Process (UAP). A DMAP and a UAP perform completely different functions but they can communicate using the same set of tools such as the ASL.

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ISA100 Answers your Technical Questions about the Developing Standard

Ask ISA100 Question #1:

Why should we have an application sub-layer in the standard?

Answer: The Application Sub-Layer is a very unique feature of the ISA100 specification that promotes interoperability. It also provides a set of common functionality, available to all applications, that allows different applications in the Application Layer (AL) to communicate to each other and to different layers of the stack through a common interface.

The application layer is divided into an Upper Application Layer (UAL) and an Application Sub-Layer (ASL). The ASL determines how all the applications are plugged together not only in the devices, but across the devices. It provides a level of abstraction for the application writer thereby making it unnecessary to know what types of services are available at the transport level and the extent of services available at that level.

Every ISA100.11a device contains an application process called the Device Management Application Process (DMAP). The DMAP manages the local communication aspects of the device in which it resides and is responsible for setting up the Application Sub-Layer connections that are usually set up when the device is commissioned. In more advanced devices these connections may change over time. Some devices have not only a DMAP, but also at least one additional User Application Process (UAP). A DMAP and a UAP perform completely different functions but they can communicate using the same set of tools such as the ASL.

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New ISA100 Training Program

March 2008

In an effort to promote understanding and implementation of standards, ISA is developing a comprehensive series of training programs for the ISA84 and ISA100 standards. In the case of ISA84, several new certificate programs will be developed for ISA84 specialists. Both programs are being developed by ISA for the Automation Standards Compliance Institute, which is chartered to facilitate the understanding and implementation of automation standards.

The goal of the new training for ISA100 is to increase understanding and implementation of the ISA100 universal family of wireless standards. A series of courses will be developed to support ISA100 and the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute.

ISA will develop and revise five courses to cover ISA100 and wireless technology. Course offerings include a one-day ISA100 overview explaining wireless and ISA100; a one-day course that provides an applications overview of wireless technology including ISA100; a new two-day supplier-focused course that centers on ISA100 wireless technology and how to build ISA100 devices and systems; and a new one-day people and asset management (RFID) course geared towards engineers. These courses are scheduled to be available in the fall and offered at ISA EXPO 2008.

In addition to these courses, ISA is developing a new 2 day user-focused course on designing and implementing ISA100 devices and systems in industrial applications, with a target completion date in 2009. This course will cover technology, site planning, and ISA100 applications.

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ISA100 Continues Progress on Family of Standards Committee Calls for Additional Participation in Standards Development Process

Research Triangle Park, NC (13 November 2008) -- ISA100, the Wireless Systems for Automation standards committee, made significant progress at recent meetings held in conjunction with ISA EXPO in Houston, Texas. Over one hundred ISA100 members and guests participated in the meetings, held 14-17 October, and the committee continues to welcome input from new members.

The ISA100 committee displayed four core themes in a wireless technology booth at ISA EXPO, including concepts regarding ensured coexistence, the ISA100.11a draft standard, the family of standards, and featured subcommittees, or family members. Featured subcommittees in the display included ISA100.12 – WirelessHART Convergence, ISA100.14 – Trustworthy Wireless, ISA100.15 – Backhaul Networks, and ISA100.21 – People and Asset Tracking.

ISA100 held a full committee meeting, where progress and volunteer recruitment was discussed. The committee also held a meeting dedicated to ISA100.11a, the initial draft standard in the family of standards, and the working group and its task groups reviewed comments received for Draft 2 of the standard. Over 1800 comments were received and will be evaluated before a new draft is released.

"The comments that we received for the draft of ISA100.11a were well thought out, technically relevant, and will ultimately improve the standard for the end users," said ISA100 co-chair Wayne Manges of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. "Every comment we receive helps to ensure that this standard will serve the best interests of the industry, and we’re committed to an open environment with maximum participation in the process."

The User Working Group met for a half day preceding the ISA100 meetings to allow the users to attend and participate in the on-going committee work. During that meeting, the group discussed the needs for Application Profiles not included in the standard. They also discussed how the users would like the work on WirelessHART Convergence (ISA100.12) to proceed. This discussion continued into the ISA100.12 meetings and resulted in users defining five possible integration scenarios that will be further analyzed during the ISA100.12 committee work.

The ISA100.12 subcommittee’s series of meetings during the week were targeted at scoping the work to be addressed by the group. Guest speakers were brought in during the meetings to review user requirements and the applicability of dual-mode gateway, backhaul concepts, and other technologies.

"I was very impressed at the level of dedication and inventiveness shown by the end-users who took the time to attend the .12 meetings," said Paul Sereiko, co-chair of ISA100.12. "They gave us a great deal of valuable input that will influence the direction of work that this subcommittee will take during the coming year."

The ISA100.21 subcommittee’s technical display within the ISA100 booth demonstrated co-resident 802.11-based and "conventional" RFID asset tracking systems operating in the same RF footprint as a number of pre-release ISA100.11a field devices. Booth visitors had the opportunity of attending technical presentations on Wireless Asset Tracking solutions in the EXPO X-pod, then walking across the aisle and see the systems operating with the added benefit of being able to ask questions of the ISA100 booth volunteers.

The ISA100 Coexistence subcommittee, WG5, held technical discussions which complemented the spectrum analyzer measurements that were conducted during the first two days of ISA EXPO. Of prominent note were measurements showing over 100 active WiFi access points (APs) all co-resident while pre-release ISA100.11a field transmitters and ISA100.21 asset tracking systems were operating. "From an electromagnetic interference (EMI) perspective, the EXPO floor represented an unnatural RF congestion environment – one not anticipated in most, if not all, industrial settings," said Dr. Peter Fuhr of Apprion, co-chair of WG21. "Witnessing field instruments operating in this setting, with supporting spectrum analyzer measurements, allowed many end users to see some of the fruits of the labor regarding the technical aspects of co-channel interference that the various ISA100 work groups are addressing."

Other working groups met during the week as well, each with different goals and areas of focus. ISA100.14, the Trustworthy Wireless subcommittee, is working on a document describing trustworthiness in industrial wireless automation, and met to discuss progress.

ISA100.15, the Backhaul Networks working group, had very productive and successful meetings at ISA EXPO, and has received strong support from users. The group has collected and reviewed use cases in order to derive user requirements for backhaul networks. "Users are very actively involved in backhaul network standardization activity. Industry has realized the great needs of this standardization solution, and this foundation of use case requirements will guide the ISA100.15 group in establishing a detailed backhaul network requirement," said Dr. Penny Chen of Yokogawa, co-chair of ISA100.15. Other working groups met to establish plans and requirements for asset tracking, coexistence, interoperability, and other interest areas.

Other active groups within the committee include the Factory Automation Study Group and the ZigBee Interest Group. The Factory Automation Study Group has developed a model of four key areas of communication to assist in the scoping of the group’s effort to develop requirements and recommended practice documents. "The group has done a nice job of focusing in on the types of wireless communication that is important to consider for Factory Automation applications," said co-chair Cliff Whitehead of Rockwell Automation. "Our four Task Groups will have clear direction for advancing the work on our deliverable documents."

The ISA100 committee is open to new volunteers and participants throughout the standards development process. "ISA100 continues to be a very active committee with contributions from around the world and from many diverse industries. The interest level in the industry is extremely high. Our committee members tell us that they're getting a great deal of professional and personal satisfaction from contributing to such important work," said ISA100 co-chair Patrick Schweitzer of Exxon-Mobil. "Many, many people are consistently dedicating their time and talent to this effort, and we know there are many others that share these core values. For those who might like to participate but aren't sure how, we invite you to contact ISA."

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ISA100 Votes to Approve First Standard in Industrial Wireless Series

May 2009 - The ISA100 Standards Committee on Wireless Systems for Automation has voted to approve a major new industry standard, ISA100.11a, "Wireless Systems for Industrial Automation: Process Control and Related Applications." The approval, by 81% of the voting members of the committee including 23 of the 24 end user members, follows two rounds of balloting and refinements to the document to reflect the excellent suggestions received from many interested parties.

"We have passed a major milestone with the Committee vote approving the ISA100.11a draft standard," said ISA100 co-chair Pat Schweitzer of ExxonMobil. "Once the remaining steps in the process are complete, end users around the world will have an accredited ANSI/ISA wireless standard which has been developed in an open forum that is the hallmark of ISA standards development."

Comments received in the latest voting will be reviewed for applicability by Schweitzer and co-chair Wayne Manges of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Other steps remaining in ISA's consensus-based standards development process include approval by the ISA Standards and Practices Board and ratification by the American National Standards Institute, of which ISA is an accredited member. The co-chairs are hopeful the standard will be published by ISA in August.

With over 600 members from around the world, ISA100 brings together wireless experts representing diverse industrial and technical interests in an open forum. The committee was established by ISA to address wireless manufacturing and control systems in areas including:
  • The environment in which the wireless technology is deployed Technology and life cycle for wireless equipment and systems
  • The application of wireless technology
  • The Committee's focus is to improve the confidence in, integrity of, and availability of components and systems used for manufacturing or control, and to provide criteria for procuring and implementing wireless technology in the control system environment.
"I thank the leaders and members of the ISA100 working group that led the development of the standard, the editors who worked tirelessly to respond to reviewer comments throughout the process, and the entire committee membership for its contributions," stated Manges.

The ISA100.11a standard is intended to provide reliable and secure wireless operation for non-critical monitoring, alerting, supervisory control, open loop control, and closed loop control applications. The standard will define the protocol suite, system management, gateway, and security specifications for low-data-rate wireless connectivity with fixed, portable, and moving devices supporting very limited power consumption requirements. The application focus is to address the performance needs of applications such as monitoring and process control where latencies on the order of 100 ms can be tolerated, with optional behavior for shorter latency.

To meet the needs of industrial wireless users and operators, the ISA100.11a standard will provide robustness in the presence of interference found in harsh industrial environments and with legacy non-ISA100 compliant wireless systems. This standard addresses coexistence with other wireless devices anticipated in the industrial workspace, such as cell phones and devices based on IEEE 802.11x, IEEE 802.15x, IEEE 802.16x, and other relevant standards. Further, the standard allows for interoperability of ISA100 devices.

This standard does not define or specify plant infrastructure or its security or performance characteristics. However, it is important that the security of the plant infrastructure be assured by the end user.

For more information on the full scope of ISA100 committee activity, call (919) 549-8411.

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ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute Garners GE Expertise to Drive the Commercialization of the ISA100 Wireless Standards that will Streamline and Optimize Industrial Automation

Research Triangle Park, NC (24 May 2010) - GE’s worldwide industrial, communications, energy and process experience is helping to drive industry recognition of the ISA100 wireless communications standard, with the addition of GE to the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute Governing Board.

GE is a supporter of the ISA100 family of open standards, which is a reliable, flexible and deterministic communications protocol that helps streamline and optimize the integration of industrial processes’ automation applications. This protocol makes it easier for different equipment and systems to communicate and work together.

“As a leader in technical innovation and open standards, GE is excited to participate in establishing the ISA100 standards,” said Melanie Cook, communications general manager for GE’s Digital Energy business. “Our customers rely on GE to deliver reliable solutions for their mission-critical communication networks and are increasingly demanding products that are interoperable for easier infrastructure deployments. From Smart Grid modernization to oil and gas and industrial automation applications, the ISA100 standards will help us in meeting our customers’ requirements.”

The ISA100.11a Industrial Wireless Networking Standard, approved in September 2009, is the first in the ISA100 family of standards. This mesh standard protocol helps companies build interoperable communications equipment. As a result, manufacturing and processing plants can create, modify and optimize beginning-to-end operations quickly, cost-effectively, and seamlessly.

Future ISA100 standards will include support for backhaul functionality, factory automation and other key-use cases. Details on the approved standard, the ISA100 roadmap, and use-case presentations are available at www.isa.org/ISA100.

“The addition of GE expands coverage of industry verticals represented in the WCI and gives us another great resource for ensuring conformance, interoperability, and marketplace adoption of standards that best meet the needs of users around the world,” said Andre Ristaino, Wireless Compliance Institute managing director. “GE’s depth of technology expertise in process industries and creative application of technology is impressive. We look forward to working with the GE team to help improve communications for a new generation of process innovation.”

About the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute
The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) is a non-profit industry consortium providing users and developers with market awareness, technical support, and compliance for the ISA100 family of universal industrial wireless standards. The WCI provides real world feedback from deployment of ISA100 devices and systems to ISA Standards Committees in order to foster rapid refinement and development of open industry standards for wireless applications. Institute members include end users, technology suppliers, research and development professionals, academia, and other industry consortia and standards bodies. Early members include Apprion, BP, Chevron, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, ExxonMobil, Fuji Electric, Gastronics, GE, Honeywell, Nivis, Procter & Gamble, R3 Sensors, Shell, Shengyang Institute of Automation, and Yokogawa. More information about the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute can be found online at www.isa100wci.org.

About GE
GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that's built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide.

GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources. With 85,000 global employees and 2009 revenues of $37 billion, GE Energy MailScanner heeft een e-mail met mogelijk een poging tot fraude gevonden van "www.ge-energy.com" www.ge.com/energy is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energy-GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas-work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.

For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com. GE is imagination at work.

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