DURING THE RECENT HCF (HART Communications Foundation) General Assembly Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, Emerson Process Management, Siemens and Honeywell individually announced plans to fully support the EDDL enhancements in their host systems. The EDDL enhancements provide new capabilities to benefit users in taking full advantage of the intelligence in millions of smart HART-enabled measurement and valve actuator devices.
The HCF is proactively enhancing and investing in EDDL technology to provide the industry with new tools and system solutions for accessing the intelligent capabilities of HART devices. The EDDL enhancements are being developed by the HCF in cooperation with the Fieldbus Foundation, PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e.V., and OPC Foundation. The EDDL enhancements are an extension of International Standard IEC 61804-2.
The new EDDL enhancements enable users to interact with their intelligent devices in new ways. Graphs, charts, and calculations assist in the configuration of devices including complex instruments such as digital valve controllers, radar level gauges and multivariable meters. The enhancements also support storage of historical data from field devices for troubleshooting and diagnostics.
EDDL is the HART standard and the only technology endorsed by the HCF for configuration of HART devices. A key element of the HART technology since 1990, EDDL has proven to be a reliable, robust and stable platform for suppliers to consistently define and document the capabilities of HART-enabled products.
By Walt Boyes, Editor-in-Chief
