ARC Forum attendees learned how digitizing factories, cities, and infrastructure benefits both technology end users and suppliers in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT).
One of the major news items at the ARC Forum was an announcement by FieldComm Group and OPC Foundation of an alliance to further advance process automation system multi-vendor interoperability and simplified integration by developing a standardized process automation device information model. The two organizations conducted a joint session on Wednesday, February 14, entitled, “Integration Technologies and Information Modeling for Digitized Process Automation Systems.”
FieldComm President and CEO Ted Masters and OPC Foundation President and Executive Director Thomas Burke explained how field level, protocol-independent software solutions provide access to information from the plant floor to the cloud and all points in-between. The OPC Unified Architecture (UA) provides a general framework for achieving this goal. OPC UA companion standards and information models like the Field Device Integration (FDI) information model specify industry-specific details to complete the vision.
Ongoing collaboration between FieldComm Group and OPC Foundation will build upon the common information model to deliver process automation data in context, which is the key to enabling value from enterprise systems and analytics. Suppliers of devices and applications that are members of FieldComm Group have an opportunity to benefit from this important initiative to develop a standard process automation information model by their adoption of FDI and OPC UA technologies.
FieldComm Group’s exhibit at the ARC Forum focused on technology initiatives providing the means to connect and integrate digital information. FOUNDATION Fieldbus, HART and WirelessHART devices can be the basis for digitization supporting Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) initiatives. At the same time, the FDI standard greatly simplifies device integration and takes account of the various tasks over the entire lifecycle for both simple and the most complex devices, including configuration, commissioning, diagnostics, and calibration.
“FieldComm Group technologies enable a connected framework using intelligent field devices to reduce waste, improve safety and increase operational efficiency, and have for over 20 years,” said Paul Sereiko, FieldComm Group’s director of marketing. “There is significant value to industry as a result of a smart connected device ecosystem, which makes it possible to address performance, reliability, safety, and environmental problems that have yet to be solved by traditional approaches.”
Sereiko added, “Today, it is becoming possible to securely get the right information into the hands of problem-solvers wherever they are located, whether in a control room on-site or in a factory somewhere on the other side of the world.”
For more information, please visit the News page on the FieldComm Group website.
