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merson Process Management used the HART Communication booth at the Interkama trade show in Hannover, Germany, to demonstrate the advantages of the enhanced Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) Technology.
The EDDL enhancements improve the display of field device information, including the incorporation of images into displays, and support of graphs and charts to enable the calibration and configuration of complex devices such as control valves, radar level gauges, and variable frequency drives. The enhancements also provide “Persistent Data Storage,” which allows for the archiving and retrieval of diagnostic data from storage.
Emerson’s Rosemount 5400 radar level gauge with HART communications protocol was used to demonstrate the advantages of the new EDDL technology. Prior to the EDDL enhancements, additional software was necessary to view the tank spectrum that is used for advanced configuration of radar transmitters. The demonstration proved that the enhanced EDDL technology performs all display functionality for advanced configuration without additional software. In addition, the demonstration exhibited how the enhancements enable end users to achieve unsurpassed levels of interoperability across communication protocols, suppliers and products.
The EDDL extensions are built upon the existing IEC 61084-2 standard. This approach of building on an existing standard has many benefits. For example, it relieves device developers of the burden of designing and programming a graphic display system that must run under a variety of platforms and environments, from large Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) to the small handheld. Instead, they can utilize common graphic display capabilities provided by EDDL commands.
Since many host systems today already implement EDDL-based graphic display systems, devices using the extended EDDL have a common look and feel with existing devices. This permits uniform integration, configuration/setup, operation and diagnostics/maintenance -- all very important in an interoperable, multi-vendor environment.
HART Communications Foundation is committed to EDDL and is actively working to enhance the technology with new tools and capabilities to further strengthen the platform and facilitate new product applications.
