Endress+Hauser has announced that all of its FOUNDATION fieldbus devices are now being equipped with NAMUR NE107 diagnostic capabilities. NE107 is a recommendation for the self-monitoring and diagnosis of field devices, which because of its simplicity, is being increasingly demanded by users, device manufacturers and system vendors alike. It essentially sorts the diagnostic information provided by field devices into four distinct categories: Failure, Out of Specification, Maintenance Request and Function Check. As a result, the user can easily assess the seriousness of an alarm, and with the additional diagnostic information provided by the device, take the necessary remedial action.
NE 107 offers further advantages: engineering is simplified because the diagnostic information is provided via a standardized interface; commissioning time is shortened, thanks to improved diagnostic capabilities; and, finally, default settings in devices can be changed, allowing the sorting of diagnostic information into NE107 categories according to individual needs.
Additional information on NAMUR NE107 and FOUNDATION fieldbus can be found in the whitepaper, "Taking Diagnostics to the Next Level," which was produced by the Fieldbus Foundation in cooperation with Endress+Hauser. The paper can be downloaded from the Fieldbus Foundation website.
