Selection of Fieldbus Systems and the Provision of their Interoperability with IEC 1131

Open and modular systems architectures are the main requirements for mechanical and process plant engineers when making their selection of com­ponents for control and process control technology. In mechanical and process plant engineering a system architecture consists of technology for actuators, electronical controls and process controls. It is built upon a wide scale from PLCs up to real-time applications based on VMEbus and PCs that are intercon­nected with fieldbusses. To make a solid selection for the appropriate bus sys­tem, the project engineer has to consider certain parameters that are different for either mechanical or process plant engineering. The level of decentralisation is even more crucial for the decision towards a certain bus system. Therefore, the actual application needs to be thoroughly analysed with the possible products in mind. However, to get a qualified classification, the next layer of the pyramid of information — the layer of control — needs to be considered as well.