What is the Fieldbus Foundation? The Fieldbus Foundation is a consortium of leading controls and instrumentation suppliers throughout the world. Its purpose is to accelerate development and acceptance of a single, open, interoperable fieldbus specification, as well as hardware and software technology for companies that wish to implement it in their automation products. What differentiates the Fieldbus Foundation from other fieldbus initiatives? The Fieldbus Foundation brings critical mass to the effort to establish a single, internationally acceptable protocol. The organization, which represents nearly all of the major instrumentation and control suppliers worldwide as well as many of the major users, will ensure that its FOUNDATION fieldbus technology will be successful in the marketplace. What is FOUNDATION fieldbus? FOUNDATION fieldbus is a bi-directional communications protocol used for communications among field instrumentation and control systems. Why is it unique? FOUNDATION fieldbus is the only digital fieldbus protocol developed to meet the ISA"s SP50 requirements, and is the only protocol that meets stringent, mission-critical demands for intrinsic safety and use in hazardous areas, volatile processes and difficult regulatory environments. Unlike other protocols, FOUNDATION fieldbus provides explicit synchronization of control and communication for precise, periodic execution of control functions without deadtime or jitter introduced by communications. It delivers time distribution to fieldbus devices for support of Function Block scheduling and alarm time-stamping at the point of detection. The use of Function Blocks allows basic features in measurement and control to be consistently implemented in devices from different manufacturers. Thus, the time required for operator training, maintenance and engineering will be reduced. Control engineers will be able to apply Function Blocks to solve problems without becoming experts in using the Function Blocks of 10 or 20 different vendors. What are its benefits? By enabling digital interoperability among field instruments and systems from a variety of companies, FOUNDATION fieldbus offers users the flexibility to add new devices with the confidence that active control functions on the fieldbus will not be disrupted. Changes to improve plant operation can be made without waiting for a scheduled plant shutdown. Other benefits of FOUNDATION fieldbus include reduced wiring, multi-variables from a single field instrument, enhanced field-level control, simpler integration and easier maintenance. Ultimately, fieldbus will be the key to greater manufacturing flexibility and productivity, higher quality products, and improved regulatory compliance. How is interoperability defined in relation to fieldbus? Interoperability refers to the ability to plug digital instruments onto a fieldbus network and have them communicate with each other and supervisory control systems. Users want to operate their entire plant from one operator interface and maintain all devices on the system with one maintenance application. FOUNDATION fieldbus protocol and application is the only solution that offers this capability when the host application is purchased from a different manufacturer than the field device. Do foundation member companies have proprietary rights to FOUNDATION fieldbus? No! A key tenet of the organization is that its fieldbus is available to all. FOUNDATION fieldbus technology is open to any company that wishes to implement it. How does fieldbus differ from the various device-level networks now in use? Although fieldbus networks and device-level networks are frequently seen as competitive solutions, they are quite different in their functionality and use. Unlike other communications networks, fieldbus networks incorporate a User Layer that resides on top of an Application Layer and can perform control procedures at the fie