Fieldbus Foundation 2008 General Assembly Sponsored by SMAR

The Annual Foundation technology event themed “Why Foundation Has Become The Standard,” had SMAR International Division, SMAR Netherlands and SMAR Germany as participants and as one of the sponsors.

ANTWERP, Belgium, March 2008 .The Fieldbus Foundation, conducted its 2008 General Assembly in Antwerp, Belgium, announced it has achieved many important milestones during 2007, including new technology developments and growing industry adoption of the open, integrated Foundation automation infrastructure.


All presenters during the FF - General Assembly 2008

Group (Dedham, MA), tens of thousands of Foundation-compliant control systems, and over a million field devices, are now in service around the world. ARC indicated Foundation fieldbus is now “mainstream,” holding a 68 percent market share in the process industries, and predicted a continued double-digit growth rate for the technology.

At its 2008 General Assembly, themed “Why Foundation Has Become The Standard,” the Fieldbus Foundation cited progress on many key technology initiatives benefiting the automation industry. For example, the Foundation for Safety Instrumented Functions (SIF) development, which has achieved TÜV Type Approval, will help meet the growing worldwide demand for commercial, standards-based safety instrumentation incorporating Foundation fieldbus. The Fieldbus Foundation also joined the HART Communication Foundation and Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V. (PNO) in a cooperative effort to develop a specification for a common interface to a wireless gateway. The intent of this collaboration is to facilitate full, scalable integration of both wired and wireless technology in industrial automation.

The Foundation accelerated its work defining the structure for interfacing remote I/O over its High Speed Ethernet (HSE) control backbone. The addition of remote I/O further tightens the integration of process instrumentation within the Foundation system solution.

The program included workshops geared for Fieldbus Foundation system end users, engineers and suppliers. End user presentations described fieldbus installations in a wide range of process industry applications. For the complete event presentations overview and more news, please visit: www.fieldbus.org.


Leandro Torres (SMAR), Claudio Borges (SMAR), Michael Dubbick (KROHNE), Slobodan Pirec (WIG)

An outstanding reference to SMAR in the Oil & Gas industry was presented by Mr. Alexandre Stephanovitch - SERBIAGAS – with the presentation Foundation a Fully Integrated System.

This presentation described how Foundation fieldbus technology enabled easy integration of a distributed control system at an underground gas storage facility being developed by SERBIAGAS at Banatski Dvor, Serbia. The use of HSE was absolutely critical to the systems integration and the design also incorporates ModBUS links, legacy HART devices, a centralized server running OPC and an ESD system operated via a common HMI. Although the I/O count on this plant is relatively low, it is an excellent example of how Foundation fieldbus infrastructure delivered the required operational security and business intelligence to a small operator with no formal experience in FF systems design, explains Alexandre Peixoto – SMAR Business Manager.


Leandro Torres (SMAR BRAZIL), Anton Hesbacher (SMAR GERMANY), Peter Klesdtad (SMAR BENELUX)

The operating philosophy of the plant required a variety of simple and cascade loops, plus supervisory control and a complex valve sequencing based on gas analysis. The systems design was completed in Serbia by SERBIAGAS, together with the SMAR’s Certified Systems Integrator WIG. The plant was fully commissioned in June 2007 and the next phase of development (for additional wells and gas export treatment) is already in progress.

Adding even more value to the Fieldbus Foundation GA 2008 program, SMAR presented its series of controllers with High Speed Ethernet I/O (HSE-RIO) connection capability to the European market. SYSTEM302 provides the backbone of the network for complete supervision and horizontal plant control. Unique to SYSTEM302-Studio is the option to select the network connection of your choice (Foundation fieldbus, Profibus, DeviceNet, and AS-i). All controllers can access conventional signals from a variety of discrete and analog I/O cards, and include a Modbus connection for legacy equipment integration. Other capabilities include Function Block Programming and Ladder Logic via FFB (Flexible Function Block and EDDL).

“The open, scalable solution was designed to protect installed assets and co-exist with legacy systems”, adds Libanio Souza SMAR R&D Director. “SYSTEM302-Studio is the “all-in-one” structure that supports the use of many different technologies in a single, integrated and transparent environment for engineering, operation and maintenance of a plant” says Libanio Souza, during his Seminar FAQ’s overview. SMAR has been recognized as the “First in Fieldbus” and has pioneered many of today’s advanced digital field instrument and control network technologies.

This is consolidated in a broad product based offering in the industry-standard HART, Foundation fieldbus and Profibus protocols.

SMAR’s powerful, fieldbus-based SYSTEM302 has gained prominence as a “best-in-class” industrial automation solution in installations around the world. “It is a commitment of SMAR and its associates to provide state-of-the-art technology to the industry and is definitely a win-win situation for users seeking significant evolution in the fieldbus arena”, concludes Claudio Borges – International Business Development Director- European Division. SMAR Netherlands and SMAR Germany were represented by its directors Peter Klestadt and Hesbacher.


Leandro Torres (SMAR) Miodrag Pramenko (SERBIAGAS), Carlos Miranda (SMAR), John Emmet (MOORE HAWKE), Igor Ostojic (WIG), Scott Saunders (MOORE HAWKE), Slobodan Pirec (WIG)

About the Fieldbus Foundation

The Fieldbus Foundation is a global not-for-profit corporation consisting of leading process end users and automation companies. Within the Fieldbus Foundation, end users, manufacturers, universities and research organizations work together to develop an automation infrastructure that provides process integrity, business intelligence and open scalable integration in a managed environment. For more information, visit their web site at www.fieldbus.org.