(Austin, Texas, USA, 23 April 2008) Executives from leading process automation companies voiced their continued support and implementation of the latest version of the HART® Communication Protocol, HART 7 with WirelessHART™ capability, during the HART Communication Foundation press conference at Interkama+ 2008 (22 April, Hannover, Germany). In a display of unified commitment to the new technology, representatives from ABB, Emerson, Endress+Hauser, Pepperl+Fuchs and Siemens announced their continued support and future release dates for their WirelessHART products.

Statements from each company representative follow:

ABB Instrumentation - Sean Keeping, Vice-President Technology
ABB has long believed that a single fieldbus standard would provide significant benefits to both users and vendors. However, it is a business reality that multiple fieldbus technologies/standards are here to stay. Therefore, to maximize our customers’ ability to choose a best-fit solution, we have integrated the leading fieldbus communications protocols (Profibus - Foundation fieldbus - HART) into ABB field devices, tools, and host systems. This duplicated design effort has been costly for ABB and other suppliers, and has made life confusing for users. We would strongly advocate avoidance of a “multiple standard” path for wireless sensor communication.

The HART protocol has stood the test of time well and has over 26 million installations worldwide, as well as strong multi-vendor support. ABB has been active in the specification of the HART 7 standard, which includes wireless connectivity. In evidence of ABB’s strong support of this new standard, we have planned the release of products incorporating WirelessHART in 2008. These products will complement existing non-fieldbus wireless solutions from ABB including; vibration monitoring; HMI's; SMS Messaging; remote I/O; LAN protocol conversions; metering for oil and gas, pulverized coal, and water flow; and robotics position sensing.

To avoid repeating the “multiple standard” dilemma we currently have with fieldbusses, ABB’s recommendation is that SP100 incorporate the WirelessHART specification as its solution at the instrument level for PV Monitoring, Asset Performance Management, and eventually Control.

Endress+Hauser - Frank Hils, Corporate Director Projects and Solutions
Endress+Hauser sees the HART 7 specification as another chapter in the success story of HART. Especially the WirelessHART element will widen the application coverage of HART solutions. Users will benefit in Plant Asset Management Solutions where WirelessHART will provide easier access to device information including sensor diagnosis. The straightforward integration of remote sensors in Inventory Control applications will facilitate optimization of material supply chain processes. And last, not least, WirelessHART is an enabler to access efficiency potential in the commissioning phase of all kind of process control applications.

Endress+Hauser will implement HART 7 functionality in all related products. In the course of 2008 the entire field device basket including level, pressure, flow, temperature and analytical will benefit from HART 7 enhancements. Host products for mobile and stationary Asset Management applications such as FieldXpert and FieldCare will be upgraded to support HART 7 field devices.

We expect that HART 7 with WirelessHART will be widely adopted in the process industry and though justifies the joint effort of the HART Communication Foundation members put in the specification.

Emerson Process Management – David Dunbar, President, Europe
Speaking on behalf of Emerson Process Management, I would like to congratulate Ron Helson and the members of the HART Communication Foundation for their collaborative effort resulting in approval and release of the WirelessHART standard last September. This standard not only fully meets the unique needs of process end users, but, from the perspective of a supplier, the HCF provides the necessary infrastructure to take this from specification to interoperable products—an important practical consideration.

To that end, Emerson announced our first WirelessHART products in March and we are now taking orders for them. Since then we have announced more products and we have a full pipeline of WirelessHART products coming. The demand from customers is exciting, but more exciting is to see how quickly and easily end users put wireless to work to solve real business problems. Wireless will quickly transform our industry and we expect the demand for wireless will exceed $1B by 2012.

Pepperl + Fuchs GmbH - Dr. Ing Gunther Kegel, CEO
Wireless technologies coming from the office communication world are entering the fields of industrial applications in process industries. Besides many proprietary solutions the first activities have been started to create generally accepted standards.

In process automation a plurality of vendors sell products into plants where they are used throughout a lifetime of 20 years or more. Especially for wireless products, it is therefore absolutely mandatory that these products meet the requirements such as interoperability, security, and integrity from the very beginning. Therefore Pepperl+Fuchs decided to support only wireless technologies that are based on any kind of generally accepted industrial standard. Hence Pepperl+Fuchs participated in WirelessHART from the very beginning of this initiative.

WirelessHART is not only the first approach that has provided complete specifications but it has also presented a number of reasonable use cases and applications. At the Interkama+ 2008 we are presenting first prototypes of a WirelessHART gateway that exchanges wireless data from field devices and transmits these data via conventional digital communication passes into asset management systems. The original HART 4-20mA field devices are equipped with a plug-in wireless adapter – the perfect use case of easy upgrading an existing conventional plant towards state-of-the-art asset management.

The main future challenge for wireless technologies to jump from retrofitting to green field applications is indeed an appropriate power management of wireless field devices, the improved security and integrity of wireless data communication in general, and above all the continued effort to standardize on as many standards as necessary and as least standards as possible.

Siemens - Hans-Georg Kumpfmüller, CEO Business Unit Sensors and Communication
The HART Communication Foundation (HCF) recently released HART version 7, which enables new functions for Process Automation manufacturers and end customers. From our point of view the most important part of HART 7 is WirelessHART. This is the first and currently the only open industrial standard for wireless communication for the process industry.

Major suppliers of automation components like field devices and Process Control Systems brought their know-how and experience into the technical specification teams. The specification has been evaluated long before its release. This has been done by developing WirelessHART demonstrators for field devices and gateways. They have been exposed at several trade fairs, e.g. in US and Europe; customer feedback has been very positive and motivating. In September 2007 the specification was released. This was the signal: WirelessHART is ready to go.

Fieldbus Foundation and Profibus International have formed the Wireless Collaboration Team (WCT) together with the HCF. First intention is to create a specification for a gateway for WirelessHART into their fieldbus systems.

Such events and the feedback of customers during our presentations and discussions are a clear sign that the HCF has confirmed its competence to be the basis for the Process Industry not only in wired but also in wireless communication. It also shows that getting more harmonized solutions, bridging the different standards existing on the market is one of the most important needs of the industry today and tomorrow.

Siemens has supported all these activities with know-how and specialists. Siemens is a strong supporter of HART technology. Our products and systems will be upgraded step by step with these new HART capabilities.

Additional information on WirelessHART technology:

WirelessHART is simple, reliable and secure. It provides the same experience that users know and expect from HART-enabled products, protecting the global installed base of 26+ million HART devices.

WirelessHART is easy to use, easy to deploy, and fully backward compatible with existing instrumentation and host systems, preserving the investment in HART-enabled devices, tools, training, applications and work procedures used today.

WirelessHART builds on established and field-proven international standards including the HART protocol (IEC 61158), EDDL (IEC 61804-3), IEEE 802.15.4™ radio and frequency hopping, spread spectrum and mesh networking technologies. The new technology addresses the issues users face in the process plant environment and seamlessly integrates existing devices into HART-enabled systems.

WirelessHART was developed from user input through the combined, cooperative efforts of HCF member companies and leaders in wireless technology, including ABB, Adaptive Instruments, Crossbow Technology, Dust Networks, ELPRO Technologies, Emerson Process Management, Endress+Hauser, Flowserve, Honeywell, MACTek, MTL, Omnex Control Systems, Pepperl+Fuchs, Phoenix Contact, Siemens, Smar, Yamatake and Yokogawa.

INTERKAMA 2008 Press Conference slides ( PDF format)