Fieldbus is the name of a family of industrial computer network protocols used f

or real-time distributed control, standardized as IEC 61158.

A complex automated industrial system such as manufacturing assembly line usuall
y needs a distributed control systeman organized hierarchy of controller systemsto
function. In this hierarchy, there is usually a Human Machine Interface (HMI) a
t the top, where an operator can monitor or operate the system. This is typicall
y linked to a middle layer of programmable logic controllers (PLC) via a non-tim
e-critical communications system (e.g. Ethernet). At the bottom of the control c
hain is the fieldbus that links the PLCs to the components that actually do the
work, such as sensors, actuators, electric motors, console lights, switches, val
ves and contactors.
Contents
[hide] 1 Description
2 History 2.1 Bitbus
2.2 Standardization
3 IEC 61158 specification
4 Standards
5 Cost advantage
6 Networking
7 Features
8 Process Fieldbus vs. Device Networks
9 Ethernet and Fieldbus
10 Safety
11 Market
12 See also
13 Notes
14 References
15 Bibliography
16 External links
Description[edit]
Fieldbus is an industrial network system for real-time distributed control. It i
s a way to connect instruments in a manufacturing plant. Fieldbus works on a net
work structure which typically allows daisy-chain, star, ring, branch, and tree
network topologies. Previously, computers were connected using RS-232 (serial co
nnections) by which only two devices could communicate. This would be the equiva
lent of the currently used 4-20 mA communication scheme which requires that each
device has its own communication point at the controller level, while the field
bus is the equivalent of the current LAN-type connections, which require only on
e communication point at the controller level and allow multiple (hundreds) of a
nalog and digital points to be connected at the same time. This reduces both the
length of the cable required and the number of cables required. Furthermore, si
nce devices that communicate through fieldbus require a microprocessor, multiple
points are typically provided by the same device. Some fieldbus devices now sup
port control schemes such as PID control on the device side instead of forcing t
he controller to do the processing.
History[edit]
Bitbus[edit]
The oldest commonly used field bus technology is Bitbus. Bitbus was created by I
ntel Corporation to enhance use of Multibus systems in industrial systems by sep
arating slow i/o functions from faster memory access. In 1983, Intel created the
8044 Bitbus microcontroller by adding field bus firmware to its existing 8051 m
icrocontroller. Bitbus uses EIA-485 at the physical layer, with two twisted pair
s - one for data and the other for clocking and signals. Use of SDLC at the data
link layer permits 250 nodes on one segment with a total distance of 13.2 km. B
itbus has one master node and multiple slaves, with slaves only responding to re
quests from the master. Bitbus does not define routing at the network layer. The
8044 permits only a relatively small data packet (13 bytes), but embeds an effi
cient set of RAC (remote access and control) tasks and the ability to develop cu
stom RAC tasks. In 1990, the IEEE adopted Bitbus as the Microcontroller System S
erial Control Bus (IEEE-1118).[1][2]
Today BITBUS is maintained by the BEUG - BITBUS European Users Group.[3]