FDT Technology Recognized as ANSI/ISA Standards

The ISA103 Field Device Tool Interface Standards Committee, formed in 2006 to consider the adoption of existing FDT Technology standards as ISA standards, has worked to make the IEC 62453 international standards available as approved standards in the US.

“FDT standardization based on the IEC 62453 standards—known as ISA-62453 in the US—is occurring globally with user demand serving as the driving force,” said Glenn Schulz, managing director for the FDT Group. “We are excited to hear that ISA is moving US support and adoption of FDT standardization forward.”

Chaired by Ian Verhappen, the ISA103 committee represents a cross-section of industrial automation industry professionals including users, designers, implementers, educators and suppliers of leading industrial automation technology. In May 2009, ISA103 committee efforts were accelerated when FDT Technology was unanimously accepted by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), with adoption of the IEC 62453 standards. Since that time, the ISA103 committee’s main goal has been the adoption of parts of this suite of FDT standards and technical reports as ISA-62453-1 (103.00.01) through ISA-62453-315 (103.00.09). As a result of the committee’s efforts, and to confirm the strong acceptance of device integration based on FDT Technology, the IEC 62453/ISA-62453 standards have been adopted as ANSI/ISA standards to benefit US industry and its ability to better compete in the global automation and control community.

This effort by the ISA103 committee brings to the US marketplace technology that allows any Fieldbus, device or sub-system-specific software tool to be integrated as part of a universal lifecycle management tool in a plant automation system. Adoption of these FDT standards supports the most commonly used protocols implemented in the process and factory automation industries today. Users can confidently deploy FDT Technology with confirmation that it has achieved endorsement not only internationally with IEC, but also with the ISA103 committee and ANSI. As a result of this effort, end users will have the freedom to choose best-in-class FDT-based products and allow engineers access to their smart instruments in a rich graphical environment that will provide users with the tools to make better use of diagnostic information, improve ability to perform maintenance and much more.

“We are very pleased that this exciting technology is now part of the suite of ANSI/ISA standards, so that it can be effectively used by US industry. The ISA103 committee worked hard to reach this point, and we look forward to coordinating our efforts with forthcoming IEC maintenance activities on these documents during the next round of updates,” says Verhappen.

The ISA103 committee will now focus on keeping pace with FDT specification updates and the late 2011 maintenance cycle of the IEC 62453 standard. As FDT Technology moves along its future development path with additional enhancements, such as FDT 2.0 and new annexes to incorporate additional communication protocols, the ISA103 committee will ensure the ISA and American National Standards are maintained to support the automation industry and the US market.