WirelessHART
WirelessHART is an open-standard wireless networking technology developed by
HART Communication Foundation. The protocol utilizes a time synchronized, self-organizing, and self-healing mesh architecture. The protocol currently supports operation in the 2.4 GHz ISM Band using
IEEE 802.15.4 standard radios.
Developed as a multi-vendor,
interoperable wireless standard, WirelessHART was defined specifically for the requirements of Process field device networks. The standard was initiated in early 2004 and developed by 37 HART Communications Foundation (HCF) companies that included
ABB,
Endress+Hauser,
Emerson,
P+F,
Siemens and others. The underlying wireless technology is based on the pioneering work of
Dust Networks, and the company's
TSMP technology is considered a foundational building block of the WirelessHART standard.
WirelessHART was approved by a vote of the 210 member general HCF membership, ratified by the HCF Board of Directors, and introduced to the market in September 2007.
On September 27, 2007, the
Fieldbus Foundation,
Profibus Nutzerorganisation, and HCF announced a wireless cooperation team to develop a specification for a common interface to a wireless gateway, further protecting users' investments in technology and work practices for leveraging these industry-pervasive networks. Following its completed work on the WirelessHART standard in September 2007, the HCF offered ISA an unrestricted, royalty-free copyright license, allowing the ISA100 committee access to the WirelessHART standard.
Backward compatibility with the HART “user layer” allows transparent adaptation of HART compatible
control systems and configuration tools to integrate new wireless networks and their devices, as well as continued use of proven configuration and system-integration work practices. Building on the estimated 25 million HART field devices currently installed, and approximately 3 million new wired HART devices shipping each year, end users are already embracing the industry’s first unifying wireless field device standard. In September 2008, Emerson became the first process automation supplier to begin production shipments for its WirelessHART enabled products.
(To learn more, go to
http://www.hartcomm.org/ and view the white papers and articles on WirelessHART)