NAMUR and ODVA Collaborate on the Industrial Ethernet for the Process Industry

NAMUR and ODVA Collaborate on the Industrial Ethernet for the Process Industry
ODVA announced activities with NAMUR, an international user association of automation technology in the process industries, to help advance the adoption of industrial Ethernet in the process industries.

The focus between NAMUR and ODVA will be an activity to continue the refinement of formal requirements for an Ethernet communication system for the process industry through joint collaboration between the Working Group 2.6 Fieldbus (WG) and the ODVA Strategic Market Requirements Team for its Process Initiative (SMRt). This activity is the outgrowth of a position paper published by the WG in February 2016 "An Ethernet communication system for the process industry." This position paper identified EtherNet/IP as one of the minimum binding requirements for such systems along with 32 aspects that the WG identified as targets for the adoption of industrial Ethernet by the process industry for applications using classical field devices. The WG and the SMRt have agreed to on-going discussions on the requirements for deployment of process field devices on industrial Ethernet spanning a variety of topics, such as physical layer, device integration, and diagnostics.

One area of cooperation will be the installation of an EtherNet/IP system in the process automation lab at Industriepark Höchst, located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. This system will be a conduit for shared learning between NAMUR and ODVA stakeholders on approaches to help optimize the application of industrial Ethernet for the unique requirements of the process industry. The system will be a multi-vendor collaboration comprised of process field devices, control systems and infrastructure from ODVA members Cisco Systems, Endress+Hauser, Rockwell Automation, and Schneider Electric among others. NAMUR member Bilfinger Maintenance GmbH, an international engineering service provider to the process industry, will assume lead responsibility for commissioning of the EtherNet/IP system. This system will provide process users with a hands-on environment to learn more about the industrial Ethernet for process applications in general and EtherNet/IP in specific as well as to identify needs for the application of Ethernet-based process field devices versus classical fieldbus-based process field devices. In turn, automation suppliers will gain an increased understanding regarding applications and use requirements for the process industry as it relates to Ethernet in general and EtherNet/IP in specific. Lessons learned will be fed back to the NAMUR Working Group 2.6 Fieldbus and the ODVA Strategic Market Requirements Team for its Process Initiative to help develop future roadmaps for the evolution of their respective specifications.

NAMUR and ODVA expect that installation of the EtherNet/IP proof-of-concept system will be completed in the first half of 2017. Both organizations expect to convene on-going meetings between the WG and SMRt over the course of calendar year 2017.

EtherNet/IP adapts the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) to Ethernet technology and standards, as defined by the IEEE 802.3 specifications, and TCP/IP as defined by the RFCs that are published by the Internet Engineering Task Force. EtherNet/IP helps users to benefit from on-going improvements in performance-to-cost ratios possible with commercial-off-the-shelf-technology (COTS), as well as enhancements unique to the capabilities required for applications in industrial automation, such as high availability, hardened physical media and time-synchronized control. EtherNet/IP is supported by a global ecosystem that consists of hundreds of vendors and thousands of products for industrial applications.

Keywords: Process Automation, EtherNet/IP, Process Field Devices, CIP, Industrial Ethernet, Smart Manufacturing, IIOT, COTS, ODVA, ARC Advisory Group.