Due to its simplicity, reliability, cost-effectiveness, and other outstanding advantages, fieldbus has received high attention from many standards organizations and computer manufacturers.
Development of Fieldbus Technology:
Fieldbus is an industrial communication system used in automation systems to connect a large number of field-level devices and operator-level devices. It is generally defined as: an open, digital, bidirectional serial, multi-node communication bus for intelligent field devices and automation systems.
Fieldbus, developed internationally in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is a communication network for interconnecting intelligent field devices in process automation, manufacturing automation, and building automation. As the foundation of factory digital communication networks, it connects production process sites and control equipment with higher control and management levels. It is not only a basic network but also an open, new, fully distributed control system. This integrated technology, primarily based on intelligent sensing, control, computer, and digital communication technologies, has attracted worldwide attention, becoming a hot topic in automation technology development and leading to profound changes in automation system architecture and equipment. Many powerful and influential international companies have successively developed fieldbus technology and products to varying degrees. Fieldbus devices operate at the lowest level of process equipment. As a factory-level basic communication network, it requires simple protocols, strong fault tolerance, good security, and low cost. It also has certain time determinism and high real-time requirements, as well as stable network load, mostly short frame transmission, and frequent information exchange. Due to these characteristics, fieldbus systems, from network structure to communication technology, exhibit features different from higher-level high-speed data communication networks.
Fieldbus technology
Fieldbus systems are generally referred to as fifth-generation control systems, also known as FCS (Fieldbus Control System). Pneumatic signal control systems (PCS) from before the 1950s are generally considered the first generation, electric analog signal control systems (4-20mA, etc.) the second generation, centralized digital computer control systems the third generation, and distributed control systems (DCS) from the mid-1970s onwards the fourth generation. As a new generation of control systems, FCS overcomes the limitations of dedicated communication networks in DCS systems by adopting open and standardized solutions, thus overcoming the shortcomings of closed systems. Furthermore, it transforms the centralized and decentralized structure of DCS into a new fully distributed structure, completely decentralizing control functions to the field. Openness, decentralization, and digital communication are arguably the most prominent characteristics of fieldbus systems.
