WirelessHART within

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

and

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...

, is a

wireless sensor network Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) refer to networks of spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors that monitor and record the physical conditions of the environment and forward the collected data to a central location. WSNs can measure environmental c ...

ing technology. It is based on the

Highway Addressable Remote Transducer Protocol The HART Communication Protocol (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) is a hybrid analog+digital industrial automation open protocol. Its most notable advantage is that it can communicate over legacy 4–20 mA analog instrumentation current loops ...

(HART). Developed as a multi-vendor,

interoperable Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...

wireless standard, WirelessHART was defined for the requirements of process field device networks.

Technical description

The protocol utilizes a time synchronized, self-organizing, and self-healing mesh architecture. The protocol supports operation in the 2.4 GHz

ISM band The ISM radio bands are portions of the radio spectrum reserved internationally for industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) purposes, excluding applications in telecommunications. Examples of applications for the use of radio frequency (RF) ener ...

using

IEEE 802.15.4 IEEE 802.15.4 is a technical standard which defines the operation of a low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN). It specifies the physical layer and media access control for LR-WPANs, and is maintained by the IEEE 802.15 working group, ...

standard radios. The underlying wireless technology is based on the work of

Dust Networks Dust Networks, Inc. is an American company specializing in the design and manufacture of wireless sensor networks for industrial applications including process monitoring, condition monitoring, asset management, Environment, Health and Safety (E ...

TSMP TSMP, an acronym for Time Synchronized Mesh Protocol, was developed by Dust Networks as a communications protocol for self-organizing networks of wireless devices called ''motes''. TSMP devices stay synchronized to each other and communicate in time ...

technology.

History

The standard was initiated in early 2004 and developed by 37 HART Communications Foundation (HCF) companies that - amongst others - included

ABB ABB Ltd. is a Swedish- Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to create ...

, Emerson,

Endress+Hauser Endress+Hauser (Endress and Hauser) is a Switzerland, Swiss-based globally operating process and laboratory instrumentation and automation supplier. The family company achieved net sales of approximately 2.9 billion euros in 2021 with a total work ...

Pepperl+Fuchs Pepperl+Fuchs SE is a German multinational company with its headquarters in Mannheim, Germany. The company manufactures products for fabrication and process automation and is specialized in sensor manufacturing, for example, sensors that are ...

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embed ...

, Software Technologies Group (which developed the initial WirelessHART WiTECK stack), and AirSprite Technologies which went on to form WiTECK, an open non-profit membership organization whose mission is to provide a reliable, cost-effective, high-quality portfolio of core enabling system software for industrial wireless sensing applications, under a company and platform-neutral umbrella. 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

International Society of Automation The International Society of Automation (ISA), formerly known as The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society, is a non-profit technical society for engineers, technicians, businesspeople, educators and students, who work, study or are int ...

(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 A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large industrial c ...

and configuration tools to integrate new wireless networks and their devices, as well as continued use of proven configuration and system-integration work practices. It is estimated that 25 million HART field devices are installed worldwide, and approximately 3 million new wired HART devices are shipping each year. In September 2008, Emerson became the first process automation supplier to begin production shipments for its WirelessHART enabled products. During the summer of 2009

NAMUR Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...

, an international user association in the chemical and pharmaceutical processing industries, conducted a field test of WirelessHART to verify alignment with the NAMUR requirements for wireless automation in process applications. WirelessHart was approved by the

International Electrotechnical Commission The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; in French: ''Commission électrotechnique internationale'') is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and r ...

(IEC) in January 2009 with revision released in April 2010. The latest edition, version 2, was released in 2016 as IEC/PAS 62591:2016.

References

External links

HART Communications Foundation
official website
IEC Webstore for IEC 62591:2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirelesshart Wireless sensor network Wireless communication systems