Interoperabililty List

[flaviostz]

I found in Yokogawa web page a HIST list:

http://www.yokogawa.com/fbs/fbs-interoperability-en.htm#list

They say "program in order to maintain interoperability between host systems and field devices".

Furthermore they say "The following devices have passed Yokogawa's HIST and have proven to operate normally when used in combination with Yokogawa's host system."

In another part of the page, they say:

"The fieldbus device files in this section are categorized according to whether the devices have undergone Host Interoperability Support Testing (HIST). HIST is an invaluable tool in determining whether a specific fieldbus device is interoperable with a host system.

About HIST at Yokogawa:
- FOUNDATION™ Fieldbus (FF) laboratories are being established at Yokogawa headquarters and Yokogawa America.
- Yokogawa is running the HIST program according to FF specifications.
- Yokogawa is continuing development of HIST in cooperation with other device manufacturers.
- The list of field device that have passed the HIST can be checked on the Interoperability page."
My questions are:
1) Does Foundation Fieldbus specify any HIST test to be carried out by system suppliers?
2) Is the HIST test required to determine interoperability? Does FF specification guarantee full interoperability in all levels?
3) I have found that Emerson has also carried out tests in devices too. Should users prefer to use systems that had some kind of particular test?
4) New FF devices are appearing every month. How these systems will handle to incorporate these new devices in their tests in a near future? Or are they going to be excluded, even though they are listed in FF web site?
5) These tests are carried out by system suppliers, and as far as I can understand these are proprietary tests, they use words such as "interoperability" / "host systems" / "according to FF specifications" / "determining whether a specific fieldbus device is interoperable with a host system" and so on... please, comment this


I found also that the list in their site has 50 devices. So my question is: How many devices are listed in Foundation site so far?


Please, comment it.


Flávio.

[spragujl]

We require that all FF devices we use on a project be 'internally' tested by the FF Host vendor. We feel this 'guarantees' Host committment to interoperabilty on those tested instruments, and eliminates 'pointing fingers' if an instrument won't work. We've carried this requirement over from our early Fieldbus projects, so it may not be absolutely required anymore - but it does give us confidence.

[Heather Santos]

All H1 FF instruments must undergo a standard set of tests to be considered interoperable with other H1 FF instruments. There are now over 200 field devices on our registered products page.

The HIST is similar to a checklist. A general set of procedures are performed by a qualified FF staff member, these steps are provided by the host vendor and are derived from the HIST Test Purposes document (FF-569 FS1.0). This checks for the features listed on our host pages, different host systems may do these in different ways but the end result must be the same.

In theory, any FF registered H1 field device works with any host that has completed the FF HIST.