How is it to be a Foundation Fieldbus developer?

[ajba74]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to ask a few questions to the Foundation Fieldbus developers. I am currently an end user, but I intend to become a developer too.

1) What are the main activities of a Foundation Fieldbus developer?

2) What sort of subject do I have to study? Beyond this website, is there a chief source of related downloadable material?

3) What are the programming skills required? What programming languages are most usefull?

Thanks you all,
Arnaldo.

[flaviostz]

I am not a developer, however I can outline a few characteristics:
- Be a member of Fieldbus Foundation
- Study C and Assembler languagues to implement the FF stack
- Study Process Control along with main control algorithms ( what is your background ? )
- The norms are the main resource about FF, study them.
- Study some kind of microprocessor and electronic stuff, etc.

There is a wide spectrum of activities to do, if you are working with electronics, you should study different topics from someone who will implement the function blocks using some kind of programming language.

I also have a Yahoo discussion group about FF and Hart technologies, if you want you can become a member:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fieldbusprotocols/


Hope this can help.
Regards,
Flávio.

[jberge]

What do you mean by "developer"? Develop devices or software products, or integrate systems using existing products? If you want to become a system integrator the best source of informaiton is the book "Fieldbuses for Process Control: Engineering, Operation, and Maintenance" (buy online in hardcopy or download immediately in softcopy):
http://www.isa.org/fieldbuses

If you can't buy the book now, you can download chapter 1 (overview) for free in softcopy form. It's free, but you must register an account. If your email does not support this hyperlink feature correctly, please copy the entire link and paste it into your Internet browser. Mind the line wrap, make sure to get the complete path all the way to the 4585:
http://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Shop_ISA&template=/Ecommerce/ProductDisplay.cfm&ProductID=4585