Configuration of distributed time-critical fieldbus systems

Summary form only given. Fieldbus is the generic term given to a digital communication system linking field devices and control systems in industrial plants. The OLCHFA (open, low-cost, time-critical, wireless fieldbus architecture) project, addresses three industrial needs: wireless data communication, time-critical communication and easy network configuration and management. The development includes the design and manufacture of prototype fieldbus nodes incorporating custom hardware to assist fieldbus-wide clock synchronisation as well as communication protocol processing based upon the French national standard fieldbus FIP. To ease configuration and set-up of the OLCHFA network, a graphical configuration tool has been developed, CONTOUR (configuration tool for the OLCHFA fieldbus system with graphical user interface). This tool provides the facility to define the network by simply attaching stations to the bus and then setting the relevant parameters. Default values are offered wherever possible. Special care has also been taken for the parameterization of variables, which are the central communication objects in the OLCHFA fieldbus