Matching fieldbus functionality to user requirements

The object of this paper is to start addressing the problem of matching fieldbus functionality to user requirements. This issue can now be usefully addressed because of the advances in the IEC fieldbus standard, and in ways of describing user requirements, such as the methodology proposed by the EIAMUG Esprit project. These advances now give some structure to the way we can describe complex user requirements and to the ways we can put together fieldbus network structures to meet those needs. Even though we have such structures to describe both the problem and the solution, these descriptions will still be complex. The problem of matching the solution to the problem is therefore of significant importance