Beyond instrumentation: FDI for modular subsystems with proprietary protocols

Upon its first release, the FDI standard (field device integration, IEC 62769) [1] will be the most widely accepted standard for field device integration in automation industry [6]. Although it is a very new standard, the underlying technology re-use protects investments in customer installed base on an even wider scale. Still, FDI-related work has mostly been focused on the support of field instruments and compact electrical devices. Toward a complete coverage of all automation devices with one integration technology, we have therefore investigated the potential of FDI to also support the particularities of modular electrical subsystems. Using ABB's low-voltage switchgear MNS iS as a case study, we have attempted to practically port the relevant parts of the existing tool chain to FDI technology. While other modular devices such as remote IOs typically come from the same vendor as the device management system (DMS) and therefore may be supported in a proprietary manner, we must be able to integrate electrical subsystems into an FDI system like any compact device: by loading standard-conforming description files. Given the approval state of the standard and the still ongoing development of common FDI software components, we find the results rather encouraging. From the gaps we found in both the standard and the currently available implementation, we have concluded a set of proposals for action. We are confident that with reasonable effort the value of FDI can be enhanced even further.