WG 4

Field device tool interface specification

This specification shall define the interfaces for both the vertical and the horizontal data flow, called Function Control and Data Access, in the framework of a Client-Server architecture.

It shall allow application software and configuration tools to interact with field devices in a unified way, while hiding the manufacturer-specific interaction with devices or sub-systems in a software module.

The architecture and interface specification shall define the following functions and features:

A channel oriented interface for analogue and discrete input and output process variables

An interface for device or sub-system parameters and diagnosis data

An interface for persistent data storage of all instance data

An alarm interface

A communication interface which allows nested communication

A session model which defines the interaction between the software components and the host application using XML(World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Extensible Markup Language (XSL)) based data exchange
The specification does not define the development technology of the software components. One possible technology could be based on EDDs according IEC 61804-3.
This specification shall allow any field bus, device or sub-system specific software tool to be integrated as part of a universal life-cycle management tool of a plant automation system.