Fieldbus Foundation Releases Device Description (DD) Enhancements

The Fieldbus Foundation has announced the latest updates to its FOUNDATION fieldbus Device Description (DD) tools and specifications. The new releases for DD technology, which is fully compliant with the IEC 61804 and ISA104 Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) profile, include enhanced versions of: DD Services (Version 5.1.0), DD Integrated Development Environment (Version 1.1.0), Device Description Language Interoperability Specification (FF-901), Device Description Language Specification (FF-900) and DD Library (Version 3.2).

The Fieldbus Foundation's manager-fieldbus products, Stephen Mitschke, commented, "The updated DD solutions build upon the robust functionality of the previous DD 5.0 release, and are intended to help device developers, system suppliers and end users advance the performance of their FOUNDATION fieldbus products."

Mitschke indicated that the latest DD enhancements support Unicode, providing FOUNDATION fieldbus device and system suppliers with an expanded ability to write and visualize DDs using local languages, including Asian languages. The enhancements also allow developers to build device-level menus, thus enabling visualization of multiple blocks and significantly improving the device integration experience. In addition, support for new parameter attributes will ensure an enhanced user interface for accessing devices.

Mitschke added that support for device-level menus will become mandatory as part of the Fieldbus Foundation's host profile test and registration program. Like the current device registration process, host registration will strengthen fieldbus interoperability and system integration. Hosts successfully completing registration testing will be authorized to bear the foundation's official product registration symbol.

Both of the DD technical documents (FF-900 and FF-901) fully describe the new enhancements, and are included in the FOUNDATION fieldbus technical specification. These documents are available for download on Fieldbus Forums (forums.fieldbus.org) to all foundation members with a specification maintenance agreement.