Input/Output Systems 2020 · 2020. 9. 3. · Input/Output Systems 2020 6 Despite all of the reductions, Bechtel need to increase other components to accommo-date the new technology

TECHNOLOGY REPORT

Input/Output Systems 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTSBechtel proves out Universal I/O savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

I/O gets flexible with modular, digitalized capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Advanced physical layer standard to make field-level Ethernet a reality . . . . . . . . . . . 15

I/O takes a road trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

AD INDEXAcromag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Wago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

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Over the past several years, there’s been a substantial shift in the DCS market from conventional, fixed functionality input/output (I/O) modules to the fully configu-rable kind, such as the Universal I/O offered by Schneider Electric . The savings on labor and materials may seem obvious, but engineering firm Bechtel decided to prove out

the benefits before recommending to its clients that they standardize on ready-made intel-

ligent enclosures with configurable I/O .

Indeed, an internal study of the improved approach revealed 15-30% savings in instrumenta-

tion and automation-related costs on a benchmark Bechtel LNG project .

“We get to see a lot of new technologies,” said Robert Resendez, control and automation

team manager, Bechtel Oil and Gas, who spoke about his company’s change in philosophy

at Schneider Electric Innovation Days, this week in Austin, Texas . “We get to follow a lot of

new technologies, and we get to implement many of them .”

In 2013, Bechtel had just come off of seven LNG projects . “One of the biggest challenges

was during design development,” explained Resendez . “We were at the factory acceptance

test (FAT) for eight to 12 months on all of them because of all the late changes . What could

we do to fix this problem? Universal I/O was a no-brainer .”


Bechtel proves out Universal I/O savingsBy Mike Bacidore




The obvious savings due to improved

system flexibility were immediately appar-

ent, but Bechtel wanted to know the over-

all impact on costs . The new approached

increased certain costs, but the net effect

soon became evident .

RUNNING THE NUMBERS“We started vetting the systems and look-

ing at them from an engineering stand-

point,” continued Resendez . “In the conven-

tional system, we had an I/O cabinet and

then each I/O point had to be hardwired to

a marshaling cabinet, then out to interme-

diate junction boxes, and then out to the

instruments . This was the standard .”

With remote, universal I/O, the intermediate

junction boxes were replaced with intelli-

gent enclosures . “All the I/O is now moved

out to the field,” explained Resendez . “The

connection back to the control room is now

fiberoptic cable, so we’ve reduced the cable

size and the structure by eliminating the

copper cable . And the marshaling cabinets

have all but gone away .”

Bechtel took a project it had just completed

with 2,253 I/O signals going to four build-

ings . “We had an I/O rack room, a utility

substation, compressor substation and pro-

pane condenser substation,” said Resendez .

“We replaced the junction boxes with the

smart enclosures . Eighty field junction boxes

were replaced with 39 mart I/O boxes .” The

majority of homerun cabling was eliminated,

reducing 195 homerun cables to just 16 .

“We eliminated 21,000 homerun cable ter-

minations,” said Resendez . “We eliminated

almost two million linear feet of cable . We

eliminated all 23 marshaling cabinets, and

DCS cabinets went from eight to five . Be-

cause we eliminated cabinets, we reduced

the footprint from 864 sq .ft . to 234 sq .ft .

In some other projects, we’ve eliminated a

whole building .”

“We eliminated almost 2 million linear feet of cable. We eliminated all 23 marshaling cabinets, and DCS cabinets went from eight to five.” Rob-ert Resendez explains how intelligent enclosures have saved time and money at Bechtel.



Despite all of the reductions, Bechtel need

to increase other components to accommo-

date the new technology . With nine clus-

ters of smart junction boxes, Bechtel had

to have redundant power and redundant

communications . “We added to our electri-

cal budget for fiberoptic communications

and power,” added Resendez . “Because of

the reduction in junction boxes, the dis-

tance from the boxes to the instruments has

increased and so the fan-out cabling has in-

creased . But we’re getting better at reduc-

ing the fan-out cable by improving design

now . Also, the increased fiberoptics means

fiberoptic terminations have increased

slightly . And, because we need redundant

power, we added fuse panels .”

When Bechtel took all the cost of the material

and labor, the savings were still substantial .

So much so that on every new project the

company now recommends the approach .

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When intangible software starts to alter physical hardware, we can begin to un-derstand the breadth and depth of digitalization’s impact on process controls, automation and pretty much everything else . For many years, software ran on increasingly powerful microprocessors and faster networks, but their basic infrastructure

remained mostly the same . More recently, the demands and promised capabilities of data

processing and the Internet are even stretching I/O, terminal blocks and other device-level

components into new shapes to suit their needs .

SELECT, SIMPLIFY AND STREAMLINE For instance, removing unhelpful and toxic elements at SemCAMS Wapiti (www .semcam-

swapiti .com) sour gas plant in northern Alberta, Canada, requires specialized equipment

and controls (Figure 1) . Because cleaning H2S, propane, butane and other impurities is

mission-critical for the facility and worrisome for its operators and manager, Wapiti recently

got a much-needed boost from its recent upgrade with system integrator Blackrock Au-

tomation (http://blackrockautomation .com) in Taber, Alberta, and ABB’s (www .abb .com)

newly released Select I/O with common template and System 800xA automation platform .

The facility processes about 200 million cubic feet of sour gas per day, and was seeking one

I/O solution and a standard, remote cabinet, which could enable hardware on-site sooner

and keep pace with its aggressive schedule . The project included:


I/O gets flexible with modular, digitalized capabilitiesInput/output points, terminal blocks and related devices are gaining modular and digitalized capabilities

by Jim Montague



• 27 Select I/O remote cabinets for the plant’s

-40 °C and Class I, Div . 2 environment;

• System 800xA controls with 2,300 Select

I/O and 300 S800 control-related I/O;

• 16 Allen-Bradley PLC packages connected

by PLC Connect (OPC); and MCC commu-

nications with more than 40 Multilins and

VFDs via Profinet .

“It was -42 °C when we started up, but

there were no equipment problems, the

whole project’s mechanical and electrical

systems worked well, and we came in two

months early and under budget,” says Galen

Wilton, senior system integrator at Black-

rock . “Startup took just two days to selling

gas, and the client was so proud that they

announced it on the local radio .”

Robert Norberg, I/O systems global product

manager, ABB, reports Select I/O was de-

veloped to meet the needs of users just like

SemCAMS Wapiti . “Traditional, controller-

centric I/O solutions promote an inflexible,

serial, sequential project execution model in

which project tasks depend on each other,

resist changes, and cause change orders

and delays,” says Norberg . “The result of

process automation being on the critical

path is large cost overruns and late delivery

on large capital projects .

“This is why System 800xA’s flexible I/O, Se-

lect I/O and S800 on Ethernet, and xStream

Engineering are so useful in these applica-

tions . They can minimize the impact of late

changes, decouple project tasks so they can


SELECTABLE I/O SWEETENS SOUR GASFigure 1: SemCAMS Wapiti worked with system integrator Blackrock Automation to implement new Select I/O with common template and System 800xA automation platform from ABB to help clean H2S, propane, butane and other impurities at its new sour gas plant in northern Alberta, Canada. Source: SemCAMS Wapiti and Blackrock


be done in parallel, and reduce testing ef-

forts needed and required footprints .”

This flexibility aided SemCAMS Wapiti’s

installation schedule, and took much of the

project off the stressful critical path .

MODULARITY ENABLES IIOT Beyond the advantages that more flexible

I/O can provide, many suppliers and other

observers report improved device-level

connectivity and modularity can also help

process applications access the Industrial

Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud-computing

services and other digitalization efforts .

“We’re seeing increasing convergence

between operations technology (OT) and

information technology (IT), especially for

IIoT and smart manufacturing . Many folks

are moving in this direction to gain efficien-

cies, but still maintain cybersecurity,” says

Alan Sappé, product marketing manager

for industrial cabinet connectivity, Phoe-

nix Contact (www .phoenixcontact .com) .

“Along with the pressure to streamline,

minimize and reduce components for sys-

tems when users access the cloud, analyze

data and use cloud storage comes the need

for more I/O, so these functions can get the

information they need to digest .”

Efforts to get more performance out of the

same or new gear means I/O points, panels

and architectures may look the same, but

Sappé reports there’s more forethought and

intelligence going on behind the scenes .

“Many users want to extend the reach of

their Ethernet networks, but even though

they’re still using the same connections

and hardware, more of these I/O and relays

have microprocessors and added intel-

ligence,” explains Sappé . “This also means

terminal blocks need more reliability, such

as Phoenix Contact’s PT push-in terminals

for more reliable connections that also save

time and space . In the 10 years since they

were introduced, we’ve added PT connec-

tions to relays, I/O, surge protectors and

power supplies . These standardized con-

nections also optimize panel designs .”

For example, E-Finity Distributed Genera-

tion LLC (www .e-finity .com) in Wayne, Pa .,

builds onsite, distributed power genera-

tion and combined heat and power (CHP)

plants, and employs PT blocks, Mini Pro

signal conditioners and other Phoenix

Contact components . “Our customers have

different sets of inputs based on their ap-

plications . To avoid having to customize our

I/O modules on our controllers, we wanted

to easily swap out a device in the controller,

rather than the wiring involved in it, and the

Mini M series allowed us to do it . The input

wiring is all standardized for RT thermo-

couple or analog voltage input, and we can

use programmable Mini MCRs with standard

4-20 mA out . These let us use standard I/O

modules that are 4-20 mA on our I/O . This

lets customers choose RTD thermocouple,

voltage or analog inputs, and all we have to



do is select the correct Mini MCR module .”

E-Finity also reports it’s easy to remove and

replace PT terminal blocks in the field, and

use their push-in connections, as well as

test ports to test the signals on the card .

Sappé adds that Phoenix Contact also re-

cently released its PTFIX mini power distribu-

tion blocks with multiple connection points

in a small form factor . “Users are comfortable

with familiar technologies, but even though

digitalization is unfamiliar, they should still try

it because it can get them into smarter manu-

facturing,” says Sappé . “We can even send

samples of PT and other components, so they

can try them and really kick the tires .”

CONNECTIVITY, CONTROL CHIME IN Naturally, just as I/O are essential for digita-

lization, more efficient connections between

them and related devices can help them all

link up and get networked for success .

“We’re seeing more quick disconnects

impacting I/O systems, less use of terminal

blocks, and more connectorized solutions

for Class I, Div . 2 hazardous locations,” says

Chris Vitale, head of fieldbus technology at

Turck (www .turck .us) . “Previously, every-

thing was wire and conduit, but now there’s

more use of M12 and our Minifast connec-

tors that thread in and out quickly . This has

been going on for about 15 years, but we’re

still experiencing a lot of growth as modular

equipment continues to expand in machines,

skids and plants . Users also continue to lack

in-house engineering, so they need cost-ef-

fective, connectorized products that less-ex-

perienced personnel can install or swap out .”

Vitale reports users can also replace cabi-

nets with I/O systems that already have

built-in terminal blocks . “It’s more effective

to use I/O that’s connectorized or has quick

disconnects,” adds Vitale . “I/O is getting

to be better understood and accepted by

mainstream users . This is because their IIoT

and Industry 4 .0 applications don’t just in-

dicate that a valve is on or off . These smart

devices want trends from other data that

can be transmitted .”

For example, Vitale adds that the 14-year-

old IO-Link protocol and its connectors and

cables are point-to-point, but their masters

and end devices can deliver large amounts

of device-level data in conjunction with Eth-

ernet . “Many engineers are trying to keep

their processes going, and with IO-Link,

they can replace one sensor and still use

their old cable infrastructure, or upgrade

just as easily,” he says . “This is why it’s been

catching on in the past three years . IO-Link

can deliver temperature, number of cycles,

and other data engineers can use .”

Likewise, the overall transition from serial

to Ethernet networking inspired Turck and

others to develop Ethernet I/O modules

that could provide web servers; bypass

legacy PLCs; still see what’s happening in

the field; and let users set up, maintain and




troubleshoot their processes . “This is all

leading to more intelligent I/O and other

devices with onboard chips,” says Vitale .

“We changed our strategy on Ethernet a

few years ago, and now it’s the digitaliza-

tion pipeline . We have devices that can talk

to multiple protocols like Profinet, Ether-

Net/IP and Modbus, and also recently add-

ed a spanner module that can translate the

protocols, and let PLCs and other devices

communicate with each other .”

Turck even has a Field Logic Controller lo-

cated inside an I/O device, which networks

via Ethernet and a web server interface to

run logic programs . “We’re not replacing any

PLCs or DCSs . We’re just picking up logic

tasks that might overburden some PLCs or

DCSs,” adds Vitale . “Communications of all

kinds are flattening, and we’re learning to

talk to almost any device in some way . Turck

even launched a cloud service in Europe last

year, and it will likely come to the U .S . soon

to support devices, too .”

Turck also recently launched its Backplane

Ethernet Extension Protocol (BEEP), which

is integrated into many of its multi-protocol

digital block I/O modules . BEEP allows a

network of up to 33 devices (one master

and 32 slaves) or 480 bytes of data to ap-

pear to the PLC as one device on one con-

nection using one IP address . By reducing

the number of connections the PLC sees,

users can create high-density I/O networks

and still use their low-cost PLC .

The BEEP web server makes the first de-

vice in the line a master, and it can then

scan the entire network and create a new

data map that includes all of the down-

stream devices, with all device configura-

tion options saved in the master . BEEP

also supports drop-in device replacement,

reducing downtime and overall costs . If a

network is set up using BEEP, a technician

can simply replace a slave device with a

new device to keep the system online . The

BEEP master will automatically recognize

the device, assign it an IP address, and

download the parameters to it .

OFF THE CRITICAL PATHIt’s fortunate faster I/O connections are

available because the need for them is

only likely to increase . Back at SemCAMS

Wapiti in Alberta, Brad MacDonald, IAEN

product marketing manager, ABB, reports,

“When projects plan to execute, the date

everyone usually wants to know is the de-

sign-freeze day . With Select I/O, they don’t

have to worry about it anymore . Now, they

just build the cabinet, roughly determine

how many I/O are needed, but don’t have

to care what type because Select I/O’s

common template can connect to so many

different devices .

“In Blackrock’s case, their design started

with 1,200 I/O, but ended with 2,400 I/O

because of added pipes and other devices .

In the past, this would mean huge and cost-

ly change orders, but now they can simply



order extra I/O as needed and expand to

accommodate them . What’s so cool about

splitting design engineering off from cabi-

net assembly and installation is that it finally

takes automation off the critical path .”

Wilton reported that SemCAMS Wapiti’s

remote I/O cabinets were designed in Fall

2017, configured in February 2018, built in

April-May 2018, and installed and wired in

July-October 2018, which included client

FAT of configuration in August-September

2018 . I/O loop checks and commission-

ing were done in late 2018, and production

began in January 2019 . The control and

network architecture at the plant includes

two virtual servers, two servers working as

historians, four operator stations, three en-

gineering stations, links via PLC Connect to

EtherNet/IP, and two PM891 controllers in

two S800 cabinets networked with Modbus

and Profibus for remote MCCs .

“We installed 27 remote I/O cabinets, each

with six module terminal units (MTU) and

96 I/O per cabinet,” explained Wilton . “We

also had fully redundant power and heat-

ers to comply with our Class I, Div . 2 design .

The virtual servers meant we could set up

and test at Blackrock’s office in Calgary,

and staging there and running the whole

project in simulation was a big help . We

also liked using System 800xA because its

combined software package for functions

like PLCs and HMIs meant we didn’t have to

implement them separately .” (Figure 2 .)

BETTER I/O PERSPECTIVEFigure 2: Operators can easily switch between day- and night-mode color schemes on HMI screens to improve operator effectiveness at SemCAMS Wapiti's new sour gas plant. The System 800xA control and network architecture from ABB includes four operator stations and three engineering stations that manage 27 remote I/O cabinets, each with six module terminal units and 96 I/O per cabinet. Source: SemCAMS Wapiti and Blackrock



Kyle Hyland, senior system integrator,

Blackrock, adds that, “System 800xA can

also show trends, and give users all the data

they like to see . Plus, we can just drop in

new software objects, and they’ll quickly

show trend data .”

Wilton agrees that System 800xA was

easy to learn with a little coaching from

ABB . “It was especially nice to have soft-

ware-based controllers that we could test,

and they’re also allowing us to make ad-

justments, add features, and even use them

for training,” says Wilton . “As a result, we

were also able to field test all the cabinets

in just two or three hours . Select I/O also

saved a lot on cable by allowing us to use

more flexible switching devices between

panels and reassign them as needed . As a

result, most changes were no longer about

asking for money, but were about new

ways to save money .”

MacDonald adds, “Select I/O and System

800xA can save users 30-40% on the cost

of projects by eliminating much of the en-

gineering and cabling that was previously

required .”

It’s been nearly 10 years since the process automation community first began investigat-ing a protocol-neutral advanced physical layer (APL) that would extend Ethernet over the process industry’s last mile—providing connectivity with broadly distributed, two-wire, loop-powered field instruments in potentially hazardous environments . Today, we’ve

also reached the last mile in that decade-long journey to make high-performance field de-

vice connectivity a practical reality .

The technology was successfully tested at BASF last year, and a multi-vendor prototype

network was shown at last November’s NAMUR General Meeting . Automation suppliers are

targeting ACHEMA 2021, to be held next in June in Frankfurt, to show commercial products .

APL is a significant technical achievement in that it dramatically increases the bandwidth

available for digital instrument communications, as well as simplifies the network architec-

ture in one fell swoop . At 10 MB/second, APL clocks in at more than 300 times faster than

FOUNDATION fieldbus H1 and more than 8,000 times faster than the original HART proto-

col . And, since it’s Ethernet, APL effectively facilitates top-to-bottom cybersecurity, while

eliminating the need for gateways or protocol conversion from the field device all the way

to enterprise business systems and the cloud .


Advanced physical layer standard to make field-level Ethernet a realityAPL dramatically increases the bandwidth available for digital instrument communications and simplifies network architecture

By Keith Larson




EXTENDED STANDARDSAPL is an offshoot of the IEEE’s recently ap-

proved 802 .3cg-2019 (10BASE-T1L) standard,

which effectively extends the 802 .3 Ether-

net standard to include single-pair wiring

over distances up to 1,000 meters with the

optional provision of power to devices . APL

is of particular importance to the process

industries because its focus is on extending

10BASE-T1L for use in hazardous areas .

Importantly, the APL Project counts among

its supporters three of the process indus-

try’s key communications standards devel-

opment organizations—FieldComm Group,

Profibus & Profinet International (PI) and

ODVA—as well as a dozen process auto-

mation companies that together represent

considerable clout in the global market-

place: ABB, Emerson, Endress+Hauser,

Krohne, Pepperl+Fuchs, Phoenix Contact,

Rockwell Automation, Samson, Siemens,

Stahl, VEGA and Yokogawa .

The APL Project’s new standards for intrin-

sic safety will be known as “Ethernet-APL .”

Further, the IEC PT 60079-47 technical

committee is working on a technical speci-

fication called Two-Wire Intrinsically Safe

Ethernet (2-WISE) to fulfill the requirement

of intrinsic safety for loop-powered and

separately powered devices in hazardous

areas up to Zone 0, 1 and 2/Division 1 and 2 .

To make engineering and verification of

intrinsically safe loops as simple as possible,

2-WISE is based on the same Ex-concept

as the well-established Fieldbus Intrinsi-

cally Safe Concept (FISCO) . This concept is

supported by successful tests executed at

Dekra Testing and Certification GmbH . The

final technical specification (IEC TS 60079-

47) is expected in 2021 .

In addition, Ethernet-APL will define port

profiles for multiple power levels for use

both inside and outside of explosion hazard-

ous areas to ensure interoperability of APL

field switches and APL field devices . These

APL port profiles will replace power delivery

via Power over Data Lines (PoDL), which is

optional within the 10BASE-T1L standard .

“Compliance with this power profile con-

cept is crucial in order to avoiding hardware

variance for field devices that could be

installed in hazardous as well as unclassi-

fied areas,” notes Lukas Klausmann, senior

marketing manager, Endress+Hauser Digi-

tal Solutions . So, devices for Ethernet-APL

and for standard single-pair Ethernet (SPE)

won’t mix and match in the same system in

part because the field devices being devel-

oped won’t support PoDL functionality .

On the positive side, Ethernet-APL will

deliver more intrinsically safe power to field

instruments than FOUNDATION, Profibus

PA or HART . “This will enable instrument

vendors to design two-wire instruments

that today require four wires due to high

power demand,” says Michael Kessler,



executive vice president, components and

technology, Pepperl+Fuchs .

The availability of application-specific

integrated circuits (ASIC) that support the

Ethernet-APL physical layer (PHY) is an-

other essential step in commercializing APL

devices . The first samples are due to ship

this month (June 2020) with production

quantity ASICs available this time next year .

Finally, to ensure standards conformance

of the implementation, the APL Project will

specify APL conformance tests that will be

integrated into the appropriate specifica-

tions of the relevant standards development

organizations, including FieldComm Group

(for HART-IP), ODVA (for EtherNet/IP) and

PI (for Profinet) .

“All necessary specification development

is on track,” notes Steve Fales, APL Project

spokesperson and ODVA marketing direc-

tor . “In addition to its specification work,

the APL Project is working on a guideline

for engineering and installation to provide

the best possible support for the planning

and commissioning of APL networks . The

first field devices and infrastructure com-

ponents are expected to be available after

ACHEMA 2021, once all of the appropriate

certification processes are in place .”

APL BRINGS ETHERNET TO THE FIELDFigure 1. Ethernet-APL dramatically increases digital bandwidth to field instruments in hazardous and non-hazardous areas.



FAMILIAR TOPOLOGYEthernet-APL is designed to support trunk-

and-spur installations and redundancy

concepts similar to the fieldbus options

that came before it (Figure 1) . Two gen-

eral types of segments are defined: trunk

lines that carry high-level power and data

for distances up to 1,000 m, and spur lines

that carry power and signals with optional

intrinsic safety for distances up to 200

m . Anchoring the trunks are APL Power

Switches, each of which provides up to 60

W of power and communications for as

many as 50 devices . Anchoring each spur,

in turn, is an APL Field Switch that pro-

vides intrinsically safe power and commu-

nications to the field devices themselves .

Ethernet-APL requirements for IEC 61158

Type A shielded, twisted-pair cables is also

in line with established fieldbus practices,

notes Andy Kravitz, flow transmitter mar-

keting manager and APL working group

representative for Emerson . “The APL

Working group is preparing a set of engi-

neering guidelines to help users select the

correct cabling for a given APL applica-

tion,” Kravitz says .

“As fieldbus cable has been designed for

31 .250 kB, not all existing cable can be

used for APL at the full cable length,” adds

Pepperl+Fuchs’ Kessler . “Therefore the APL

port profile specification defines for dif-

ferent categories supporting spur / trunk

cable length of 50 m / 250 m, 100 m / 500

m, 150 m / 750 m, and 200 m / 1,000 m .

Cable manufacturers have to specify their

cable according to this classification .”

“From the very outset, the ability to re-

use existing single, twisted-pair fieldbus

cabling was a requirement for APL due

the high installation costs involved,” says

Michael Bowne, executive director, PI

North America . “For example, the Type A

cabling used by Profibus PA should work

just fine for APL .

“But whether greenfield or brownfield, we

highly recommend users perform a net-

work infrastructure baseline test as part

of any installation,” Bowne adds . “This

involves ensuring all wiring is performing

as intended . Cable testers are available

from various manufacturers that verify

cable integrity and electrical properties .

As long the wiring meets the resistance,

inductance and capacitance ratings speci-

fied, users should be good to go . Confi-

dence in the initial network infrastructure

also helps relieve worries down the road if

errors crop up .”

Connector technology recommendations

are a final point of contention for APL stan-

dards-makers as of this writing . “RJ45 and

M8/M12 connectors and pinouts are still in

discussion,” explains Jason Norris, manager

of process automation portfolio and global

market development, I/O and networks,

Phoenix Contact .



MIGRATION AND ADOPTION ISSUESAs with any new technology aimed at

supplanting “perfectly good” operational

devices and entrenched work practices, the

adoption of APL—for process facilities both

greenfield and brown—will likely take time

to gather momentum, even with the most

compelling of value propositions .

“Where FOUNDATION fieldbus and Profi-

bus PA are currently used, we don’t believe

that end users will start ripping out field In-

struments to install APL,” says Paul Sereiko,

director of marketing at FieldComm Group .

“We doubt a refinery unit will consider up-

grading until their existing assets are at end

of life . Early adopters are much more likely

in more flexible process applications, such

as life sciences, and food and beverage .”

“Any protocol that runs on Ethernet today

can be used over Ethernet-APL,” notes

Emerson’s Kravitz . And that includes HART-

IP and Profinet as well as EtherNet/IP and

other industrial Ethernet variants once gen-

erally excluded from hazardous-area duty .

“Ethernet-based protocols such as these

have provisions for using I/O that can com-

municate with devices using legacy digital

protocols such as analog HART, Profibus

PA and FOUNDATION fieldbus . Initially, we

expect customers to continue to make deci-

sions based on comfort, cost and capabil-

ity—and their selection of devices will likely

not change due to the release of a new

technology such as Ethernet-APL .”

“But over time, as instrumentation and

system vendors provide more support

for Ethernet-APL,” Kravitz continues, “we

expect customers will select Ethernet-APL

devices due to the potential for increased

capability, security and flexibility .”

“FOUNDATION fieldbus and Profibus

PA will be first to lose with the appear-

ance of APL,” predicts Taro Endoh, Yok-

ogawa representative on the APL work-

ing groups . “APL with industrial Ethernet

protocols will replace conventional digital

protocols first, then 4-20mA + HART in

the not so distant future .”

But APL vs . current fieldbus protocols

doesn’t have to be an all or nothing prop-

osition, according to Michael Kessler of

Pepperl+Fuchs . “Ethernet-APL switches

have been demonstrated to provide

Ethernet-APL spur interfaces with dual

functionality, e .g ., Profinet-APL and Pro-

fibus PA,” Kessler says . “Theoretically,

this is also feasible with a FOUNDATION

fieldbus instrument where its data can

be mapped on any Ethernet-based, real-

time protocol . This dual-functionality is

important to migrate existing plants to

Ethernet-APL-based infrastructure . Dur-

ing the first years of market introduction

of Ethernet-APL, existing FOUNDATION

fieldbus or Profibus PA instruments may

fill the gap of missing instrument functions

with an Ethernet-APL interface .”



It’s also important to note that the non-

fieldbus, analog + HART segment of the

market is also currently the largest—both in

terms of installed base and current green-

field plant design and construction . Indeed,

a wholesale shift to APL will require re-

vamped systems and engineering practices

away from the now widespread practice

of configurable I/O in which DCS suppliers

have invested so much money and effort

over the past 10 years .

And of the three standards development

organizations currently involved in the APL

Project, ODVA and its EtherNet/IP protocol

may stand to gain the most from an APL

standard . “Today, EtherNet/IP is commonly

used in process automation within ‘islands

of automation’ for applications such as

valve piloting where a PLC, that also serves

as a gateway to a DCS, controls a bank of

directional control valves,” explains Steve

Fales of ODVA .

With APL, Fales predicts that EtherNet/IP

will be used more broadly across process

networks—without gateways—for control,

diagnostics and commissioning . “EtherNet/

IP is well positioned for success in process

automation as evidenced by being named

as one of the minimum binding require-

ments by NAMUR for Ethernet communica-

tion systems between the field level and

higher system levels, integration of HART

device translation services, and the addi-

tion of NAMUR NE 107 diagnostics .”

Adds ABB’s Tilo Merlin, platforms man-

ager, ABB Measurement & Analytics: “Since

most DCS systems already support Pro-

finet and EtherNet/IP today, adoption of

Ethernet-APL based on these protocols will

be straightforward . As direct usage elimi-

nates the use of gateways or other proto-

col conversions, it will significantly reduce

complexity, cost of ownership and improve

usability and robustness compared to tradi-

tional fieldbus solutions .

“Beyond applying those established Ethernet-

based protocols,” Merlin adds, “APL enables

use of new protocols such as OPC UA, offer-

ing new levels of security and semantics, and

so breaks the border between IT and OT .”

And that may be just the value proposition

needed to speed APL uptake .

AN ONRAMP TO SECURE DIGITAL TWINS Even as the APL Project has been working

to extend an IIoT-sized expressway to field

instruments, work has progressed on com-

plementary standards from the software and

systems side of the world that are poised to

take full advantage of that new bandwidth .

Notable among these are FDI, PA-DIM and

OPC-UA—all of which promised to bring new

order and value to the digital field .

“FDI and PA-DIM are all about making it

easier for software systems throughout the

enterprise to consume information provided



by instruments,” explains Sereiko of Field-

Comm Group . “Ethernet-APL is all about

replacing gateways and remote I/O with

Ethernet switches to facilitate the routing of

the information from the device to the enter-

prise system . Ultimately, it’s possible that the

higher speeds enabled will lend themselves

to feature enhancements for FDI and PA-DIM

that further simplify device integrations .”

“As a technology, FDI and PA-DIM are de-

signed to help lower the bar for pulling infor-

mation from field devices,” adds Emerson’s

Kravitz . “Given that Ethernet-APL increases

the bandwidth to individual devices, we ex-

pect the combination of all of these technol-

ogies will help drive customers to more fully

utilize the capabilities of our devices more

easily than ever before . This will enable field

devices to easily integrate with every level of

the process data ecosystem from the control

system all the way to the cloud .”

Ethernet-APL and PA-DIM in combination

offer the possibility to access data from the

field in a parallel communication path to the

control integration, notes Lukas Klausmann

of Endress+Hauser . “This second-channel

approach supports the concept of NAMUR

Open Architecture (NOA) without influenc-

ing core automation processes,” Klauss-

mann says . “This is the basis of plant-wide

availability of data, and its easy interpreta-

tion without need for device-specific driv-

ers . The possibilities of such digital services

are numerous, and offer extensive support

for optimization efforts and efficiency im-

provements in a process plant .”

Ethernet-APL is the key enabling tech-

nology to deploy OPC UA and PA-DIM

in the field devices themselves, adds

Pepperl+Fuchs’ Kessler . “This will finally

allow real plug-and-play since the device

will come with an embedded information

model—that means no need for any kind

of device description . FDI, meanwhile, will

allow the use of PA-DIM for legacy instru-

ments . This will help with plants migrating

from HART or fieldbus to Ethernet-APL .”

Models and standards such as FDI are im-

portant tools for customers and vendors,

but adoption rates are always slower when

speed, infrastructure and connectivity to

higher level systems requires new cabling or

even gateways, says Scott Saunders, presi-

dent/CEO of Moore Industries . “Ethernet-

APL goes a long way by removing all these

issues . Supporting most existing installed,

twisted-pair cabling with speeds of 10 Mbps

and supporting most all other TCP/IP-based

industrial protocols simultaneously, helps

assuage the concern end users typically

have that hamper new and emerging stan-

dards introduced in our industry .”

“A whole world of new use cases become

possible with APL,” adds Bowne of PI

North America . “It plays directly into the

IT/OT network convergence that’s oc-

curring across industries . With a common



Ethernet-based physical layer, vendors are

free to implement multiple protocols on

their instruments, a feature long established

in factory automation . It also helps enable

concepts like NAMUR Open Architecture

for unidirectional communication to higher

level systems outside the traditional auto-

mation pyramid .”

The fact that Ethernet-APL supports the full

Ethernet stack means that all the additional

features of the IEEE world are available to

increase usability, says ABB’s Merlin, citing

Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP), an

out-of-the-box tool available once you’re

part of the Ethernet ecosystem .

“The general multi-protocol capability of

Ethernet is far-reaching,” Merlin says . “It

makes the secure bridging between OT and

IT world a lot easier . And due to universal

applicability of OPC UA from field level

to cloud, APL is a cornerstone to connect

physical assets to their digital twins .”

Freedom is fine, but protected freedom is better . And, just as kids—and cables—are always advised to wear jackets, distributed I/O points have been taking on new protections as they venture out of their traditional cabinets to establish new con-nections in more widespread and less-constrained environments .

Perhaps the most inclusive of these protections is I/O System Field distributed I/O system

that consists of an IP67-rated fieldbus switch, which can include up to eight I/O points,

daisy chain with M8 or M12 Ethernet connectors, and run in -13 °F to 158 °F (-25 °C to 70 °C)

settings . These capabilities optimize I/O System Field for dependable, cabinet-free automa-

tion, and engineer it to serve in decentralized processes .

“IP67 distributed I/O aren’t new, but we saw users seeking more ways to connect to more

devices . They need to support Profinet, EtherNet/IP and EtherCAT, even as newer users

want to connect I/O directly to SCADA and cloud-computing to mostly monitor their ap-

plications,” says Charlie Norz, automation product manager at Wago Corp . “To do it, I/O

System Field still uses traditional fieldbuses, but it also employs OPC UA and MQTT publish-

subscribe protocols to collect and monitor signals .”

I/O System Field includes two housing types: fully encapsulated metal for harsh settings,

and lighter-weight, less than 4 .25-ounce, non-molded plastic for mobile applications . Both


I/O takes a road tripIP67-rated, distributed, web-based I/O system for cabinet-free automation




are available in standard and slim-line op-

tions . They can be mounted directly or

laterally without added adapters .

Within their protective housings, I/O Sys-

tem Field support multiple communication

protocols . It’s initial July release has a built-

in Profinet switch for feed-through network-

ing, while future releases will support Eth-

erNet/IP and EtherCAT . I/O System Field

also supports OPC UA for linking to clients

like SCADA systems or Industrial Internet of

Things (IIoT) devices . Its modules are also

TSN Ready, so they’re designed to comply

with the time-sensitive networking standard

that’s scheduled for completion in 2021 .

“Thanks to its software, I/O System Field

can perform web-based management and

simplified device configuration over an

Ethernet network,” explains Norz . “For us-

ers in the field, it has Bluetooth and a smart

device app, so they can configure or adjust

the module with a tablet PC or smart phone .

This gives users two options for configur-

ing their device, either from the engineering

terminal or from the plant floor, which could

be especially helpful for web-based, young-

er or less-experienced users .”

For even more networking flexibility, I/O

System Field also incorporates IO-Link

master ports for accessing intelligent

HAVE I/O, WILL TRAVELI/O System Field IP67-rated, distributed

I/O system can include up to eight I/O points; daisy chains with M8 or M12 Ethernet connectors;

allows web-based configuration; serves in -13 °F to 158 °F (-25 °C to 70 °C); and comes in metal and plastic housings.



sensors/actuators or using its modules as

IO-Link hubs . They’re available as eight- or

16-channel, 24-VDC configurable digital

I/O (DIO) ports . Each channel is configu-

rable as a 24-VDC digital input or output,

while the digital outputs are rated at 2

amps per channel .

“IO-Link gives users more options for

making connections,” adds Norz . “Wago’s

philosophy is to always have open network-

ing, which is why we support more than 16

fieldbuses, and don’t make users choose

just one . I/O System Field fits this mission

by allowing users to use the protocol that’s

best for them .”

To power its multiple roles and networking

tasks, I/O System Field has input and out-

put power ports that its daisy-chained mod-

ules can use . These M12 L-coded ports sup-

port two different supply lines, including L1

and L2 that can support up to 8 amps each

for a total of 16 amps of module-supplied

power . This high-current capacity is helpful

in case power is cascaded (connected) to

other I/O System Field modules . In addition,

each I/O System Field device has built-in

electrical load management, which records

and evaluates current and voltage levels per

channel or for the entire module, and allow

current limits and alarms to be set for each

to increase system reliability .

“Load management lets I/O System Field

monitor its own voltage and current it’s con-

suming, and measure the current and volt-

age of each I/O point,” adds Norz . “This lets

users monitor their system, set trip points

and alerts, show loads on their PLCs, and en-

able predictive maintenance programs .”

For more information, visit

www .wago .com/us/discover-io-systems/field

Documents

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