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ISA starts new committee focusing on wireless technology

02/22/2005

A new ISA standards committee, ISA-SP100,  has been established to create standards, recommended practices, and/or technical reports to define procedures for implementing wireless systems in the automation and control environment at the field level. Committee Chair Wayne Manges of Oak Ridge National Laboratory expects their work to "assure the confidence in and integrity of wireless technology, and provide criteria for implementing it in manufacturing automation and control systems." Technology covered will include:

• Field sensors used for monitoring, control, alarm, and shutdown.
• Wireless technology whose uses include real time field-to-business systems.
• Fluid processing, material processing, and discrete parts manufacturing.

The committee will address various aspects of wireless manufacturing and control systems technology, including the environment in which it is deployed, the technology life cycle, and applications. According to Manges, the new standards will "assure successful system deployment, help identify and address any vulnerabilities, and improve overall system performance by eliminating failure modes."

ISA recognizes that in order to exploit emerging wireless opportunities to improve industrial systems, collaboration among vendors, R&D communities, and end users is essential. Therefore, Committee members include representatives from 3e Technologies International Inc., Adaptive Instruments Corp., Apprion Inc., BP America Inc., CMC Associates, Emerson Process Management, Endress+Hauser, Exxonmobil Research & Engineering, Honeywell, Invensys I/A, Medida Inc., Motorola Labs, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oceana Sensor, Omnex Control Systems Inc., OPTI Canada Inc., Shell, and Syncrude Canada Ltd. The cooperation of this diverse group will also assure that components are available to provide for successful deployment.

ISA is globally recognized as a standards writing organization, developing consensus standards for automation, security, safety, batch control, control valves, fieldbus, environmental conditions, measurement, and symbols. Accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), ISA has published more than 135 standards, recommended practices, and technical reports, through the dedicated efforts of a network of industry experts.

For further information about ISA-SP100, including the complete scope and purpose, as well as a list of committee members, visit www.isa.org/community/SP100. For information on other ISA standards committees, visit www.isa.org/standardscommittees.