Fieldbus Foundation's open, integrated architecture for information integration

Fieldbus Foundation's open, integrated architecture for information integration consists of a field-level bus, a host-level network based on Ethernet, and at a higher level ties in with OPC for data server integration. These three technologies complement each other rather than compete. They have several mutually exclusive features making them suitable for different functions, together resulting in a complete solution. These three technologies operate at different levels of the control system architecture. The Fieldbus Foundation as early as in September 2001 announced its support for the OPC Data Exchange (DX) developed by the OPC Foundation as a means for server-to-server communications. The FMS (Fieldbus Messaging Specification) application layer protocol provides the services for H1 as well as on HSE. High Speed Ethernet (HSE) is the three-letter acronym for the FOUNDATIONTM protocol on industrial Ethernet used at the host-level of the control system hardware architecture. Essentially, HSE is the same protocol as used for FOUNDATIONTM Fieldbus H1 at the field-level. Note that HSE is not the old H2 as the scope of HSE is different. Similarly, the same function block diagram control strategy programming language and device description based on IEC 61804 standard are used in both H1 and HSE device.