Developing Simulation Models of Open Distributed Control System - Design Concepts Based on Foundation Fieldbus

Field communication capabilities has became one of the main elements of an enterprise information system. The information generated in field devices has been mainly used for control and maintenance management. Due to the characteristic feature of distributed data transfer, which enables single field devices to execute automation tasks, and not just to generate information, they are now not 'only' sensors or actuators, but contain additional control functions. Foundation fieldbus is a well-known bus technology in industrial communication systems. This article describes our design concepts for a digital field communication framework based on the specifications of the foundation fieldbus. The framework allows taking early conceptual decisions by evaluating the expected system performance based on the available models. Models for typical components involved in process control were developed that are suitable for simulation and modeling of complex processes. In order to analyze and assure the control performance of a distributed control system the simulation under different network loads is strongly needed