Casting a crystal ball on the future of process instrumentation and process measurements

It is noted that the technologies, as well as the hardware and software components, for implementing process management, maintenance management and process control in real time are available now. It is argued that the evolution of the concept will be accelerated as soon as a standard (preferably an international standard) has been established for the Fieldbus because then the components for the various communication layers will become more generally available and much less expensive. The frequency response of the majority of transmitters presently available and certified for use in the process industries is inadequate for full exploitation of the concept. It is suggested that entrepreneurial vendors of process instrumentation and control systems should collaborate with forward-looking end users and researchers to develop a wide range of transducers based on resonant elements as well as local processors, compatible with the Fieldbus systems, to assess the status of measurement systems, control elements, and process plants through analysis of the high-frequency components of the measurement signals.<>