Web services for remote maintenance of fieldbus based automation systems

The use of Web-based concepts in industrial automation is increasingly spreading. The paper shows motivation, concepts, prerequisites and implementation details for Web integration. The role of XML-based descriptions for mapping of fieldbus data and functions to Web technologies is described. Special attention is paid to XML-based Web services. These services are mainly used for maintenance and remote control tasks in automation systems with fieldbuses. Finally, security aspects are discussed.