M4E #38: What is a Fieldbus?
In past entries we talked about some important standards for industrial communications such as OPC-UA, but the core of industrial automation lies in a much older technology: fielbus. Today’s post may sound quite basic for those of you that are veterans in manufacturing but it never hurts to refresh old knowledge! The next video from RealPars gives a brief introduction to the concept.
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Other important fieldbus technologies not mentioned in the video are CAN, developed by Bosch in the 80s and quite used for in-vehicle communications. DeviceNet, was developed by Allen-Bradley as an open counterpart to CAN and can be found still today in many old automation installations. Outside from manufacturing it’s worth mentioning technologies such as KNX or BACNet, used in building automation (typically used for example to control HVAC systems, lights or other sensors inside a building).
You can imagine what happens when you try to mix several providers and technologies in your factory. This is one of the long term problems in industrial automation: the vendor lock-in caused by technologies that can’t be combined, forcing to have only one vendor in your factory. Open fieldbus standards gained more traction, such as Modbus.
The use of Ethernet standards is growing faster in industrial automation displacing the use of fieldbus, although each technology has its own advantages and specific applications.