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NAMUR e. V. c/o Bayer AG NAMUR-Geschäftsstelle

DÜPERTHAL Sicherheitstechnik GmbH & Co. KG

TURCK GmbH

EDL Anlagenbau Gesellschaft mbH

APL takes off

PROCESS has also been following the topic since the beginning: Why the change to APL is worthwhile now. APL is about to be introduced as a physical interface for field devices. Advantages are the transparency of Ethernet down to the field level and the high speed of data transmission. The first successful tests with users have already taken place.

Sven Seintsch, Manager with Bilfinger Engineering & Maintenance, reported on his experiences. Nevertheless, “The first impression is really positive.” In his opinion, the essential success factor of the future communication medium at the field level will be to consider the functionality, simplicity, and user-friendliness of the overall system in addition to the physical interface. The AK 2.6 has published the requirements necessary for this in various position papers and Namur recommendations and discussed them with manufacturers and organizations. These consider both preferred topologies, communication protocols, device integration, and the future requirements for applying APL devices in functional safety.

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“We now have a data highway. For the real-time protocols, we have chosen Profinet and Ethernet IP. These have proven themselves in the manufacturing industry and have safety protocols,” says Seintsch. The topic of device integration will also continue to accompany users. In his opinion, integration via web servers alone is merely a supporting option. For example, an offline configuration must still be possible during commissioning. And FDI is also essential for APL as device integration. It would also be helpful if the FDI Profile Device Packages were available in all control systems as a standard library. Here, Sven Seintsch provides initial suggestions on how device management can be more accessible.

And although there are still unanswered requests: “If Ethernet APL, FDI, and Profinet/Ethernet IP work together, the APL project will be successful,” is Seintsch's positive conclusion.

MTP in the fast lane

Almost ten years ago, the first requirements for modular automation were defined. Two years later, Wago presented the Dima concept, including the term MTP, after which Namur and ZVEI founded joint working groups. And these working groups have been busy over the past year. After the points of HMI and Alarm Management had been worked through, the focus was now on Maintenance, Safety Security, and Process Orchestration Layer. Many Namur recommendations were finalized or launched here, e.g., NOA Information Model NE176, NOA Security Zones and Security Gateway NE 177, NOA Verification of Request NE 178, and the NOA Aggregation Server in NE 179. The orchestration topic even got its own working group, “AK 2.12 — Process Orchestration”.

Although not everything has been worked out in detail yet, the first pilot projects with MTP can begin, certainly also in brownfield plants. However, according to Axel Haller of ZVEI, there must be an incentive for manufacturers to offer it: "We need inquiries from the process industry to get started with the topic."

The technology is now in place, but more work needs to be done to establish a new technology. “Standardization, internationalization, training, marketing, trade shows, a certification we wanted to put in hands that have more experience with it,” said Ulrich Christmann, Lanxess, enumerating the reasons why Profibus & Profinet International (PI) is hosting MTP with immediate effect. PI has been a specialist in open communication for 30 years and sees itself as a mediator between people and technologies — worldwide. This lays the foundations for rolling out MTP on a large scale.

Engineering process with consistent use of information models

“The topic of digitization is a hot topic for us, especially when it comes to engineering,” says Gerd Schöbel from Bayer. Engineering workflows are still mapped at the document level, i.e., work results are described by revision status in documents. The various trades and tools lead to a wealth of documents over the individual project phases. “In our core process alone, we have 500 types of documents, which is what makes it so difficult,” says Schöbel, describing the daily routine.

His wishful thinking: In a completely digital world, the focus should be on data available in integrated engineering tools or exchanged between engineering tools via standardized interfaces based on information models. In the future, interdisciplinary workflows should be mapped at the object level. In addition to reducing costs, the shortening of project runtimes is an important reason for advancing digital processes in the engineering process. An approach to defining workflow in the PCT engineering process based on information models is currently being developed. How to approach the topic was shown by specifying a temperature measurement.

The previous approach is to be further elaborated, and a form of documentation is to be defined. The exchange with other bodies for integrating other trades is also to be included. The goal is a documented workflow that can be used for internal process definition at engineering organizations and as a template for software manufacturers.

IT security requirements for remote access

Christopher Tebbe from Wago presented the current challenges related to IT security of remote access. “Everything is manageable when there is only one plant; when there are several, the whole thing becomes very confusing.” It starts with a different understanding of terms, continues with the heterogeneity of deployed remote access solutions, and ends with the constant change of technologies and concepts. All this costs a lot of energy and slows down the possibilities. The new NE 135 “Requirements for IT security of remote access” is intended to map the requirements for all relevant roles from the operator's perspective. “Standardization of remote access between operators also means relief for service providers,” Christian Haul from BASF, is convinced. The recommendation is supplemented with tips for implementation, such as during introduction, operation, and — once the work is done — dismantling the remote access solution.

This marked the end of the first day of the Namur 2021 Main Meeting.

On the second day, we went straight into the field of sensor technology.

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