FDT muscles in on factory automation

Published: 04 December, 2007

The FDT Group, which promotes an open interface for integrating field devices with control and asset management systems, is expanding its activities. The Group’s main focus has traditionally been on the process sector, but it has recently released Device Type Manager (DTM) specifications for factory automation devices connected to Profinet I/O and Modbus.

The Group is also developing specifications for other factory automation protocols, including CompoNet, AS-i, IO-Link and CANopen. It is also talking to organisations involved in Industrial Ethernet.

At the recent SPS/IPC/Drives show in Germany, the Group was demonstrating FDT integrated into PLC programming tools that were being used to configure Profibus, Interbus and IO-Link devices.

"These activities show the strong commitment of the FDT Group to its strategy of broadening the range of applications for FDT," says Manfred Brill, who chairs the FDT’s factory automation working group. "We are confident that the advantages already provided by FDT technology in process automation will increasingly be recognised by end-users in factory automation."

There are now more than 59 members in the FDT Group, including ABB, Fuji Electric, Moeller, Omron, Phoenix Contact, Rexroth, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Sick, and Vacon.