ARCwire -- The Fieldbus Foundation has announced the release of its Host Test Kit DD Application Test Module. This test kit, driven by the foundation's End User Advisory Council (EUAC), includes hardware and software for testing the functionality of a fieldbus host and its conformance with the foundation's HIST profile specification.
Thanks to the Host Test Kit DD Application Test Module, end users will benefit from significantly improved host-to-device integration. Foundation Fieldbus host suppliers will benefit from standardized test requirements and test cases for all hosts within a profile tested to the same requirements; standardized DD and CF files, ensuring hosts can parse files; and standardized test devices for all basic I/O function blocks and specialized test transducer blocks.
The Host Test Kit DD Application Test Module is designed to validate host applications implementing DD Services 4.2 or greater. This includes DD Services 5.0 constructs, such as charts, graphs, images, and waveforms for visualization; files for persistent storage of functional parameter data; and grids for vector data visualization and manipulation.
The Host Test Kit, developed in cooperation with the Fieldbus Foundation's EUAC and System Integration and Maintenance team, was driven by end users to bring about consistent interoperability between hosts and devices regardless of the host supplier. Specifications now include profiles for functionally different hosts and the appropriate features that apply to each profile.
Under the new host registration program, hosts successfully completing the test requirements will be authorized to bear the official Foundation fieldbus product registration symbol. The Fieldbus Foundation will continue to offer the current host interoperability support test through the end of 2008. At that time, the existing HIST test will be superseded by the foundation's new host registration program.