October 8, 2008 -- The Fieldbus Foundation today announced that it has registered the first FOUNDATION fieldbus H1 cable. The new cable registration process provides greater assurance to automation end users that their wiring systems are suitable for fieldbus system operation.
Belden, Northwire, Phoenix Contact and Rockbestos-Surprenant Cable Corporation (RSCC) are the first cable suppliers to pass the Fieldbus Foundation registration process.
In November 2007, the Fieldbus Foundation released its H1 Cable Test Specification (Document FF-844) for use by manufacturers developing cables for FOUNDATION fieldbus H1 (31.25 kbit/s) installations. The specification test cases, based upon the IEC 61158-2:2003 standard for Type A cable, include (but are not limited to) impedance, capacitive unbalance, connector pin-outs, and attenuation. Cable manufacturers submit their test reports to the foundation, which provides official cable registration.
Fieldbus Foundation manager-fieldbus products, Stephen Mitschke, said, "With the initiation of H1 cable registration, the Fieldbus Foundation is helping to ensure robust and reliable fieldbus physical layer performance.
Registration signifies that a cable is suitable for any H1 fieldbus application, including high temperature and corrosive environments. End users can now have even greater confidence in FOUNDATION fieldbus systems thanks to our rigorous suite of cable test cases."
Belden's product line manager, Frank Koditek, welcomed the new registration process. "Belden views cable registration as an important move by the Fieldbus Foundation to bring structure to physical layer requirements supporting FOUNDATION fieldbus networks with verified products," said Koditek. "Cable registration provides customers with the assurance that cables supplied by registered suppliers will deliver full network performance."
Ted Beach, director of sales, Northwire, Inc., said, "FOUNDATION fieldbus is the most widely used network protocol in process automation today.
Registration assures that the cable is electrically precise and meets FOUNDATION fieldbus Type A cable physical property requirements. Thanks to this process, Northwire customers can be certain they will quickly get high-quality, durable FOUNDATION fieldbus cable for their industrial networking needs."
According to Kristy Yi, Phoenix Contact's product manager, Americas, device connection technology, H1 cable registration ensures open connectivity and reliable product performance among many suppliers in the industry. She said, "The latest H1 cable test specification provides additional functionality in accordance with IEC 61158-2:2003, which includes cable rating and additional test criteria as well as cable performance characteristics such as impedance, attenuation and cable construction."
Carol A. Grosso, business unit manager - petrochemical products for RSCC commented, "Fieldbus Foundation cable registration will provide end users with a higher level of confidence in the performance of fieldbus cable products. RSCC's association with the Fieldbus Foundation will also allow us to reach a more diverse base of customers interested in our cables."
A complete list of registered FOUNDATION fieldbus H1 cable is available on the Fieldbus Foundation's website.
About the Fieldbus Foundation
The Fieldbus Foundation is a global not-for-profit corporation consisting of leading process end users and automation companies. Within the Fieldbus Foundation, end users, manufacturers, universities and research organizations work together to develop an automation infrastructure that provides process integrity, business intelligence and open scalable integration in a managed environment.
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