HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

Document Revision: 2.0

Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................4 2. REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................................4 3. HART COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL.......................................................................................................4 3.1 HART TECHNICAL OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................5 4. TELEPHONY.............................................................................................................................................7 5. REMOTE MONITORING AND DATA ACQUISITION....................................................................................7 6. A HART-BASED MONITORING SYSTEM...................................................................................................8 6.1 HOST S YSTEM..........................................................................................................................................8 6.2 MODEM S ELECTION .................................................................................................................................9 6.3 TELEPHONE NETWORK ............................................................................................................................9 6.3.1 Multiple Remote Locations..............................................................................................................10 6.4 REMOTE M ONITORING S ITES .................................................................................................................10

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HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

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1. Introduction
Remote data acquisition and monitoring plays an increasing role in business due to both competitive and regulatory demands. Traditionally, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems have carried the burden for the remote collection and communication of data back to centralized monitoring facilities. The remote collection of data was necessitated by the nature of the process measurements being made. At the time the field measurement and control devices were relatively simple analog devices. The electronics in the field devices basically conditioned and linearized the sensor signal. As a result, the remote terminal unit (RTU) was responsible for analog to digital and digital to analog conversion, simple control activities and telemetry to and from the central monitoring facilities. Today's field devices have been revolutionized by the microprocessor. Most field devices developed today include an onboard microprocessor that performs the measurement and signal conditioning tasks. There are many reasons for the advent of "smart" field devices including lower manufacturing costs and, for most applications, higher quality data. Since smart instruments have become accepted and wide spread in industry, innovative architectures and solutions enabled by smart field device technology are beginning to appear. This paper discusses an architecture utilizing the HART Communication Protocol to implement remote monitoring and data acquisition.

2. References
For additional information concerning this subject refer to the following HART Communication Foundation document: HCF_SPEC-11 HART - SMART Communicaitons Protocol, Protocol Specifications

3. HART Communication Protocol

The HART Communication Protocol is widely accepted in the industry and has become the de-facto standard for smart field devices. HART-based field devices use the same wiring for simultaneous analog 4-20mA and digital communications. The protocol also supports multidrop networking of several field devices on a single twisted-wire pair. HART was developed by Rosemount in 1986 for their smart transmitters. After continued development and expansion to support other devices it was made an open protocol in late 1989 followed by the formation of the HART Users Group in 1990. The HART Users Group grew from 18 companies in 1990 to 79 in 1993. In 1993 the HART Communication Foundation (HCF) was formed and FisherRosemount transferred ownership of the HART Protocol to the HCF. The HART Communication Foundation is an independent, non-profit corporation, organized to serve growing industry interest in the HART Protocol and the needs of HART users. Its sole mission is to coordinate, promote, and support the application of HART Technology worldwide. Operating costs are offset by membership and training/support service fees. Membership is open to all suppliers, end users, and others interested in use of the HART Protocol.

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HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

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A wide range of products from an increasing number of suppliers are currently available, and many more are in development. HART technology provides many of the same "advanced capabilities" and benefits today, that fieldbus technologies promise for the future, while maintaining the compatibility and familiarity of existing 4-20mA systems. The enhanced communication capability of HART-based field devices can significantly improve plant information management, provide solutions to today's business challenges, and yield substantial cost savings. 3.1 HART Technical Overview HART is an acronym for "Highway Addressable Remote Transducer". Unlike Fieldbus technologies which are all digital, the HART protocol leverages traditional analog signaling technology to permit 2-way digital communication simultaneously with transmission of the analog signal. The HART protocol was designed specifically to enhance communication with smart field instruments and maintain compatibility with existing 4-20mA systems. The HART protocol enables a primary variable to be transmitted by the 4-20mA analog signal and information pertaining to other variables, parameters, device configuration, calibration, or device status to be communicated digitally at the same time. The HART Protocol uses the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model as a guide. HART implements a subset of the OSI model--layers 1,2 and 7 (see Figure 1). The HART Application Layer (OSI Layer 7) consists of three classes of commands or messages: Universal Commands that are required to be implemented by all HART devices; Common Practice Commands generally applicable to a wide cross section of field devices; and Device Specific Commands unique to the individual field device.
LAYER 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Application Presentation Session Transport Network Link Physical FUNCTION HART

provides formatted data HART Commands converts data handles the dialogue secures the transport connection establishes network connections establishes the data link connection HART protocol Message Structure

connects the Bell 202 equipment Figure 1 HART and the OSI Model.

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HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

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The Data Link Layer (OSI Layer 2) is responsible for the reliable transmission of data packets across the HART network. HART is a Master/Slave, Character-Oriented Protocol. The HART Data Link Layer consists of: Asynchronous 8-bit data bytes; The data bytes are organized into frames; Transactions consisting of a Master command and Slave response frame pair; Bus timing and arbitration rules governing access to the network. Error checking consists of:
+0.5mA Analog Signal -0.5mA 2200 Hz 1200 Hz 0 1 Figure 2 HART Signaling Characteristics Parity on each character (vertical parity); and

--

A check byte at the end of the frame (longitudinal parity).

Addressing: --Short Frames with 4-bit addresses (polling addresses); Long Frames with 38-bit addresses.

The Physical Layer (layer 1) of the HART protocol uses the Bell 202 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) standard to communicate digital information at 1200 bits/second by superimposing the FSK signals at a low level on top of the 4-20mA analog signal. This enables additional information beyond just the normal process variable (PV) to be communicated to/from a field instrument using standard HART commands. Since the FSK signal has an average value of zero, the value of the analog signal being transmitted is not impacted. Furthermore, by utilizing a modulated signal HART uses has a narrow frequency bandwidth. It is the choice of Bell 202 signaling characteristics for use in the HART Physical layer that will be leveraged in this remote monitoring and data acquisition architecture.

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HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

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4. Telephony
Telephone networks are designed to carry the human voice have a limited bandwidth. The telephone voice circuits and lines operate from 300Hz to 30000Hz as shown in Figure 3. As can be seen the HART digital signals fall within in the telephone voice band. As a result, HART digital signals can be transmitted via any voice grade circuits.
1200Hz 2200Hz

HART FSK Tones

Telephone Frequency Band

300Hz Frequency

3000Hz

Figure 3 Telephone Frequency Band This is very different from Fieldbus and many network protocols. These protocols use higher frequency square wave signals. Square waves have many frequency components starting from the square wave frequency and upwards. In most cases, the frequency components are much higher than 3000Hz and cannot be directly transmitted via voice circuits at all.

5. Remote Monitoring and Data Acquisition

Remote monitoring and data acquisition requirements vary greatly. Typical considerations include: The volume of data to be collected; The rate at which the data must be updated; The distance / geographic area to be covered; Control actions that must be accommodated;

These attributes, in turn, dictate choices of communication medium, system architecture and processing and storage capacities. As a results, there are a large number of SCADA solutions available to fit the different applications each with its own combinations of these attributes. However there are a substantial number of monitoring applications that require relatively slow updates but cover a wide geographic area. One such example is gas pipelines. In these kinds of systems HART can play a key role implementing the monitoring solution.

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HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

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6. A HART-based Monitoring System.

Figure 4 shows a simplified diagram of a monitoring system utilizing the HART Protocol. The system consists of: A host system; A modem connection to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); The PSTN network supplying a Bell 3002 leased line service; and The remote monitoring site.

Racal-Vadic UDS Multi-Tech Codex

Leased Line Modem

Four Wire 3002 Leased Line

Loop Power Supply Data Station Termination

2-Wire to 4-Wire Converte r Tellabs 4416E 24V - +

Telephone Company Network

5 mfd

600 OHM

Figure 4 Simplified Monitoring System Diagram 6.1 Host System The host system monitors, records and displays data from the network. This system acts as a HART Host issuing HART Commands and processing data contained in the field device responses. This HART host is typically a MS-DOS PC although the HART host could be simply a gateway in a larger Monitoring system. For example, there are HART multiplexors that can reside on Modbus and other data highway. Furthermore, there are MS-Windows Dynamic Link Libraries available the can allow access to HART from many popular software packages. 6.2 Modem Selection

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HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

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The selection of a modem to interface to the PSTN is an important aspect of the system. When evaluating Bell 202 compatible modems the operation of the carrier detect is critical. The turn around delay of the carrier detect circuit must be less than 30 milliseconds. The following modems should be considered: Racal-Vadic "VA1251"; and Universal Data Systems "UDS202T";

(This is not an exhaustive list of Bell 202 modems.)

6.3 Telephone Network Telecommunications play an important role in any remote monitoring scheme. Whether via radio, satellite, or a land-lines the communication link is a vital path for the telemetry. In many cases a land-line provided by the telephone company is the communication medium of choice. As discussed above, the HART digital communications is a modulated signal that falls directly in the frequency band used by telephone voice circuits and, being based on the Bell 202 standard, HART signals can be easily transmitted over Bell 3002 leased lines in the United States. Using Bell 3002 leased lines has the advantage the telephone company is responsible for signal amplification and quality. This ensures reliable transmission of HART digital communication signals over long distances. Essentially the telephone network can be thought of as a cloud. The circuit enters the PSTN at one location is routed by the telephone company through its networks and then the circuit reappears at the other location. How the circuit is routed/provided is not obvious nor should that be of any particular concern. The other aspect of HART that enables this architecture is the Master/Slave organization of transactions. A HART master has very specific rules it must follow to access/share a HART network. This allows the slave implementations to be relatively simple. A Typical HART transaction occurs as follows: At the appropriate time a HART master issues a Command; The HART slave, monitoring the network, sees its 38 bit address and responds; and The HART master relinquishes the network in order to provide another master access.

Since HART uses a long frame 38 bit address, each slave field device is assured of having a unique address on the network. This eliminates the chance for collisions "crashing" the network. Thus this master/slave aspect of HART allows field devices to be multidropped on the network without the need for additional wiring or communication devices. 6.3.1 Multiple Remote Locations

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HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

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Figure 5 builds on the simplified network diagrammed in Figure 4 to show multiple sites supported with one Host connection and one leased line circuit. Telephone companies have the capability to allow the connection to the leased line at many widely separated geographic locations. Another benefit of the building on a standard, like Bell 202, is that a wider infrastructure exists that offers other useful capabilities. Telephone companies can provide "bridges". These bridges, which exist at the telephone company, allow multiple "drops" off the leased line. As a result, the number of remote locations and the number of HART devices is limited by the update rate desired. For example, a network of 20 HART devices could be updated about 6 times per minute.

Telephone Company Network

Bridges

(Possibly Hundreds of
Miles Apart)

Multitple Sites

Figure 5 Supporting Multiple Remote Sites. 6.4 Remote Monitoring Sites Like the rest of the monitoring network, each remote monitoring site is relatively simple. Figure 6 shows a block diagram of a remote monitoring site. Each site consists of: A station coupler; Power supply; Sense resistor; and One or more HART field devices.

Since HART field devices are used there is no need for extra electronics (like modems) at the remote monitoring sites. Digital communication occurs directly with the HART field devices.

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The station coupler is supplied by the telephone company. This is, basically, a 1 to 1 isolating transformer for the connection to the PSTN. This is required to isolate the monitoring site from the telephone line. In some cases, the telephone company may be require a Data Station Termination (DST) module (e.g., Tellabs 4416e). The DST is used to fine tune signal amplitudes and ensure that the signal signals placed on the telephone line are balanced.
Line Power 5F 600 Transient Suppressor 24VDC - + Station Coupler

Bell 3002 Leased Line

Figure 6 Remote Monitoring Station HART field devices transmit a current signal (0.5mA). The sense resistor is used to convert the current to the voltage needed by a host or, in this case, the leased line. The 5F capacitor is used to block the DC signal from the station coupler.

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HART Communication Foundation Document Number: HCF_LIT-24 Document Title: Remote Monitoring Using the HART Protocol

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24VDC is used to power the HART field devices and the DST module (if it is required). Selection of the power supply is straight forward as well. When HART field devices are placed in multidrop mode current consumption of the field device is fixed at some minimum. For most devices this is 4mA. As a result, in many cases, a substantially smaller power supply can be used. Since the monitoring stations will usually be at a remote site and thus exposed, a good transient suppression scheme should be employed. A single transient suppresser that filters both the power line and the telephone line is best. 6.4.1.1 Mechanical Layout

In applications like gas pipeline monitoring the installation may need to take into account explosion proof or other codes. This can be easily accommodated as shown in Figure 7. In these situations the components not approved for en explosion proof environment (e.g., power supply, station coupler, sense resistor) would be mounted in one enclosure. The HART field devices would be mounted in the other enclosure. The distance between the two enclosures (L) would be selected based on applicable codes. The only connection between the two enclosures will be the single twisted pair required for the HART field device power and communications. Figure 7 Mechanical Layout

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