ISA100 WCI recruits NIST to validate draft standard
-- Test & Measurement World, 11/17/2008 10:00:00 AM
As part of its ongoing effort to ensure the usefulness of the ISA100.11a industrial wireless standard, the ISA100 WCI (Wireless Compliance Institute) is collaborating with NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) on a validation study to independently perform simulations of network performance characteristics using data from early adopters of the standard. The aim of the study will be to analyze performance data and determine if the real world works as simulated.
The initiative provides a way of validating certain performance dimensions of the ISA100.11a standard itself during the early stages of adoption by the industrial automation controls community. In addition the study supports one of the key goals of the WCI: to provide field-tested feedback to the ISA100 Standards Committee for ensuring that the standard meets its intended objective with satisfactory performance characteristics.
The validation study expects to provide insights beneficial to suppliers who are launching new products based on the ISA100.11a technology and to operators who are investing in the deployment and management of this leading-edge technology. The general approach is to encourage early adopters to make performance data available to the study effort under appropriate confidentiality protections. The data will be analyzed to determine if the real world works as simulated. If it doesn’t, solutions will be sought for closing the gap and improving the standard.
Jay Werb, WCI’s Technical Director, commented, “WCI can test products and prove that they conform to the ISA100.11a industrial standard, but sooner rather than later, someone needs to prove that the standard actually works on a realistic scale.”
“We are currently planning a rigorous user-site beta test battery that is primarily aimed at validating the interoperability of ISA100.11a technologies in a heterogeneous vendor environment,” said Herman Story of Shell Global Solutions. “However, we still need the validation study to validate performance in a scaled-up real-world environment.”
Companies are encouraged to participate in the validation study. Interested parties should contact Andre Ristaino, ASCI Managing Director, for details at aristaino@isa.org or 919-990-9222.
ISA100 Wireless Complaince Institute, www.isa.org/isa100compliant.
