Profibus International says it is the first of the large fieldbus organisations to specify a device profile specifically tailored to the needs of laboratory devices
The profile LabDevices opens the door to seamless integration of labs into Profibus networks, into other automation worlds by means of OPC.
The profile was specified by a Profibus International (PI) working group consisting of manufacturers of lab devices and Lim systems, and thematically supported by large users as well as organizations, such as Spectaris and the Din standards committee.
Following an extensive review phase lasting until the fall of 2006, the profile will be available as an official standard for Profibus and subsequently also for Profinet.
Tightened regulations and quality expectations with simultaneous cost reductions require increased automation of work processes in industrial and research labs.
Standardisation areas such as data collection and data communication gains special importance.
Today, the field is still very heterogeneous.
Lim systems are used for the integrated recording and processing of data, but there are still no standards for global standardization of processes or data formats.
At the same time, labs and their workflows move ever closer to the actual production processes, with the goal of production monitoring and optimization as direct as possible.
This is one more reason why users have a growing interest in seamlessly integrating the data collected in the lab into the dataflow of the entire company, as is done today with production data, thanks to seamless fieldbus technology.
In other words, in the future, labs must be moved towards state-of-the-art automation technology such as fieldbuses, OPC and ethernet, and networked with company data systems.
PI is creating the environment for seamless communication through its 'LabDevices' profile.
