A HART modem includes: a HART/Host communication conversion unit, which relays communication between a HART device and a HART host device; a communication waveform detection unit configured to generate data sampled from HART communication signals transmitted and received to and from the HART device; and a communication interface unit configured to transmit the data generated by the communication waveform detection unit to the HART host device.

A method for activating or deactivating at least one hardware- and/or software functionality of an automation component having an input unit and an output unit includes: generating an identification information of the automation component; providing the identification information as a first machine interpretable code on the output unit; registering the provided first code using a service device via a reaction free, unidirectional data channel; transmitting the identification information from the service device to a server; generating a first license information using the server; transmitting the first license information as an alphanumeric data sequence of predetermined character length from the server to the service device; inputting the output first license information into the automation component using the input unit; checking the plausibility of the first license information using the automation component; activating or deactivating the hardware- and/or software functionality upon successful checking of the plausibility of the first license information.

A Multi-Purpose Dynamic Simulation and run-time Control platform includes a virtual process environment coupled to a physical process environment, where components/nodes of the virtual and physical process environments cooperate to dynamically perform run-time process control of an industrial process plant and/or simulations thereof. Virtual components may include virtual run-time nodes and/or simulated nodes. The MPDSC includes an I/O Switch which delivers I/O data between virtual and/or physical nodes, e.g., by using publish/subscribe mechanisms, thereby virtualizing physical I/O process data delivery. Nodes serviced by the I/O Switch may include respective component behavior modules that are unaware as to whether or not they are being utilized on a virtual or physical node. Simulations may be performed in real-time and even in conjunction with run-time operations of the plant, and/or simulations may be manipulated as desired (speed, values, administration, etc.). The platform simultaneously supports simulation and run-time operations and interactions/intersections therebetween.

An operator control unit for a field device used in automation technology includes a first operating system that includes an application program executable on the first operating system, and an emulation algorithm designed to execute, on the application program, application software executed on a second operating system. The application software has at least one communication protocol for coding/decoding telegrams transmitted to/from the field device and is designed to operate the field device, in particular to read, display and modify parameters of the field device, and/or to read and display measured values of the field device.

Disclosed is a field device electronics for a field device of automation engineering, comprising: first and second terminals for connecting the field device electronics to a cable for an electrical input current to the field device electronics; a series regulator to set the input current; a shunt regulator following the series regulator; a first capacitance connected in parallel with the shunt regulator for energy storage; a supply circuit connected in parallel with the shunt regulator and the first capacitance for providing an operating voltage; and connected after the supply circuit and supplied by the operating voltage, a control unit adapted to register a buffer voltage lying across the first capacitance, based on the registered buffer voltage, to make a decision concerning at least one part of the field device electronics.

A further field device is configured to interact with a field device having a storage device storing a configuration of at least the further field device. The field device is configured to output the configuration to the further field device and/or to receive the configuration from the further field device. The further field device is furthermore configured to receive and/or to store the configuration from the field device, in order to match the configuration received from the field device to its technical design.

A measurement data validation system for validating measurement data of a field device is provided. The measurement data validation system includes a field device, a position detection device and/or a measurement station detection device, and a server. The field device acquires measurement data of a measurement station and transmits the acquired measurement data to the server. The position detection device detects a position of the measurement station and transmits the detected position to the server. The measurement station detection device can detect a measurement station parameter and transmit the parameter to the server. The server receives the sensed measurement data, the position of the measurement station or the measurement station parameter and verifies and/or validates the measurement data and/or instructs the field device to sense measurement data of the measurement station.

An industrial process field device includes an active component, a switch, a switch monitor, and a controller. The active component may be a sensor configured to sense a process parameter, or a control device configured to control a process of the industrial process. The switch is electrically coupled to first and second terminals. The switch monitor is configured to detect an open or closed state of the switch, and generate a first state output, a second state output, or a chattering state output. An anti-chatter circuit outputs a chatter stabilized state output based on the chattering state output. The controller is configured to set the switch in the open or closed state, and generate a notification based on any one of the first and second state outputs and the chatter stabilized state output that indicates at least one of the current state and a condition of the switch.

A method and apparatus for managing a field device on a network can involve detecting, at a processing device, a connection of the field device in an industrial process control and automation system, receiving data, from the field device, including payload information related to the field device in the industrial process control and automation system, determining, at the processing device, whether the field device uses a specific protocol based on the data, and responsive to determining that the field device uses the specific protocol, generating, at the processing device, a soft modem instance. The method and apparatus can also involve termination of soft modem instance if the field device becomes disconnected. The method and apparatus can also involve demodulating and extracting, using the soft modem instance, the payload information from the data.

A method for monitoring a primary variable is carried out in a device having access to a set of sensors. The method includes the steps of receiving, from a network service, a series of forecasted values for the primary variable, each forecasted value being associated with one of a series of future time points; for at least one of the future time points, predicting a value for the primary variable using data of at least one secondary variable captured by a subset of the set of sensors, comparing the predicted value to the forecasted value associated with the future time point, and switching to a different subset of the set of sensors, if the predicted value deviates from the forecasted value with more than a specified threshold value.