Provided is a control device comprising a communication management part, a computation part, and a result output part. The communication management part is for managing data communication using cyclic communication conforming to a prescribed communication cycle with respect to a field network. The computation part is for measuring a propagation delay time from received data corresponding to actual measurement data for a propagation delay having been transmitted to the field network, and detecting an operation state of the field network using the propagation delay time measurement result. The result output part is for outputting the result of the detection performed by the computation part.

A system is provided to conduct communication in a facility with equipment in hazardous and safe areas. The system includes at least one field device in a hazardous area of the facility; one or more controllers, located in a safe area of the facility, for managing the at least one field device; and a field barrier, between the safe and hazardous areas, to limit at least electrical energy, which is supplied to the at least one device, at or below an electrical energy threshold in the hazardous area. The system also includes a bus system to supply electrical energy across the field barrier to the at least one field device using electrical wiring and to enable communication between the at least one field device and the one or more controllers across the field barrier using one or more fiber optic cables.

An input/output system including: an input/output base unit which has a plurality of slots into which input/output modules are pluggable; an evaluation device; and at least one cover element which is arrangeable on one of the plurality of slots of the input/output base unit. The evaluation device detects a presence of the at least one cover element at a slot of the plurality of slots.

An electronics (100, 200) including an electrical isolation is provided. The electronics (100, 200) include a bidirectional isolation circuit (110, 210) separating a first portion (100a, 200a) from a second portion (100, 200b) and a bus transceiver switch (120b, 220b) disposed in the second portion (100b, 200b). The bus transceiver switch (120b, 220b) is communicatively coupled to the bidirectional isolation circuit (110, 210). The bus transceiver switch (120b, 220b) receives from the bidirectional isolation circuit (110, 210) a communication control signal provided by the first portion (100a, 200a).

A method for operating a fieldbus controller (2) having a plurality of I/O modules (4) is provided, the fieldbus controller (2) being coupled to a valve assembly (6) via the plurality of I/O modules (4). The method includes providing a user interface (8) for wirelessly operating the fieldbus controller (2), wherein providing the user interface (8) includes: providing a configuration interface (14) for configuring an operating mode of the plurality of I/O modules (4); providing a monitor interface (16) for reading status information from the plurality of I/O modules (4); and providing a control interface (18) for controlling a state of the plurality of I/O modules (4), the state of the plurality of I/O modules affecting a state of the valve assembly (6).

A fieldbus network is described, which has at least one device as well as a connecting apparatus, wherein the connecting apparatus is designed to transfer data from the fieldbus network into a cloud. Installed in at least one of the devices is a derived class, which is derived from a predetermined head class, wherein head attributes are established by the predetermined head class and additional device specific attributes are established by the derived class, wherein the at least one of the devices is designed based on the derived class to produce a data object for the data transfer to the cloud. The connecting apparatus is designed to receive the data object of the device, to convert at least a part of the data contained in the data object into a format of an interface of the cloud and to write the data into the cloud.

Provided is a control device comprising a communication management part, a computation part, and a result output part. The communication management part is for managing data communication using cyclic communication conforming to a prescribed communication cycle with respect to a field network. The computation part is for measuring a propagation delay time from received data corresponding to actual measurement data for a propagation delay having been transmitted to the field network, and detecting an operation state of the field network using the propagation delay time measurement result. The result output part is for outputting the result of the detection performed by the computation part.

A circuit for coupling a field bus and a local bus. A field bus controller is equipped to send and receive process data over the field bus. A local bus controller is equipped to send and receive the process data over the local bus. A data management unit is connected to the field bus controller and the local bus controller. The data management unit is equipped to transfer the process data between field bus controller and local bus controller. A memory area connected to the data management unit for copying and storing the process data. A processor connected to the data management unit and connected to the memory area. The processor is equipped to set up the data management unit to copy the process data into the memory area and the processor is equipped to read out the process data copied in the memory area.

A fieldbus coupler for coupling a local fieldbus network utilizing a first fieldbus protocol to a foreign field device or foreign fieldbus network through an interconnecting wired or wireless network transmission line that utilizes a second fieldbus protocol different from the first fieldbus protocol includes a first circuit configured to communicate over the local fieldbus network using the first fieldbus protocol, a second circuit configured to connect the fieldbus coupler with the interconnecting network transmission line and communicate over the interconnecting network transmission line using the second fieldbus protocol, and a third circuit configured to communicate with the first and second circuits and capable of transmitting data to and from the first and second circuits to enable communications between the local fieldbus network via the interconnecting network transmission line.

A computer-implemented method for providing a generic diagnosis model at a node of an automation network, wherein the automation network has multiple subordinate field bus segments, each having multiple field bus subscribers, connected to the node and the method comprises the following steps: provision of specific diagnosis information by the field bus subscribers of the respective field bus segment; combination of the specific diagnosis information provided by the field bus subscribers at the node; transfer of all combined diagnosis information to the generic diagnosis model, wherein the specific diagnosis information is additionally enriched with meta information, so that the generic diagnosis model can be used to access specific diagnosis information of the respective field bus subscriber.