The invention relates to a circuit arrangement for establishing compatibility between a field device or an interface device for a field device and a diagnostic system pertaining to a control system, to the output of which the interface device or field device can be connected. The diagnostic system is adapted to send, via the output of the control system, a test signal to the interface device or field device and to emit an error signal when an electrical response at the output of the control system lies outside an expectancy range. The circuit arrangement comprises voltage influencing means for influencing a voltage at the output of the control system. The circuit arrangement is characterized in that the voltage influencing means comprises a controllable power source with which power source a current can be produced for influencing a voltage at the output of the control system, that electronic analyzing and controlling means are present to identify a test signal at the output of the control system, that the analyzing and controlling means are adapted, on identification of a test signal, to instruct the controllable power source to adjust a target voltage at the output of the control system, which target voltage is to be within the expectancy range. Additionally, the invention relates to a corresponding method for establishing compatibility.

Methods for data monitoring with changeable routing of input channels are disclosed. An example method includes a data collector communicatively coupled to a plurality of input channels and a data acquisition circuit to interpret the detection values, each corresponding to an input channel. Sensor data is acquired from a first route of input channels and stored together with specifications for the sensors that correspond to the input channels. The sensor data is evaluated with respect to an alarm threshold level and an alarm state set when the alarm threshold level is exceeded. A response circuit changes a routing of the input channels for data collection from a first routing to an alternate routing of input channels, wherein the alternate routing of input channels comprise the first input channel and a group of input channels related to the first input channel.

A method and an access unit for accessing an industrial communication network are provided. An access unit has first ports connected to the communication network and at least one second port. The access unit is configured to pass data traffic between nodes of the communication network through the access unit in a first operational state of the access unit. The access unit is configured to pass data traffic to a test node via the at least one second port and/or allow test data to be injected into the communication network via the at least one second port in a second operational state of the access unit.

A device maintenance apparatus, includes: a communication control part configured to control a communication with a device; a device information acquisition part configured to acquire device information of the device via the communication; a storage configured to store maintenance process information, the maintenance process information including device specifying information for specifying a maintenance target device and process specifying information for specifying details of a maintenance process; and an information processing part configured to compare the acquired device information to the stored maintenance process information, and to execute a maintenance process on the device based on the result of the comparison.

Provided is a highly convenient communication device capable of detecting a communication error caused by an abnormality of a state of communication. A communication device capable of mutually communicating with an electrical device includes: a superimposed signal receiving unit that periodically receives a data signal related to the electrical device as a signal superimposed on an operation signal; a period determination unit that determines whether or not a communication error of the data signal detected by the superimposed signal receiving unit is able to be regarded as having occurred in a transition period of a value of the operation signal; and a state determination unit that determines a state of communication with the electrical device in accordance with the determination by the period determination unit.

A device for securely operating a field device includes: the field device, which includes at least one human-machine interface having a display device and a keyboard for operating the field device, and a communications interface for connecting a local operating device having a secure connection to a trusted server via a communications network, the secure connection being based upon an authentication feature of a local operator. The field device during use as intended does not have a secure connection to a network for process control. The field device provides and stores a query key. The field device is connected, at least logically, to the local operating device. The trusted server has a private key for providing a signed response key. The signed response key is based upon the query key.

The present invention discloses a verification device for verifying a field device. The verification device comprises a repository and verification module. The repository comprises a plurality of verification definition data sets, each verification definition data set associated with a type of field device and comprises one or more sets of threshold values of one or more corresponding operational parameters for the corresponding type of field device. The verification module obtains a corresponding verification definition data set associated with the field device under verification; measures values of the operational parameters of the field device under verification in accordance with the corresponding verification definition data set and compares the measured values of the operational parameters with corresponding threshold values of the operational parameters from a set of threshold values of the operational parameters from the corresponding verification definition data set.

A field device (10) includes a sensor (11) that measures a physical quantity and outputs a measurement signal indicating a measured value, converters (12, 15, 16) that perform a predetermined conversion process on the measurement signal, and a processor (17) that outputs an output signal corresponding to the measurement signal subjected to the conversion process. The processor (17) starts verifying operational soundness of the converters (12, 15, 16) when the measurement signal subjected to the conversion process satisfies a predetermined condition, and outputs, while the operational soundness of the converters (12, 15, 16) is being verified, a signal corresponding to the measurement signal subjected to the conversion process and acquired immediately before the operational soundness of the converters (12, 15, 16) is verified, or a signal corresponding to the measurement signal indicating a predetermined measured value of the sensor (11), as the output signal.

Monitoring systems and methods for data collection in an industrial environment are described. A system can include a first and second data collector coupled to input channels and a data acquisition circuit to interpret detection values corresponding to the input channels, wherein the sensor data is acquired from a first route of input channels. A data storage may store sensor specifications for sensors corresponding to the input channels and a data analysis circuit may evaluate the sensor data with respect to stored anticipated state information including an alarm threshold level. When the threshold is exceeded, a communication circuit communicates with a second data collector which transmits a state message related to a first input channel. A response circuit changes a routing of the input channels from a first routing to an alternate routing based on the state message from the second data collector.

The present disclosure describes methods for data collection in an industrial environment having self-organization functionality. A method can include analyzing a plurality of sensor inputs, sampling data received from the plurality of sensor inputs, and self-organizing at least one of (i) a storage operation of the data, (ii) a collection operation of sensors that provide the plurality of sensor inputs, and (iii) a selection operation of the plurality of sensor inputs. The selection operation may include receiving a signal relating to at least one condition of the industrial environment, and, based on the signal, changing at least one of the plurality of sensor inputs analyzed and a frequency of sampling.