The invention relates to a sensor box (10) for process-engineering and/or mechanical-engineering systems with a control unit and a plurality of interfaces (11) connected to the control unit, wherein the plurality of interfaces (11) can be connected or are connected to a corresponding number of cables or transmitting and receiving devices in order to establish a communicative connection to corresponding sensors (13) connected to different functional points of a process-engineering and/or mechanical-engineering system (12), and the control unit is configured to request corresponding measurements from the plurality of sensors (13) via the plurality of interfaces (11).

A signal transmission system with at least one signal encoder, a line, and a control and evaluation unit, wherein the signal encoder has an electronic unit and a power source, wherein the signal encoder feeds an imprinted current in the range between a preset first value and a preset second value into the line, in particular between 4 and 20 mA. The control and evaluation unit has a load and a microprocessor, and captures and evaluates a voltage that decreases via the load or a current that flows through the load. Additional information regarding the status of the components, can thus be captured and forwarded in a simple way, in that the load in the control and evaluation unit is connected in series to at least one electrical component at which a direct current appears when a current flows through the electrical component.

A signal transmission system with at least one signal encoder, a line, and a control and evaluation unit, wherein the signal encoder has an electronic unit and a power source, wherein the signal encoder feeds an imprinted current in the range between a preset first value and a preset second value into the line, in particular between 4 and 20 mA. The control and evaluation unit has a load and a microprocessor, and captures and evaluates a voltage that decreases via the load or a current that flows through the load. Additional information regarding the status of the components, can thus be captured and forwarded in a simple way, in that the load in the control and evaluation unit is connected in series to at least one electrical component at which a direct current appears when a current flows through the electrical component.

A Sensor network system (10) with a plurality of sensor devices (12_1 12_5), each comprising: a detection unit (16, 18) for detecting a physical quantity and for providing a corresponding measurement signal, a computing unit (20) for processing the measurement signal and for providing measurement data (M_1-M_5) which is based on the measurement signal, and a data interface (22) via which output data (A_1-A_5) can be read out, is known.

In order to provide an efficient sensor network system (10), according to the present invention, a central evaluation unit (24) is provided, which is configured to: determine individual output data (A_1-A_5) for the at least two sensor devices (12_1-12_5) based on the measurement data (M_1-M_5) of at least two of the sensor devices (12) via a central evaluation algorithm, and provide the determined output data (A_1-A_5) to the respective sensor device (12_1-12_5).

Exemplary methods and systems are directed to transmitting a process map of a control or automation system via a gateway device. The gateway device includes at least one first functional unit connected to a higher-ranking control unit via a first communications link based on a primary field bus protocol, and at least one second functional unit connected to at least one field device via a second communications link based on a secondary field bus protocol. Binary signals are stored in corresponding registers and analog signals, which are in an integer format, are transmitted to the first functional unit such that the number of binary signals is reduced by packing the binary signals into data bytes. The data bytes are translated into corresponding telegrams that can be processed by the primary field bus protocol and with the analog signals are transmitted to the higher-ranking control unit.