Focus on Drives: Choosing the right fieldbus

How do you find the ideal fieldbus for your needs? There is no single fieldbus that can fulfill all requirements for every application. There can be considerable differences in communication requirements for different applications, therefore the fieldbus must be selected according to certain requirements.

Most users want to select a simple communication method that fulfils the requirements of their application. The selected standard is supposed to have appropriate devices and tools for the application. Apart from ensuring that the chosen device can accept multi-vendor products, users should consider the following:

Topology

Access to the fieldbus

Physical features

Protocol

Access rights in multi-master systems

Noise immunity

Transmission speed.

Consideration also needs to be given to the technical, communications and system safety requirements. For a complete list, visit the Online Features section of www.mro-esource.com and click on “Choosing the right fieldbus.”