Yokogawa receives Frost & Sullivan 2014 Global Enabling Technology Leadership Award in wireless solutions category

Yokogawa Electric Corporation has received the Frost & Sullivan 2014 Global Enabling Technology Leadership Award in the wireless solutions category. The Enabling Technology Leadership Award is presented to companies around the world that are best-in-class in a specific category. 

Field wireless systems enable a plant’s field devices and host-level monitoring and control systems to communicate wirelessly with each other. This has numerous advantages such as allowing the placement of field instruments or analytical sensors in difficult-to-wire locations, which eliminates the need for cables to connect devices and reduces installation costs.

Yokogawa released the world’s first ISA100.11a compliant wireless system devices and wireless pressure and temperature transmitters in July 2010, and the company continues to enhance its lineup of wireless solutions. In accordance with the “Wireless Anywhere” concept, which was announced in April 2013, Yokogawa is seeking to promote the plant-wide use of field wireless systems by developing new ISA100 Wireless™ devices. In December 2013, the company started providing a wireless communications module with a built-in antenna that can help field device manufacturers significantly shorten the time needed for developing wireless solutions. Later this year, the company also plans to release a multi-protocol wireless adaptor that will enable wired field instruments or analytical sensors to be used as ISA100 Wireless devices.

Frost & Sullivan selected Yokogawa for this award because of the company's efforts to develop ISA100 Wireless solutions that enable high-reliability, openness, and interoperability. In selecting the award recipient, Frost & Sullivan evaluated companies based on whether they enabled the creation of new products, enhanced current products, enabled new applications, had potential for market acceptance, and had a breadth of access to technology. Yokogawa was recognised for making a superior contribution in developing innovative field wireless solutions.

In line with the “Wireless Anywhere” concept, Yokogawa will continue to expand its lineup of ISA100 Wireless solutions and promote the use of field wireless technologies. The company is working on the application of wireless technologies that can be suitable for both monitoring and control purposes throughout plants.

Yokogawa develops multi-protocol wireless adaptor that enables wired field instruments to function as ISA100 WirelessTM devices

-  HART® and Modbus models to be released -

Yokogawa has developed a multi-protocol wireless adaptor that enables wired field instruments or analytical sensors to be used as ISA100 WirelessTM devices, and will release models in May and July that support communications based on the HART® and RS485 Modbus standards. To facilitate the introduction of field wireless systems in plants, Yokogawa plans to release additional models that will cover other standards.

Development background
Field wireless systems enable the field devices and the host-level monitoring, control, and other systems in a plant to communicate wirelessly with each other. They have numerous advantages such as allowing the placement of field instruments or analytical sensors in difficult-to-wire locations, eliminating the need for cables to connect devices, and costing less to install. In accordance with its “Wireless Anywhere” concept, Yokogawa is seeking to promote the plant-wide use of field wireless systems by developing ISA100 Wireless devices such as this multi-protocol wireless adaptor.

Product features
When the multi-protocol wireless adaptor is mounted on a wired field instrument or analytical sensor, the instrument or sensor is able to function as an ISA100 Wireless device. It may be used with any type of wired field instrument or analytical sensor commonly used in plants, including those used to monitor temperature, pressure, liquid level, or vibration, or to detect gas, and is compatible with both Yokogawa devices and devices from other vendors. By giving customers a greater range of field instruments and analytical sensors to choose from, Yokogawa expects that this multi-protocol wireless adaptor will greatly facilitate the introduction of field wireless systems.

The first two models are intended for wired HART and RS485 Modbus communications, both of which are widely used in plants. Yokogawa plans to release models that are compliant with other wired field communications standards such as FOUNDATIONTM fieldbus and PROFIBUS.

The battery in the multi-protocol wireless adaptor can also power the field instrument or analytical sensor, eliminating the need for wiring. As with other Yokogawa field wireless devices, the multi-protocol wireless adaptor uses a large-capacity lithium-ion battery, and this is able to power both the multi-protocol wireless adaptor and the field instrument or analytical sensor for a long time. An indicator on the host system shows the estimated remaining days of battery life.

An all-weather model type that is waterproof and dustproof and an explosion-protection type that can be used in the presence of inflammable gases are scheduled to be released.

Major target markets include industries such as oil & gas, LNG, refining, petrochemicals, chemicals, power, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, foods, and iron and steel.

Yokogawa will demonstrate this multi-protocol wireless adaptor at the ARC Industry Forum to be held from the 10th to 13th February in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Yokogawa’s approach to field wireless communications
Yokogawa released the world’s first ISA100 Wireless system devices and wireless pressure and temperature transmitters in July 2010. In addition to enabling sophisticated control techniques in continuous processes, this gave customers a wider range of devices to choose from. In July 2012, Yokogawa released a reliable, large-scale field wireless system for use in plants, and is now expanding the range of suitable monitoring and control applications for wireless technologies and devices.

In addition to being highly reliable, suited for a wide range of applications, and expandable, ISA100.11a is compatible with wired communications standards such as FOUNDATION fieldbus, HART, and PROFIBUS. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is currently considering the adoption of the IEC62734 standard, which is based on ISA100.11a.

In line with the “Wireless Anywhere” concept, Yokogawa will continue to expand its lineup of ISA100 Wireless solutions and promote the use of field wireless technologies.

ISA100 WirelessTM is a technology that is based on the ISA100.11a standard. It includes ISA100.11a-2011 communications, an application layer with process control industry standard objects, device descriptions and capabilities, a gateway interface, infrared provisioning, and a backbone router.

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Yokogawa obtains ISASecure® EDSA certification for ProSafe®-RS safety instrumented system

Yokogawa’s ProSafe®-RS safety instrumented system has obtained the ISASecure® Embedded Device Security Assurance (EDSA) certification. 

Cyber crime and cyber warfare are on the rise worldwide, and are growing ever more sophisticated. Recent prominent cases of industrial sabotage and espionage have escalated these concerns. Companies in the oil, petrochemical, power, and other industries are increasingly vigilant about such intrusions, and are being careful to check a product’s cyber security features before purchasing it. Yokogawa has obtained the ISASecure EDSA certification for the ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system to assure customers of its high reliability.

The ISASecure program has been developed by the ISA Security Compliance Institute (ISCI) with the goal of accelerating the industry-wide improvement of cyber security for industrial automation and control systems (IACS). It achieves this goal by offering a common industry-recognised set of device and process requirements that drive device security, simplifying procurement for asset owners and device assurance for equipment vendors. The ISASecure EDSA certification has three elements: communication robustness testing (CRT), functional security assessment (FSA), and software development security assessment (SDSA), and is based on the IEC 62443-4 standard.

Nobuaki Konishi, vice president of the Systems Business Division in Yokogawa’s Industrial Automation Platform Business Headquarters, comments: “Yokogawa is continually striving to provide its customers with optimum security solutions for their control systems by developing highly secure systems and instruments and providing operational support services. Yokogawa aims to strengthen its relationships with customers by demonstrating the reliability of its security solutions.

New MD to focus on business growth for UK and Ireland

Industrial automation and control systems specialist Yokogawa UK Ltd has appointed Simon Rogers as the company's new Managing Director. 

In his new role, Rogers will extend the company's focus on process control and safety systems success in the oil and gas sector through an enhanced Aberdeen presence.

Furthermore, Rogers will further develop business in the chemicals industry and continue the recent order growth in Yokogawa’s world class field instrumentation, whilst also providing the engineering and life cycle support services essential to our customers.

Rogers, who joined the team in October, graduated from The Imperial College of Science and Technology with a first class degree in Chemical Engineering.

Rogers started his career as a Chemical Engineer in 1986, with KBC Process Technology helping its customers optimise oil refineries using the business’s pioneering refinery simulation software.  He then worked for ABB and later Honeywell, managing the implementation of state of the art advanced process control and on-line optimisation solutions in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries globally.

“I am proud to have joined Yokogawa, a company with a global reputation for leading edge industrial automation technology and warm-hearted staff," Rogers said.

"I am excited by the challenge of building on Yokogawa’s success in a wide variety of industries including oil, gas, chemical, pharmaceutical and power and help maintain Yokogawa’s close relationships with engineering companies and original equipment manufacturers. I am also looking forward to helping maximise the contribution to the UK and Ireland of Yokogawa’s broad-ranging activities in the areas of measurement, control, and information," he concluded.

Rogers brings in depth experience from his previous roles as Director of Honeywell Hi-Spec Solutions and Chief Information Officer for KBC. He also has a wealth of knowledge in supply chain planning and optimisation solutions for the process industries.

Control and safety agenda for Offshore Europe

 ~ Yokogawa UK benchmark’s excellence in upstream functional safety ~

Control and safety will be on the agenda when Yokogawa UK exhibits at Offshore Europe 2013 on September 3-6, in Aberdeen’s Exhibition & Conference Centre. The focus of the company’s exhibit will be the evolving needs of platform safety systems and the advanced diagnostics, communication, and instrumentation configurations that go hand in hand with these changes.   

A key part of the stand will be Yokogawa’s ICSS (Integrated Control and Safety Systems) exhibit, which will feature an upstream demonstration, explaining best practice testing functions.

The stand will also include a field control station (FCS) and safety control station (SCS). This will allow the Yokogawa team to explain how the end user could manage the generation of, and recovery from, process alarms, monitor system shutdowns and manage the status of the platform, as well as taking advantage of a host of other functions. A ProSafe SLS 19” rack will demonstrate integration display through the HMI (Human Machine Interface) control layer.

There will also be a demonstration of Rigrider, a new product developed by Dalma Energy, Yokogawa, and Well Engineering Partners to promote safe rigging practices.

Rigrider encourages the user to be aware of all essential information and procedures at the time they are at work, using a watertight system to train, inform and guide rig personnel using smart phones, iPADs and other touch screen technology.

A demonstration of excellence in information management will be provided by Yokogawa’s Exaquantum product, which is an advanced Plant Information Management Systems (PIMS) suite, able to acquire data from all facets of an upstream process. It can then transform that data into easily usable and interpretable, high-value, widely distributed information.

The final area of the exhibition will focus on benchmarking excellence in process measurement.

“The upstream oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) sector is hugely important to Yokogawa,” explained Marcel Kelder ‎Global Account Manager at Yokogawa Europe B.V. “The E&P communities operate in very complex markets where each and every technical advantage that can be obtained is crucial. Our industrial automation and North Sea knowledge means we are in an excellent position to help provide that advantage, with regard to process measurement, safety and control.

“In particular, history shows that bookshelves full of information don’t consistently lead to safe and efficient drilling operations with minimal human error. It’s the intelligent use of data that can help bring best practice off the shelf and into the hands of E&P professionals,” he concluded.

The Yokogawa team will be on hand to answer any questions from visitors and a range of interactive presentations and movies will be available to select on an interactive monitor.