isEDDworkbench

The isEDD Workbench is a powerful tool for EDD developers. It covers the whole development process from editing, checking and visualisation of the EDD inside one integrated workbench. It consists of three applications:

• Comfortable Editor with syntax highlighting
• Integrated Checker for all profiles of IEC 61804-3, including enhancements
• Viewer for communication with the field device in order to proof the online functionality of the EDD.

Profiles: In the standard IEC 61804-3 the profiles for HART, Foundation Fieldbus and Profibus are defined. In the world of Profibus the tool Simatic PDM is so popular that it is considered as an additional profile. The isEDD Workbench supports the profiles Profibus and HART.

Communication hardware: In order to communicate with field devices, Profibus Master Interfaces (isPro USBx12 or isPro PCIx12) of ifak system and their software drivers are required. Then the following functionality is provided additionally:

• Bus Parameter: Opens the Profibus parameter configuration dialog; the specific parameters can be adapted.
• Device Parameter: Opens the device parameter configuration dialog (address, PNO ID, cycle time).

Editing files and projects. A project in the Workbench is an aggregation of all necessary files, describing a device, e.g. the DD itself, include files, dictionary files or GSD files. This simplifies work for the EDD developer, because more complex device descriptions are composed of several EDD files, including existing parts of the device description.

Checking Correctness. After writing the whole device description or only some parts, it can be examined by the checker for correctness according the specification. The syntax and the most important parts of the static semantic, e.g. resolution of references and types, will be checked.

Viewing the Device Description. The results can be seen inside the own visualisation tool. The online communication provides a test of the described functionality and parameters compared to the device implementation. This combination of features provides a complete working environment for an EDD developer – the first of its kind for Profibus devices.