A function block diagnostic framework for a multi‐vendor PROFIBUS environment

Purpose – This paper sets out to highlight the problem associated with the development of fieldbus diagnostics in a multi‐vendor environment and to propose a solution based on diagnostic function blocks (FB).Design/methodology/approach – The work focuses on the “master‐slave” communication model in a PROFIBUS fieldbus system, where three different vendor solutions are investigated.Findings – Although the fieldbus standards specify the type and format of the diagnostics data, the extent, location and sequence of diagnostics data within a controller are entirely vendor‐dependent. The outcome from this work defines a framework for representing the diagnostics data in the context of a special function block.Originality/value – This research work defines a novel unified framework for representing the fieldbus diagnostics data using FB for multi‐vendor solutions in a PROFIBUS environment.