The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has announced the approval of ISA-100.11a-2011, “Wireless Systems for Industrial Automation: Process Control and Related Applications,” as an American National Standard.
ANSI/ISA-100.11a-2011 was developed to provide reliable and secure wireless operation for noncritical monitoring, alerting, supervisory control, open-loop control, and closed-loop control applications, according to ANSI. The standard defines the protocol suite, system management, and gateway and security specifications for low-data-rate wireless connectivity with fixed, portable and moving devices that support very limited power consumption requirements. The application focus is to address the performance needs of applications, such as monitoring and process control, where latencies on the order of 100 ms can be tolerated, with optional behavior for shorter latency.
The International Society of Automation’s ANSI-accredited standards procedures require direct participation and voting by experts from end-user companies. ANSI/ISA-100.11a-2011 received 92-percent approval from voting members on the ISA100 Committee who represent end-user companies where wireless systems will be deployed.
Approval as an American National Standard follows the unanimous approval of the standard in September as a Publically Available Specification (PAS) by IEC SC65C, Industrial Networks. The PAS approval marked the first step in the progression of ANSI/ISA-100.11a-2011 through the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) process.
For more information on ISA100, visit www.isa.org/standards.
