WirelessHART becomes international communication standard

The WirelessHART Communication Specification (HART 7.1) was approved by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as a Publicly Available Specification (IEC/PAS 62591Ed. 1) on 19 September 2008.

The national committees of 29 separate countries participated in the approval ballot.

The recognition is a landmark for the process automation industry, according to HART Communication Foundation (HCF) executive director Ron Helson, who said that WirelessHART Communication is the first industrial wireless communication technology to achieve this level of international recognition.

“WirelessHART Communication fulfils the long-demanded goal of global users for a single wireless communication standard that the major automation suppliers support and that has international status,” said Helson.

“This positive endorsement by the IEC international standards body assures that, just as they have with the 26 million HART devices installed worldwide, users can purchase and implement WirelessHART-based products with equal confidence.”

The WirelessHART Communication standard builds on established and field-proven international standards, including the HART Protocol (IEC 61158) and the EDDL (IEC 61804-3).