National Instruments (www.ni.com) is proud to announce the release of new interfaces for DeviceNet, PROFIBUS and FOUNDATION Fieldbus that allow industrial control engineers to connect embedded systems, LabVIEW and programmable automation controllers (“PACs”) to existing industrial networks. The latest interfaces give engineers the ability to add advanced control, high-speed measurements and analysis, data logging and Web connectivity to existing applications so as to improve the quality and performance of their machines. The latest NI CompactRIO PROFIBUS C Series modules connect NI Single-Board RIO and CompactRIO to PROFIBUS DP networks as slaves or masters, which add custom control and high-performance measurements to systems that have been standardized on PROFIBUS. National Instruments also announced the new one-port FOUNDATION Fieldbus H1 interface for USB, as well as a pair of DeviceNet master boards for PCI and PXI.

Currently, PROFIBUS has over 30 million installed nodes around the world and is a leader in industrial networks for connecting programmable logic controllers (“PLCs”), drives, sensors and I/O in automation and industrial systems. The new C Series modules can make it possible to connect NI Single-Board RIO and CompactRIO PACs embedded systems to PROFIBUS industrial network and add custom field-programmable gate array (“FPGA”) logic, high-performance measurements and advanced analysis to existing systems. Engineers now can easily retrofit and upgrade existing systems and machines by using the new PROFIBUS modules to quickly add LabVIEW graphical software and flexible, high-performance NI hardware to accomplish custom and high-speed tasks that traditional PLCs cannot solve.

Foundation Fieldbus is a two-way digital communication protocol normally used in process automation. The latest NI USB-8486 is a one-port FOUNDATION Fieldbus H1 interface that gives data control, logging and configuration in distributed control system and HMI applications.