Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Kyoto, Japan; www.murata.com) and Yokogawa Electric Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.yokogawa.com) announce that they have reached an agreement whereby they will cooperate in the development of communication modules for field wireless devices used in plants. Under the terms of this agreement, Yokogawa will license its technology to Murata and Murata will develop the communication modules.
Through this alliance, Murata will be able to expand its communication module business to wireless devices for use in plants and Yokogawa will be able to promote wider acceptance of its field wireless systems based on the ISA100 Wireless standard.
Field wireless devices require communication modules that can convert sensor data into signals that conform with specific field wireless protocols for transmission to field wireless networks. Through this alliance, Yokogawa will license its ISA100 Wireless communication module technology to Murata, and Murata will use this to develop wireless communication modules and driver software.
Murata has a solid track record in developing wireless communication modules for use in mobile phones, PCs, and other devices, and Yokogawa has developed a number of leading-edge technologies for use with ISA100 Wireless devices and systems. By making combined use of these technologies, the two companies aim to quickly develop and provide new communication modules to field wireless device manufacturers and sensor manufacturers around the world.
ISA100 Wireless, or ISA100.11a, is an industrial wireless networking technology standard developed by the International Society of Automation (ISA). ISA100 Wireless features high reliability, diverse applications, network extendibility and high compatibility with wired communications standards such as Foundation Fieldbus, HART, and PROFIBUS. This standard will be published as IEC62734 by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) within this year.