ProSoft Technology PTQ-PDPMV1 - Manual (Page 263)

PTQ-PDPMV1 ♦ Quantum Platform Reference
PROFIBUS DP Master Network Interface Module for Quantum User Manual
ProSoft Technology, Inc. Page 263 of 306
August 12, 2014
Similar to a web browser, the Frame Application has menu bars, toolbars, and a
navigation tree. Visually, the frame application surrounds the device vendor’s
DTM. Like opening a web page from a ‘favorites' navigation tree, a user can
navigate down a tree that lists the field device tags, click on one, and open the
device v
endor’s DTM inside the frame. And, like web pages that let users interact
with a reservation system or a shopping service, the Device DTMs let the user
interact with the field device in a wide variety of ways. The Device DTM vendor
can create a graphically rich user interface that does virtually anything possible in
an advanced Windows PC-type interface. The third part of the technology, the
Communication DTM, provides a standardized communication Application
Process Interface (API) inside the PC, interfaci
ng between the Device Vendor’s
DTM and the host system’s specific driver that handles pass-through
communications from the PC down to the fieldbus interface card.
The host system vendor supplies a Communication DTM (comDTM) for each
supported fieldbus protocol. This ensures that the details of the PC, network,
interface cards, and pass-through protocols of the host system, are transparent
to the device vendor’s DTM. This correlates back to the internet analogy where:
the web page is transparent to the PC i
t’s running in, the brand of the network
interface card in the PC, or whether communication is DSL or broadband cable.
FDT technology complements and expands existing device description
languages. It does not replace but rather builds upon existing DDs.
In particular, FDT expands the capabilities of DD for complex devices. Device
Description languages have limitations in the graphical representation of the
device at the user interface and allow only a limited integration of special
features. FDT/DTM removes these limitations.
Typical frame applications are
 Pactware from The PACTware Consortium e.V (freeware)
 FieldCare from Endress & Hauser
 Field Control from ABB