Methods and apparatus for multimode RFST communications in process control systems
First Claim
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1. An apparatus comprising:
- a first housing configured to be mounted to a second housing of a process control field device, the first housing containing a communication module and electrical connections electrically coupled to the communication module, the electrical connections to be electrically coupled to the process control device, the communication module including;
a modem to communicate at a first data rate with at least one of the process control field device or a distributed control system controller that communicates with the process control field device;
a non-volatile memory;
a first radio frequency sensor tag (RFST) configured to communicate via a first frequency band, the first RFST having a first RFST memory and a first energy harvester, the first RFST electrically coupled to a first antenna of the communication module;
a second RFST configured to communicated via a second frequency band different than the first frequency band, the second RFST having a second RFST memory and a second energy harvester, the second RFST electrically coupled to a second antenna of the communication module; and
a microcontroller communicatively coupled to the modem via a first bus, and communicatively coupled to the non-volatile memory, the first RFST and the second RFST via a second bus, each of the first and second buses having respective data rates higher than the first data rate, the microcontroller to cache at least one of maintenance or repair data associated with operation of the process control field device in at least one of the RFST memories, and at least one of the RFSTs to provide at least some of the cached data via wireless communications to a handheld device in response to an interrogation by the handheld device while the process control field device is unpowered and while the at least one of the RFSTs is powered by the first energy harvester or the second energy harvester.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for multimode RFST communications in process control systems is disclosed herein. A disclosed example apparatus includes an example RFST module associated with a process control device of a process control system. The example RFST module includes a plurality of RFSTs configured to communicate by different communication protocols. The example RFST module also includes a power module to power the RFST module to enable communications with a processor or memory associated with the process control device.
45 Citations
17 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
a first housing configured to be mounted to a second housing of a process control field device, the first housing containing a communication module and electrical connections electrically coupled to the communication module, the electrical connections to be electrically coupled to the process control device, the communication module including; a modem to communicate at a first data rate with at least one of the process control field device or a distributed control system controller that communicates with the process control field device; a non-volatile memory; a first radio frequency sensor tag (RFST) configured to communicate via a first frequency band, the first RFST having a first RFST memory and a first energy harvester, the first RFST electrically coupled to a first antenna of the communication module; a second RFST configured to communicated via a second frequency band different than the first frequency band, the second RFST having a second RFST memory and a second energy harvester, the second RFST electrically coupled to a second antenna of the communication module; and a microcontroller communicatively coupled to the modem via a first bus, and communicatively coupled to the non-volatile memory, the first RFST and the second RFST via a second bus, each of the first and second buses having respective data rates higher than the first data rate, the microcontroller to cache at least one of maintenance or repair data associated with operation of the process control field device in at least one of the RFST memories, and at least one of the RFSTs to provide at least some of the cached data via wireless communications to a handheld device in response to an interrogation by the handheld device while the process control field device is unpowered and while the at least one of the RFSTs is powered by the first energy harvester or the second energy harvester. - View Dependent Claims (2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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3. A method comprising:
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providing power to a first housing mounted to a second housing of a process control field device, the first housing including a modem, a non-volatile memory, a microcontroller, a first RFST and a second RFST, the first RFST to communicate via a first frequency band, the first RFST having a first RFST memory and a first energy harvester, the second RFST to communicate via a second frequency band different than the first frequency band, the second RFST having a second RFST memory and a second energy harvester, the modem to communicate at a first data rate with the process control field device, the microcontroller communicatively coupled to the modem via a first bus and communicatively coupled to the non-volatile memory, the first RFST and the second RFST via a second bus, each of the first and second buses having respective data rates higher than the first data rate; caching, via the microcontroller, maintenance or repair data associated with operation of the process control field device in at least one of the RFST memories; and providing, via the first RFST or the second RFST, at least some of the cached data to a remote device in response to an interrogation by the remote device while the process control field device is unpowered, and while the first RFST is powered by the first energy harvester or the second RFST is powered by the second energy harvester. - View Dependent Claims (4, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification