Tool support for the development of IEC 62390 compliant fieldbus profiles

Industrial communication systems standardize communication protocols and services. Interoperability within automation and control systems need additional application definitions. This is usually organized with fieldbus profile specifications. Profiles become part of the overall development process of the device manufacturer. Unfortunately, today's profile descriptions are very informal and have nearly no support for the development process. This paper presents a semi-formal profile specification approach, based on IEC 62390 and using a mixed UML and MS Word process. Result of both specifications is an XML representation which can be integrated in the device development process. This method is developed for the PROFIBUS User Organisation for PROFIBUS and PROFINET device profiles.