PROCESS CONTROL ASSESSMENT ON FOUNDATION FIELDBUS DEVICES

Pasi Airikka
Senior research engineer Tech. Development Metso Automation Inc. Finland

Pasi Heikkinen
Product manager Tech. Development Metso Automation Inc. Finland

Ismo Niemel
Business development manager Fieldbus and Smart Products Metso Automation Inc. Finland

Oliver Jenkins
Director Fieldbus and Smart Products Metso Automation Inc. United Kingdom

KEYWORDS
Process control, performance assessment, Foundation fieldbus, field device, PID control

ABSTRACT
After a rather hectic period of control loop design development in the 20th century, there seems to be a new era on control performance assessment development arising. The focus is on control performance monitoring and diagnostics for gaining economical and environmental benefits due to increased yield, improved quality, decreased use of raw material and energy and last, but not the least, improved efficiency and longer life-time of field devices. There are several reasons for degraded or poor control performance. Quite often, the root cause for weakened performance is the actuating or sensing device itself in the control loop. There are phenomena such as (static) friction (stick-and-slip), hysteresis and dead band hindering the efficient control loop operation. Sometimes, the primary troublemaker is the controller with unsuccessful control design. The controller either is incapable of struggling with all the process disturbances and uncertainties or it is tuned, if tuned at all, to cope with existing process conditions, which, however, may vary quite rapidly or in a rather unexpected manner. The process disturbances involving load changes, process operation changes and other control loops are also a potential source of inadequate control performance.

Copyright 2003 by ISA The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society. Presented at ISA Expo 2003; www.isa.org

Control performance assessment basically involves recording process loop data, analysing it and visualizing the assessment results in an easily understandable and interpretable format. Assessment may be performed for monitoring purposes or for preventive, even predicted, maintenance purposes. Although most of the control loop defects are hard to predict, such as sudden device failures or process disturbances, control loop performance state can be assessed and the slow performance changes can be detected and used for predictive maintenance. Foundation Fieldbus (FF) is a two-way, open, multi-drop digital communication protocol and a programming language. It is the technology that enables distributing computational intelligence into the field from the central controller or distributed control system. In addition to the basic field device operation, such as sensing, transmitting or actuating, the fieldbus device may contain operating PID control and diagnostics. Diagnostics within a field device may consist of both the device diagnostics information and control loop diagnostics information. This approach enables on-line monitoring based on the current process data and provides instantaneous information on control loop performance for maintenance. Additional databases or software are not needed for storing or analysing the performance information because all the necessary information is on the field device itself with its information storage capabilities. However, the visualization user interface is still essential for displaying both the field device and the control performance diagnostic information. This article focuses on the developed embedded control performance diagnostic block on a FF field device. The Control Performance Monitor (CPM) function block has been designed and embedded into the field device for monitoring control loop performance on-line and providing diagnostic information for process control maintenance. The CPM block is available as soon as the FF field device is configured into use. It receives all the necessary information from the PID controller function block within the same FF device. As a result, the diagnostic block provides a set of numerous control performance indicators, loop statistics, controller history log and performance warnings with recommendations enabling a systematic and an efficient way for real-time monitoring and diagnostics for process and field device maintenance

INTRODUCTION
Only by consistent and systematic monitoring it is possible to obtain confidential information on the target process. Especially process control with low-level control loops should be monitored to maintain an adequate level of control performance. There are a few very often cited publications by Bialkowski (3) and Ender (6) pointing out how badly the control loops are neglected what comes to their performance. Also, the publication by Takatsu and Itoh (15) strengthens this claim. On-line performance monitoring and diagnostics could improve control performance in general, especially when more sophisticated high-level control procedures such as model predictive or fuzzy controllers use low-level controllers (PID controllers) as slaves to fulfil their commands. Fieldbus technology has been available for a few years now. FOUNDATION Fieldbus (FF) is a fieldbus standard amongst many others but it is a powerful technology with providing means to distribute computational intelligence into the field devices, see (2), (8) and (10). Consequently, it is possible to design and implement manufacturer specific blocks into the FF field devices. A Control
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Performance Monitor (CPM) block was designed and implemented to a field device for monitoring and diagnosing performance of PID control loops. CPM was implemented as a manufacturer specific function block. The implemented device description makes CPM compatible with all DCS systems that can be used with FF (9). There are several arguments against and for implementing process control in the field instead of a centralized controller, see (11). Actually, it is not a new idea to put control in the field. At the time of pneumatics control, single-loop controllers were in the field but the era of computer control moved it to the control room. FF technology enables returning back to the basics but it seems that it is the attitude that tells to oppose the whole idea. Yet, there are arguments for really distributing low-level controls to the field. Improved reliability, reduced complexity, increased flexibility and decreased traffic are few of them. During the last two decades, there have been several publications on control performance assessment. Several different methods have been presented mainly focusing on control loop oscillation detection or generally control performance evaluation. These methods use control error and control signal of the control loop, see (1), (12), (13) and (16). The CPM block contains several different methods for detecting different kind of phenomena in control loop such as loop oscillation, control saturation and excessive noise and actuator wear. The primary aim is to detect on-line control loop performance degradation as well as diagnose control loops by preserving performance history. The data source is the PID controller function block with its signal and status information. There are several benefits of the performance assessment solution embedded to a field device. Firstly, a high availability of control performance assessment is guaranteed. There is no need for external software, licenses and database (except for displaying information). Secondly, control performance assessment starts to operate as soon as the field device with the PID controller is configured and is in use. Thirdly, no maintenance is required as soon as the field device itself is intact and functioning.

CONTROL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

Control Performance Monitor (CPM) on a FF field device provides PID control loop performance assessment by means of monitoring and diagnostics. Monitoring is based on calculated performance measures, whereas diagnostics relies on monitoring history. In addition, PID controller mode and parameter history log and signal statistics with signal distribution charts provided also by CPM facilitate performance assessment and control maintenance.

PERFORMANCE INDEXES AND MONITORS CPM provides a set of performance monitoring measures for on-line monitoring. These relative measures are called performance indexes and they are mainly normalized into the range 0-100% for an easy reading and interpreting. The performance indexes provide real-time information on PID control loop performance. CPM provides also a set of performance monitors for on-line monitoring. The monitors are for announcing of control loop problems and therefore, they are binary flags with a
Copyright 2003 by ISA The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society. Presented at ISA Expo 2003; www.isa.org

value of either zero or one. If the monitor value is one, then the corresponding control problem is valid.

PERFORMANCE INDEXES

Control performance index Control performance index is a relative performance measure (0-100%) for indicating the control loop performance level. The higher the index is, the better the control is. This index can be used for ranking troublesome control loops to detect the bottlenecks. Oscillation index Oscillation index (0-100%) is a relative measure for indicating how oscillatory the control loop is. The higher the oscillation index is, the worse the situation is. When the oscillation index is 100%, then the corresponding oscillation monitor value is set to one. Saturation index Saturation index (0-100%) is a relative measure for indicating how frequently the control loop suffers from control saturation. The higher the saturation index is, the worse the situation is. When the saturation index is 100%, then the corresponding saturation monitor value is set to one. Noise index Noise index (0-100%) is a relative measure for indicating how noisy the control loop is. The higher the noise index is, the worse the situation is. When the noise index is 100%, then the corresponding noise monitor value is set to one. Control error Control error (-100 - 100% of process variable range) is an error between targeted control loop set point and the process variable. In its simplicity, the control error may be an effective indicator of control loop success. For integrating control (PI or PID), the control error should be zero mean. When control error exceeds its predefined lower or higher limit, then the corresponding monitor value is set to one. Variability Control variability (0-100% of process variable range) is a relative measure of control loop variability. The higher the variability, the worse the control loop performance is. When variability exceeds its predefined limit, then the corresponding monitor value is set to one. Control utility index Control utility index (0-100%) is a measure for indicating how frequently the control loop has been in automatic mode (automatic, cascade or remote cascade). The lower the control utility index is, the more often the control loop has been out of control, that is, in manual. Control utility indexes reveal the control loops with are not in automatic use. When the control utility index is 100%, then the corresponding monitor value is set to one. Mode compatibility index Mode compatibility index (0-100%) is a measure for comparing the targeted and the actual mode of
Copyright 2003 by ISA The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society. Presented at ISA Expo 2003; www.isa.org

the PID controller function block. The mode compatibility index is a measure for indicating how frequently these two modes are non-equal. The higher the index is, the more they differ from each other. Actuator wear indexes Actuator wear indexes (control travel and control reversal, 0-100%) are measures for actuator (or valve) wear. The higher the index is, the higher actuator wear is. The high actuator wear decreases the device lifetime and deteriorates its performance.

MONITORS

Oscillation monitor Oscillation monitor (0/1) announces existence of detected oscillation. If the oscillation monitor value equals to one, then oscillation is detected and a corresponding alert is published. Also, the detected oscillation amplitude and period are published. Saturation monitor Saturation monitor (0/1) announces existence of detected control saturation. If the saturation monitor value equals to one, then saturation is detected and a corresponding alert is published. Noise monitor Noise monitor (0/1) announces existence of detected excessive noise in the control loop. If the noise monitor value equals to one, then excessive noise is detected and a corresponding alert is published. Control error monitor Control error monitor (0/1) announces existence of detected control error limit violation. If the control error monitor value equals to one, then control error limit violation is detected and a corresponding alert is published. Variability monitor Variability monitor (0/1) announces existence of detected excessive control variability. If the variability monitor value equals to one, then excessive variability is detected and a corresponding alert is published. Control utility monitor Control utility monitor (0/1) announces existence of low control utility degree. If the control utility monitor value equals to one, then low control utility degree is detected and a corresponding alert is published. Mode compatibility monitor Mode compatibility monitor (0/1) announces existence of PID controller mode incompatibility between its targeted and actual mode. If the mode compatibility monitor value equals to one, then a corresponding alert is published.

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CONTROL PERFORMANCE ALERTS Control performance alerts are textual announcements of detected control loop problems. Whenever any of the performance monitors are ON (value 1), then a corresponding control performance alert is published by the CPM function block. The alert informs about the specific control loop problem and can give additional information of the quality and the magnitude of the process control problem. CONTROL PERFORMANCE HISTORY CPM is capable of storing control performance indexes for a whole device lifetime. Performance history is stored into the field device as averaged values with a time stamp. The performance history covers the present value of each performance index, their daily averages from the last full month, their monthly averages from the last full year and annual averages all the way back to the device start-up, thus covering the whole device life time.

CONTROLLER LOG The PID controller has both scalar parameters and modes that can be altered by the user. To be able to track these changes, CPM provides a log for PID controller parameter changes and another log for PID controller mode changes. The parameter log maintains a list of PID controller gain, reset and rate changes with a time stamp. Also, feed forward gain and process variable filtering and derivation gain limit changes are recorded. The mode log maintains a list of PID controller actual mode changes (e.g. manual, automatic, cascade, remote cascade, local override), external signal tracking (on/off) and controller bypass (on/off) with a time stamp.

LOOP SIGNAL STATISTICS CPM has parameters for retaining process control loop signal statistics. Loop signal statistics contains statistical information on process variable and control signal. For each signal, the (exponentially weighted moving) average and variance is calculated and updated at every control period. Also, the averaged control error is calculated. In addition, the signal distributions for process variable, control signal and control error are updated using a histogram presentation. Each distribution has a signal range as its horizontal axis and each vertical bar in the histogram presents the relative share of the signal values gaining that specific value.

FOUNDATION FIELDBUS
FOUNDATION Fieldbus (FF) is an all-digital, serial, two-way, digital communication protocol and a programming language. FF covers two networks: host-level network HSE (High-Speed Ethernet) and device-level network H1. H1 interconnects field devices such as sensors, actuators and I/O by providing 31.25 kbit/s data transfer capability. HSE provides integration of high speed
Copyright 2003 by ISA The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society. Presented at ISA Expo 2003; www.isa.org

controllers (e.g. PLCs), H1 subsystems (via linking devices), data servers and workstations. FOUNDATION Fieldbus is the only protocol with the built-in capability to distribute the control application across the network. FOUNDATION Fieldbus provides benefits due to increased communication capabilities between the system and the devices, reduced wiring and wire terminations due to multiple devices on one wire, increased selection of device vendor suppliers due to interoperability, reduced loading on control room equipment due to distribution of control and I/O functions to field devices and lastly, connection to the HSE backbone for larger systems. FOUNDATION Fieldbus uses resource and transducer blocks to configure devices and standard function blocks to implement the control strategy. The function blocks are standardized automation functions. The control system functions such as analog input (AI), analog output (AO) and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control may be performed by the field device itself instead of the centralized controller in DCS (Distributed Control System). Function blocks allow distribution of automation functions in field devices from different manufactures and vendors in an integrated manner. Distribution of control into the field devices can reduce the amount of I/O and control equipment needed including cabinets and power supplies. Also, the consequences of system failure are more limited when automation functions are truly distributed to the field. From functionality point of view, the function blocks can be categorized into the 4 subclasses: input, output, calculation and control function blocks. Input and output blocks deal with measuring and actuating functions, calculation blocks cover mathematical operations and control blocks deal with process control such as PID control. Another function block categorization method arises from a specification point of view: standard blocks, enhanced blocks, manufacturer specific blocks and flexible function blocks. In this case, the concept of block must be broadened to cover transducer blocks as well. Standard blocks are blocks with pre-fixed standardized functionality. Enhanced blocks are standard blocks with some additional features added by the device manufacturer. Manufacturer specific blocks are totally customized blocks by the device manufacturer and these blocks have only a few mandatory parameters specified by the FF standards. Manufacturer specific blocks enable the device manufacturer to increase device intelligence by adding more functionality to the device. The functionality can be device condition monitoring, device diagnostics or as it is here presented, control loop performance monitoring and diagnostics. A digital valve controller, see (14) for details, is an example of a field device containing a manufacturer specific block. The digital valve controller contains a standard function block AO (analog output), a resource block and an enhanced PID controller function block (predictive PID) but also, it has a manufacturer specific transducer block especially developed for device diagnostics.

CONTROL ASSESSMENT USING FIELD DEVICE

Control Performance Monitor (CPM) function block with functionality described in chapter 3 was designed, developed and implemented in a digital valve controller ND9000F by Metso Automation supporting FOUNDATION Fieldbus technology. Figure 1 shows the CPM function block through a FF configuration tool by listing the CPM function block parameters for performance monitoring.

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FIG. 1 - SNAPSHOT OF THE CPM FUNCTION BLOCK PARAMETER LIST.

PREREQUISITES FOR USING CPM There are some prerequisites for Control Performance Monitor (CPM) function block to operate and to monitor control loop. It is required that CPM and PID control function blocks must reside in the same field device PID controller (in the field device) is operating CPM function block is in Auto mode The CPM function block can reside either in an actuating device or in a transmitting device (see fig. 2) as long as the same device has a PID controller function block that is responsible of controlling

Copyright 2003 by ISA The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society. Presented at ISA Expo 2003; www.isa.org

the process. If the operating PID controller is either located in the central controller (in distributed control system) or in another field device not having CPM functionality, then CPM can not be used.

FIG. 2 TWO WAYS TO USE CPM FOR PROCESS CONTROL ASSESSMENT. CPM function block has two block modes: Auto and Out of Service. When CPM is in Out of Service mode, it stops running. In Auto mode, CPM starts to monitor the process control loop. If any of the control loop signal is equipped with a bad status or the PID controllers actual mode is manual, then limited control performance information is provided by CPM function block.

CONFIGURATION OF CPM CPM has a high availability due to the fact that it has predetermined configuration parameters. As soon as the network and the devices with control strategy have been configured, CPM is automatically available. CPM has a few configuration parameters for control performance indexes such as limits for control error and variability and minimum amplitude of oscillation to be detected, but however, these limit values have default values to start with. In addition, CPM provides a procedure for estimating appropriate configuration limits on users request when needed.

Copyright 2003 by ISA The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society. Presented at ISA Expo 2003; www.isa.org

PROCESS CONTROL ASSESSMENT CASE

The process control assessment case presented here is simulated. Self-regulating process having slow dynamics is controlled using a PI controller. The control loop is monitored for 30 days during which the control loop suffers from external process disturbances, static friction in the control valve and mode (automatic vs. manual) and set point changes. Figure 3 shows how control loop performance has changed during the supervision period. The performance index is averaged daily and each bin in figure 3 corresponds one day with the current day in the right (Now). It can be seen that the process performance level has been steady for several days but for the last five days there has been performance degradation. Studying control utility trend (fig. 4) reveals that the control loop has been in automatic for most of the month until five days ago it has been set in manual. It seems that in that day the control loop has been out of control for more than 12 hours. Examination of control reversal trend (fig. 5) does not reveal any change in control signal activity as it has been at a rather steady level for the whole month. The decline of control reversal level that has occurred five days ago is a consequence of the PID controller being in manual. Looking at oscillation trend (fig. 6) clearly reveals that the control loop has suffered from process variable oscillation starting a week ago. Oscillation has forced to put the controller in manual and oscillation has not diminished until the control valve problem (stiction) has been solved. Naturally, CPM would have reported on detected oscillation much earlier using its alert mechanism. Also, the detected oscillation amplitude and period (in this case almost 3 hours) would be available. However, this example rather pointed how stored performance information can be assessed afterwards, not just on-line, and used for example for reporting purposes. After all, not so many control problems resulting in poor control performance require rapid actions but rather they deserve just to get noticed among many other control loops. Especially slowly degrading control loops just fit in without receiving any attention until the whole process is about to fall down.

100 90 80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0 -1 month

Loop performance history (averaged)

Now

FIG. 3 CONTROL PERFORMANCE TREND (DAILY).

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110 100 90 80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0 -1 month

Control utility history (averaged)

Now

FIG. 4 CONTROL UTILITY DEGREE TREND (DAILY).

Control reversal history (averaged)

110 100 90 80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0 -1 month

Now

FIG. 5 CONTROL REVERSAL TREND (DAILY).

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100 90 80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0 -1 month

Oscillation history (averaged)

Now

FIG. 6 CONTROL LOOP OSCILLATION TREND (DAILY).

CONCLUSION
This paper presented a manufacturer specific function block called Control Performance Monitor (CPM) for PID control performance assessment. The CPM function block operates in a FOUNDATION Fieldbus device and it monitors and diagnoses PID control loop performance. The CPM block is capable of detecting control loop problems and alerting them including e.g. loop oscillation, control variability, control saturation, excessive noise and actuator wear. Also, it provides a general performance measure for detecting control performance deterioration for ranking the control loops. In addition, CPM maintains a log of controller history events, loop statistics and performance diagnostics. The prerequisite for using CPM block is that the FF field device has an operating PID controller, that is, the control is in the field instead of the centralized controller. The device containing both PID and CPM functionality can be either an actuating device (e.g. digital valve controller) or a transmitter.

REFERENCES
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Copyright 2003 by ISA The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society. Presented at ISA Expo 2003; www.isa.org

5. Desborough L, R. Miller: Increasing Customer Value of Industrial Control Performance Monitoring Honeywells Experience, pp. 172-192, 2001. 6. Ender D.B: Process Control Performance: Not as good as you think, Control Engineering, 40:10, pp. 180-90, Sept 1993. 7. Fitzgerald W.V.: Process Control Upgrades Yield Huge Operation Improvements, Valve World, pp. 1-6, 8. Fieldbus Foundation: Foundation Specification Function Block Application Process Part 1-5, (FF-890, FF-891, FF-892, FF-893, FF-894). 9. Fieldbus Foundation: Specification, (FF-900). Foundation Specification Device Description Language

10. Fieldbus Foundation: Foundation Fieldbus Technical Overview (FD-043), Rev. 3.0, March 2003. 11. Fieldbus Foundation: General Assemply 2003, Feb 27-28, Singapore. Presentations available at web site http://www.fieldbus.org/News/default.asp?news_x_language_id=270. 12. Harris T.J, Seppl C.T, L.D Desborough: A Review of Performance Monitoring and Assessment Techniques for Univariate and Multivariate Control Systems, Journal of Process Control, 9, 1999. 13. Hgglund T.: Industrial Applications of Automatic Performance Monitoring Tools, 15th IFAC world congress, Barcelona, Spain, 2002. 14. Metso Automation Inc.: Valve positioner series ND800FF Users Guide, 2000. 15. Takatsu H., T. Itoh: Future Needs for Control Theory in Industry Report of the Control Technology Survey in Japanese Industry, IEEE Trans. On Control Systems Tech., Vol. 7, No. 3, May 1999. 16. Thornhill N.F., T. Hgglund: Detection and Diagnosis of Oscillation in Control Loops, Control Eng. Practice, Vol. 5, No. 10, pp. 1343-1354, 1997.

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