Together with the APL Task Forces of NAMUR and ZVEI, atp magazin has conducted an APL Market Survey. The results of the survey, first published in atp magazin 9/2023, can now be downloaded free of charge together with an introductory article.

Ethernet-APL and the NAMUR APL Task Force

Ethernet-APL will be the normal signal transmission technology in the process industry, replacing 4-20 mA and field buses. In combination with other technologies it will facilitate engineering, provide more  information about field instrumentation and be the basis for Digitalization in Process Industry. Of course, prerequisite for implementation of APL in projects is the availability of APL components like instruments, field switches and integration in DCS and AMS.

At the end of 2022 the „NAMUR APL Task Force” was initiated to coordinate NAMUR’s activities around the emerging topic of Ethernet-APL. The aim is to catalyze the implementation of APL within the member companies by using a holistic approach and by close synchronization inside NAMUR, but also with leading vendors. The task force has a planned lifetime of two years and a target of ten or more projects associated with APL inside the task force associated companies in this lifetime. The team of the task force consists of representatives from BASF, Bayer, Bilfinger, Covestro, DOW, Evonik, and LANXESS.

Survey shows market availability of APL-ready hardware

Of course, for the acceptance of a new technology a broad offer of relevant components is required. Nobody will start an Ethernet APL-based project if only one or two different sensors are available, network components are still missing or automation systems like Distributed Control Systems (DCS) and Asset Management Systems (AMS) do not support the technology. As part of its mission, NAMUR’s APL task force drafted a questionnaire on market availability of

• Field Instruments like sensors or actuators
• Field switches (infrastructure components),
• DCS and
• AMS.

The results of the market survey can now be downloaded for free:

As a bonus you can read the introductory article of the survey of Thomas Tauchnitz free of charge as well: