A novel approach for a very flexible and robust field area network (FAN) was developed. To fulfill the particular timing constraints given by the communication of the highly dynamic processes at lower FAN levels, the packetbased approach uses discrete multitone for parallel access to many devices. This paper gives a description of the packet based approach. Several aspects of the medium access organization, like carrier management, individual bandwidth allocation and gain control, are described. The suitability of this novel concept is proved with a prototype system implementation.

A novel approach to identify nodes in a flexible and robust field area network (FAN) is presented. Based on the special fieldbus system architecture a master node may identify unknown slave nodes, collect them and form a running network. The paper shows how the identification is done and presents calculations for the probability and the expected time to find all nodes. Optimal parameters for the identification process could be found. They were verified by simulations and tests in a prototype environment.

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