UCN Communications

UCN communications are consistent with the growth and direction of evolving international standards, with appropriate Honeywell extensions for secure process control applications. The UCN uses redundant coaxial cables and can support up to 32 redundant devices. The UCN supports peer-to-peer communication between devices on this network. This feature enables sharing information among HPMs, APMs, PMs, Safety Managers, and Logic Managers on the network, thus offering tremendous power and flexibility in implementing advanced, coordinated control strategies.

The Network Interface Module (NIM) provides the link between the Local Control Network and the Universal Control Network. Accordingly, it makes the transition from the transmission technique and protocol of the Local Control Network to the transmission technique and protocol of the Universal Control Network. The NIM provides LCN module access to data from UCN-resident devices. It supports program and database loads to the Advanced Process Manager and forwards alarms and messages from the network devices to the LCN. The NIM is also available in a redundant configuration to provide automatic, continued operation in the event of a primary failure.

The Advanced Process Manager is designed to provide flexible and powerful process scanning and control capabilities. To do this, it uses advanced multi-processor architecture with separate microprocessors dedicated to perform specific tasks. As depicted in Figure 3, the APM consists of the Advanced Process Manager Module (APMM) and the I/O Subsystem.