+The HART Communications Protocol (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer Protocol) is a

digital industrial automation protocol.

The HART protocol is an open communication protocol which interfaces the master device with the
field device and can be implemented by any manufacturer and freely employed by the user.

HART devices communicate their data over the transmission lines of the 4 to 20 mA system.

The protocol was developed by Rosemount Inc., in the mid-1980s as proprietary digital
communication protocol for their smart field instruments. Soon it evolved into HART. In 1986, it was
made an open protocol.

the HART Protocol is one of the most popular industrial protocols. All these tasks require field
devices based on microprocessor technology.

These devices are frequently called smart devices.

HART allows the use of up to two masters: the engineering console in the control room and a second
device for operation on site, e.g. a PC laptop or a handheld terminal.

The most important performance features of the HART protocol include:

• Proven in practice, simple design, easy to maintain and operate.

• Compatible with conventional Analog instrumentation.
• Simultaneous Analog and Digital communication is achieved.
• Option of point-to-point or multidrop operation.
• Flexible data access via up to two master devices.
• Supports multivariable field devices.
• Sufficient response time of approx. 500 ms.
• Open de-facto (achieved a dominant position by public acceptance or market forces) standard,
freely available to any manufacturer or user.

HCF user organization

The required technical support is provided by the HART Communication Foundation (HCF). This
manufacturer-independent, not-for-profit organization encourages widespread use of the HART
technology. HCF assumes the responsibility of coordinating and supporting the open protocol
standard and manages within this framework.

HCF Logo
Connecting HART devices

Devices which support the HART protocol are grouped into master (host) and slave (field) devices.
Master devices include handheld terminals as well as PC-based work places, e.g. in the control room.
HART slave devices, on the other hand, include sensors, transmitters and various actuators. The
variety ranges from two-wire and four-wire devices to intrinsically safe versions for use in hazardous
environments.

The HART data is superimposed on the 4 to 20 mA signal via a FSK modem. This enables the
devices to communicate digitally using the HART protocol, while analog signal transmission takes
place at the same time.

Field devices and compact handheld terminals have an integrated FSK modem, whereas PC stations
have a serial interface to connect the modem externally.

Frequency Shift Keying

The HART communication protocol operates using the frequency shift keying (FSK) principle.
The digital signal is made up of two frequencies 1,200 Hz and 2,200 Hz representing bits 1 and 0,
respectively. Sine waves of these two frequencies are superimposed on the direct current (dc) analog
signal cables to provide simultaneous analog and digital communications

Because the average value of the FSK signal is always zero, the 4–20 mA analog signal is not
affected.

The 4–20 mA analog signal is not affected by the HART signal and can be used for control in the
normal way.
logical .0.: 2200Hz
logical .1.: 1200Hz

data rate: 1200 bit/s

The HART communication digital signal gives access to secondary variables and other data that can
be used for operations, commissioning, maintenance, and diagnostic purposes.
The multidrop mode of operation requires only a single pair of wires and, if applicable, safety
barriers and an auxiliary power supply for up to 15 field devices (Figure 3). All process values are
transmitted digitally. In multidrop mode, all field device polling addresses are >0, and the current
through each device is fixed to a minimum value (typically 4 mA).

Use multidrop connection for supervisory control installations that are widely spaced, such as
pipelines, custody transfer stations, and tank farms.

HART communication layers

OSI layers HART layers
application HART commands
presentation
session
transport
network
data link HART protocol rules
physical layer Bell 202

Wiring
HART wiring in the field usually consists of twisted pair cables. If very thin
and/or long cables are used, the cable resistance increases and, hence, the
total load. As a result, the signal attenuation and distortion increases while
the critical frequency of the transmission network decreases.

NOTE: For trouble-free transmission, the cables must have a sufficient cross
section and an appropriate length.

If interference signals are a problem, long lines must be shielded. The signal
loop and the cable shield should be grounded at one common point only.
According to the specification, the following configurations work reliably:
For short distances, simple unshielded 0.2 mm2 two-wire lines are
sufficient.

For distances of up to 1,500 m, individually twisted 0.2 mm² wire pairs

with a common shield over the cable should be used.

For distances of up to 3,000 m, individually twisted 0.5 mm2 two-wire

lines shielded in pairs are required.

Most of the wiring in the field meets these requirements and can therefore be
used for digital communication.

Plug connectors
An essential benefit is that HART integrates the existing wires. So the HART
specification does not prescribe the use of a specific type of plug connector.
Since the polarity has no influence on the frequency evaluation, HART signals
are usually connected via simple clamp terminals.
Services of layer 2
Access control

The HART protocol operates according to the master-slave method. Any

communication activity is initiated by the master, which is either a control station
or an operating device. HART accepts two masters, the primary master .
usually the control system . and the secondary master . a PC laptop or
handheld terminal used in the field.

HART field devices . the slaves . never send without being requested to do
so. They respond only when they have received a command message from
the master (Fig. 12). Once a transaction, i.e. a data exchange between the
control station and the field device, is complete, the master will pause for a
fixed time period before sending another command, allowing the other master
to break in. The two masters observe a fixed time frame when taking turns
communicating with the slave devices.

Communication services
The HART protocol provides standard and broadcast commands:

HART Communication Structure/Packet Structure/Telegram Structure

The structure of a HART has Each individual byte is
send as 11-bit UART character equipped with a start, a parity and a stop bit.
The elements of the HART telegram perform the following tasks:
The preamble consisting of three or more hexadecimal FF characters synchronizes
the signals of the participants.

The start byte indicates which participant is sending (master, slave, slave
in burst mode) and whether the short frame or the long frame format is
used.

The address field of the short frame format contains one byte (Fig. 15) with
one bit serving to distinguish the two masters and one bit to indicate
burst-mode telegrams. For the addressing of the field devices, 4 bits are
used (addresses 0 to 15).

3. Specifies the destination address as implemented in one of the HART schemes. The
original addressing scheme used only four bits to specify the device address, which limited
the number of devices to 16 including the master.

The newer scheme utilizes 38 bits (Long Frame format) to specify the device address. This
address is requested from the device using either Command 0, or Command 11.

The address field of the long frame format contains five bytes, hence, the
field device is identified using 38 bits.

The command byte encodes the master commands of the three categories,
Universal, Common-practice and Device-specific commands. The significance
of these commands depends on the definitions in the application
layer 7.
4. This is a one byte numerical value representing which command is to be executed.
Command 0 and Command 11 are used to request the device number.


The byte count character indicates the message length, which is necessary
since the number of data bytes per telegram can vary from 0 to 25. This is
the only way to enable the recipient to clearly identify the telegram and the
checksum. The number of bytes depends on the sum of the status and the
data bytes.

Specifies the number of communication data bytes to follow.


The two status bytes are included only in reply messages from slaves and
contain bit-coded information. They indicate whether the received message was correct and the
operational state of the field device. When the field device operates properly, both status bytes are
set to logical zero.

The status field is absent for the master and is two bytes for the slave. This field is used by
the slave to inform the master whether it completed the task and what its current health status
is.

The data can be transmitted as unsigned integers, floating-point numbers

or ASCII-coded character strings. The data format to be used is determined
by the command byte, however, not all commands or responses
contain data.

Data contained in this field depends on the command to be executed.

The checksum byte contains the longitudinal parity of all the bytes of a telegram.
According to Lit.[2], the Hamming distance of the HART transmission
equals four.

Checksum is composed of an XOR of all the bytes starting from the start byte and ending with the
last byte of the data field, including those bytes.

HART Commands
The HART command set provides uniform and consistent communication
for all field devices. The command set includes three classes: universal,
common practice, and device specific (Table 1). Host applications may
implement any of the necessary commands for a particular application.

UNIVERSAL All devices using the HART protocol must recognize and support the
universal commands. Universal commands provide access to information
useful in normal operations (e.g., read primary variable and units).
COMMON
PRACTICE
Common practice commands provide functions implemented by many, but
not necessarily all, HART communication devices.
DEVICE SPECIFIC Device-specific commands represent functions that are unique to each field
device. These commands access setup and calibration information, as well
as information about the construction of the device. Information on
device-specific commands is available from device manufacturers.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111

Universal Commands ................................

3.1 HART-Command 0 : Read Transmitter Unique Identifier ......

3.2 HART-Command 1 : Read Primary Variable...
3.3 HART-Command 2 : Read Current and Percent of Range ......
3.4 HART-Command 3 : Read all dynamic Variables and
Current......
3.5 HART-Command 6 : Write Polling Address.........
3.6 HART-Command 11 : Read Unique Identifier Associated With Tag................................................. 3-3
3.7 HART-Command 12 : Read Message ..............................................................................................
3.8 HART-Command 13 : Read Tag, Descriptor, Date................................................................................
3.9 HART-Command 14 : Read Primary Variable Sensor Information ................................................................
3.10 HART-Command 15 : Read Primary Variable Output Information ................................................................
3.11 HART-Command 16 : Read Final Assembly Number ...............................................................................
3.12 HART-Command 17 : Write Message ............................................................................................
3.13 HART-Command 18 : Write Tag, Descriptor, Date..............................................................................
3.14 HART-Command 19 : Write Final Assembly Number..............................................................................

4 Commom Practice Commands ......................................................................................................

4.1 HART-Command 34 : Write Primary Variable Damping Value..................................................................... 4

4.2 HART-Command 35 : Write Primary Variable Range Values.......................................................................
4.3 HART-Command 38 : Reset Configuration Changed Flag ..........................................................................
4.4 HART-Command 40 : Enter/Exit Primary Variable Current Mode ................................................................
4.5 HART-Command 45 : Trim Primary Variable Current DAC Zero .................................................................
4.6 HART-Command 46 : Trim Primary Variable Current DAC Gain .................................................................
4.7 HART-Command 48 : Read Additional Transmitter Status ........................................................................