ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the ISA100.11a specification and its implementations. The ISA100.11a specification is the first standard to emerge from the ISA100 standards committee's work to deliver a family of standards for wireless systems for industrial automation. ISA100.11a employs payload encryption and message authentication for both single hop messages and end-to-end messages. An ISA100.11a radio module is an integration of an ISA100.11a software stack and IEEE 802.15.4 radio on the same hardware board. An ISA100.11a field device is an integrated field instrument with a sensor or actuator element, power, memory/storage, and an ISA100.11a radio module. ISA100.11a also employs a set of spectrum management techniques to better cope with coexistence and interference issues. The functions of the system manager include security management, address allocation, system performance monitoring, device management, system time services, and communication configuration including contract services and redundancy management.
