scope:

This document defines a standard representation for industrial devices on device level networks. Data representation and behavior for each class of device are described independently of the network connection technology used.

Device level networks have a wide range of differences in information exchange capabilities. This document defines the format for defining standard information exchanged with devices, independent of the network connection technology. This document also defines the format for information which is optionally available, depending on either the connected device characteristics or the network characteristics. The optional information may include both run time and configuration information.

In addition, this document defines a way to format the description for the network-independent data word structure for each class of device. No attempt is made to define the application program interface (API) specific to a network implementation.