WITS Device Profiles

WITS Field Devices and Master Stations are supplied with one or more WITS Device Profiles. These are XML files that define the capabilities of a device (and are provided by the device vendor).

If a Field Device or Master Station supports more than one version of the WITS standard, it will be supplied with a separate device profile for each supported version. For example, Geo SCADA Expert has a device profile for WITS versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 3.0.

Similarly, a Field Device or Master Station may be available with different versions of software, and these software versions may have different WITS capabilities. For example, a Field Device may not originally support a WITS feature, but a later update to the device's software adds extra capabilities. In such cases, each different software version has a separate WITS device profile.

Here is an example of a WITS Device Profile (it is one of the device profiles supplied with the Geo SCADA Expert master station):

The Device Identification section indicates the name of the Field Device/Master Station to which the profile belongs, in this case, Geo SCADA Expert. It also contains information about the software version and the supported WITS version. (Different vendors use different formats for their software version strings, and these may not be an exact match to your device). Other sections of the device profile, such as the Communications section, indicate the capabilities of Geo SCADA Expert. The device profiles for other Master Stations and Field Devices will provide the same type of information.

To use a WITS Field Device with Geo SCADA Expert, you need to create a WITS Device Profile item in the database, and then use the item to import the device profile XML file. It is important that you import the correct device profile for the Field Device that you are using (if you are unsure which device profile to use, please contact the vendor of your device). You will need to create a Device Profile database item and import a device profile for each version or type of WITS Field Device you want to use.

When you have imported the correct device profile, you can then create a WITS Outstation database item to represent the Field Device in Geo SCADA Expert. During configuration, you associate the outstation with the device profile. Geo SCADA Expert can then use the device profile and outstation to identify the capabilities of your WITS Field Device. Geo SCADA Expert also uses the device profile to populate some of the fields on configuration Forms for WITS database items, for example, the Ports options are taken directly from the device profile.