With over four decades of innovation, Altus has established itself as a benchmark in national technology, offering solutions that ensure productivity, safety, and high reliability in complex processes.
Recently, we reached a new strategic level by officially joining the FieldComm Group as members, one of the world's leading standardization organizations. The entity is dedicated to empowering industry evolution by simplifying system integration and management, making operational data more accessible, consistent, and ready for use. Furthermore, the FieldComm Group also connects a global community that brings together industry leaders, manufacturers, service providers, universities, and research institutions, strengthening this collaboration to innovate on an international scale. This step represents a milestone that reinforces the maturity of Brazilian technology and its capacity to be part of digital integration in Industry 4.0 worldwide.
Created from the merger of the Fieldbus Foundation with the HART Communication Foundation, the group is responsible for maintaining and developing standards that sustain process infrastructure on a global scale, such as HART, WirelessHART, HART-IP, FOUNDATION Fieldbus, FDI, FDT/DTM, PA-DIM, and Ethernet-APL.
For Altus, being part of this ecosystem reinforces its commitment to interoperability and more efficient asset management, directly connecting established solutions such as Nexto NX controllers, Atta Series instrumentation and Architex software, to the leading international digitalization standards.
In the following paragraphs, you will understand how this integration works in practice, how it provides more value for industrial projects, and what opportunities it opens for the evolution of automation systems.
The main technologies under FieldComm Group governance
As mentioned, the group's activities are focused on the maintenance and development of core protocols for modern industry. HART, for example, is one of the most widespread communication technologies in the sector, allowing digital data transmission over traditional analog wiring. Meanwhile, FOUNDATION Fieldbus offers a fully digital approach to distributed control, being more widely used in critical applications where reliability and precision are essential.
| Tecnology | Position Overview | Industry function |
| HART® | Hybrid protocol (analog + digital) for smart instruments. | Global standard with billions of installed devices. |
| FOUNDATION Fieldbus | Bidirectional digital protocol for distributed control architectures. | Essential in chemical, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical processes. |
| FDI | Field device integration, uniting EDDL and FDT/DTM. | Standardization of software interfaces for asset management. |
| WirelessHART® | Wireless version of the HART protocol for remote monitoring. | Ideal for hard-to-access assets and reduction of infrastructure costs. |
Altus' entry into this group allows for active participation in the development of these technologies, ensuring that products such as the Atta Series and the Nexto Series meet the market's most stringent registration and certification processes, in full compliance with international standards.
Industry 4.0 requires that data generated on the factory floor be converted into useful information to support decision-making. By adopting FieldComm Group standards, Altus facilitates this transition. FDI technology, for example, acts as a pillar by allowing a single device package to gather all the information necessary for its integration into asset management systems, eliminating the complexity of dealing with multiple file formats.
By developing technology in Brazil aligned with global standards, Altus contributes to the Brazilian industry competing on equal footing with international players,offering solutions that consistently meet the demands of each context.
HART Protocol: field intelligence
The HART protocol (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) connects Altus' instrumentation to the digital world by utilizing the principle of Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), in which a low-amplitude digital signal is superimposed on the 4–20 mA current. In this way, the primary process variable continues to be transmitted via the analog signal, while secondary information, such as sensor diagnostics and calibration status, is sent simultaneously in digital format.
The Atta Series uses the HART 7 version, which incorporates important advancements compared to previous versions. Among them is the cyclic publishing of data, which allows the instrument to send information automatically to the control system without the need for continuous requests. This improves communication bandwidth usage and makes variable monitoring faster and more efficient.
Version 7 also offers more advanced diagnostic capabilities for predictive maintenance strategies. An Atta Series pressure transmitter, for example, can report not only the current pressure value but also indicate potential issues, such as impulse line clogging or temperature rises above recommended limits.
Learn more: What is the HART protocol and what is it for?
Native HART protocol integration in the Nexto NX series
The Nexto NX series, is recognized for its high processing speed and advanced connectivity. Developed to serve everything from simple machines to complex industrial processes with redundant architectures, it acts as the hub for collecting, processing, and distributing field information.
One of the key differentiators of the NX line is its ability to work with the HART protocol transparently through its I/O modules. The NX6014 module, for example, offers 8 analog inputs with HART support, allowing the CPU to access the instruments' digital variables. Meanwhile, the NX6134 module provides analog outputs with HART for precise control and diagnostics of smart valve positioners.
| Product | Function | HART differentiator |
| NX6014 | Analog current input | Reading of multiple HART variables and diagnostics |
| NX6134 | Analog current output | Control and configuration of smart actuators/positioners. |
| NX3008 | High-performance CPU | Management of PROFINET/PROFIBUS networks with HART pass-through. |
| NX3035 | High-performance redundant CPU | Management of PROFINET/PROFIBUS networks with HART pass-through. |
With a deterministic Ethernet architecture, it is possible to ensure that control data and HART diagnostic data coexist on the same network without compromising system performance. This characteristic is essential for asset management solutions, as it enables the management software to access field instruments directly through the PLC control network, safely and efficiently.
Learn more: HART over PROFIBUS and PROFINET applications with Nexto PLCs
Atta Series: instrumentation for critical operations
The Atta Series is Altus' line of field instruments developed to deliver high precision and reliability in pressure, temperature, and positioning measurements. Since its conception, the series' purpose has been clear: to offer devices with a high level of accuracy for monitoring critical points in production processes.
The APT10 (pressure) and ATT10 (temperature) transmitters are examples of how embedded intelligence transforms instrumentation. The APT10 utilizes 100% digital capacitive sensors with internal temperature compensation, ensuring an accuracy of 0.075% and high long-term stability with a warranty of up to 15 years.
The ATT10, in turn, is capable of accepting multiple types of sensors (RTD, TC, Ohm, mV) and performing differential or backup measurements. Thanks to the HART 7 protocol, these devices provide diagnostics that allow for the identification of wiring failures, sensor breakage, or process anomalies directly from the control room.
In the area of valve positioners, the AVP10 model is another highlight of the Atta Series. Equipped with a non-contact position sensor (Hall Effect Sensor), it eliminates mechanical wear and offers unparalleled flow control precision. Through the integrated HART communication of the Nexto System, the AVP10 supports the Partial Stroke Test (PST), an essential procedure for verifying valve functionality without interrupting production, raising safety levels across the entire plant.
ArchiteX: a software to optimize asset management
For the intelligence generated by the Atta Series sensors and processed by the Nexto controllers to transform into practical actions, it is essential to have a high-level software tool. The ArchiteX, is that tool, functioning as an FDT Frame Application and allowing for the complete lifecycle management of industrial assets.
The ArchiteX utilizes FDT/DTM technology to enable the configuration, maintenance, and diagnostics of devices from different manufacturers within a single interface. In practice, theDevice Type Managerfunctions as a software driver provided by the instrument manufacturer, bringing together all the configuration logic and the graphical interface necessary for device operation.
With ArchiteX, the user can:
- – Create network topologies to map all devices connected to the plant, organizing them hierarchically.
- – Scan the bus to automatically identify new instruments connected to the HART network through Nexto controllers, eliminating potential errors resulting from manual configuration.
- – Execute upload/download to save instrument configurations in the project and restore them in the event of hardware replacement.
- – Perform online diagnostics to view performance charts and error logs without the need to travel to hazardous or remote areas of the plant.
Asset management involves monitoring equipment conditions to avoid unplanned downtime. By offering direct access to the Atta Series DTM graphical interfaces, ArchiteXenables calibrations and simulations to be performed directly from the engineering station. This centralization of information reduces the mean time to repair and contributes to increasing plant availability.
Read the full article: ArchiteX: a new software to optimize industrial asset management
A data-driven future for maximum efficiency
By connecting the Nexto, Atta and ArchiteX solutions to an organization that drives new directions for industrial communication, Altus offers its customers and partners the security of relying on open, scalable, and future-ready architectures.
In practice, this integration means being able to extract every piece of information available in an Atta Series pressure transmitter, through a Nexto PLC, and transform it into a precise maintenance decision within ArchiteX. At the end of the day, high-value automation is that which keeps machines operating at peak performance with minimum risk — and Altus is even better prepared to deliver this result.
The Brazilian industry as a whole is moving toward a new productivity cycle, in which field intelligence becomes the foundation for more sustainable, efficient, and competitive operations.
