The functionality of the SIMATIC PDM Maintenance Station is largely based on the SIMATIC PCS 7 Maintenance Station and the SIMATIC PDM Process Device Manager for stand-alone operation. The operator interfaces are comparable with those of the SIMATIC PCS 7 Maintenance Station configured as single station. SIMATIC PDM integrates the intelligent field devices (sensors/actuators) and field components (remote I/Os, multiplexers, control room devices, compact controllers, etc.) via their Electronic Device Description (EDD).

For communication with field devices/components, SIMATIC PDM Maintenance Station uses the SIMATIC PDM communication paths over the following communication interfaces:

• Industrial Ethernet
• PROFIBUS DP
• PROFIBUS PA
• HART on PROFIBUS
• HART multiplexer
• Wireless HART
• Modbus

The diagnostic information is determined over a cyclic polling algorithm. The minimum polling cycle of the SIMATIC PDM Maintenance Station is 24 hours. Approx. 4000 field devices can be theoretically diagnosed in this cycle.