This is a short guide to setting up a virtual device to inspect your HART EDD or FDI Device Package in the Reference Run-Time Environment (RRTE). Please refer to the FDI-IDE User Guide for detailed information (see go.fieldcommgroup.org/fdi-ide-documentation).

Step 1: Configure virtual ports.

com0com is freely available for Windows (32 and 64bit) OS from SourceForge.net (com0com download page). Drivers for this application are not signed, please refer to your IT department for assistance.

Install the program and launch it. By default, this is what is shown (this is on Win10 64bit):

If the Virtual Port Pair 1 show COM# instead of assigned port numbers, you may need to update the drivers. Open the Device Manager for you PC, and expand the entry for com0com to see the ports. Right-click on one of the com0com ports, select Update Driver. Now the com0com interface should have assigned port numbers:

Click 'Apply' to save.

Check the Device Manager, you should see com0com installed as shown below.

Step 2: Configure RRTE

Open RRTE and go to the Comm tab and select HART. To enable HART communication in simulation mode, select the ‘Simulation Mode’ check box and provide the Communication port for the XMTR-DD simulator in “Simulator COM Port”. The port numbers can be configured in any order since they are virtual. The Device Address should be left at the default value of 0. 

Load the EDD or FDI Device Package to be simulated by XMTR-DD from the Device pane and click on any online device root menu.  XMTR-DD.exe will launch (you may need to allow the application to start and will be prompted). Values can be changed by overwriting the values in XMTR-DD and clicking 'Apply Changes'.

The FDI Reference Run-Time Environment Simulation “LED” will turn GREEN  to indicate that it is communicating with a simulated device. Open any online menu (to the right of "Offline") to see the simulation start.