H-Port provides 32 Bell-202 HART channels and one RS485 HART channel, in a compact physical form.  The system is designed to allow a single, high speed, serial access point onto multiple single-device point-to-point loops, and offers features for easy installation and connection to existing 4-20mA process control systems.

H-Port is ideally suited for maintenance functions, where it allows an entire network of HART instruments to be accessed from a single point, for example a desktop PC in an engineer’s office. Because of its scanning capability, however, the use of H-Port's within a system design overcomes many of the problems associated with the speed of HART when used for true data acquisition. Indeed, it is possible, via the use of multiple H-Port's to realize a 32-fold improvement in system response time when being polled by a host system.

It is provided in the form of a 356 x 114 x 89mm (14 x 4.5 x 3.5 in) module which can be mounted on a DIN rail. Plant connections are taken to ‘D’ type connectors (or screw terminals on non-CE systems), effectively in parallel with either the instrument or the control system 4-20 mA input.  Power is from 24VDC input.  Its HART channels are capacitance-coupled and arranged in four opto-isolated groups of eight.  The RS485 port, which runs at up to 38.4 kbaud data-rates, is opto-isolated, and is suitable for connection to a local or remote host.

When coupled with a PC software package such as Cornerstone or Arcom’s H-View, H-Port provides a complete solution for HART based data acquisition or maintenance needs.