What is HART
Document No. D113-015
Page 71 of 77
Revision 1.9
7.
WHAT IS HART
7.1.
INTRODUCTION TO HART
HART is an acronym for Highway Addressable Remote Transducer. HART is able to transfer
digital information across a standard 4-20 mA loop, by superimposing the digital data on the
analog signal using Frequency Shift Keying (FSK). As the name implies FSK changes the
frequency of the carrier to represent the binary data 0 or 1. A frequency of 1200 Hz represents
a logical 1 and a frequency of 2200 Hz represents a logic 0. Therefor HART has a maximum
transfer rate of 1200 bits per second (bps).
The amplitude of the FSK modulation is typically 1mA. Due to the relatively high frequency in
comparison to changes of the analog signal, a low pass filter can be employed to prevent the
modulation from affecting the analog signal.
Figure 7.1. – HART FSK Modulation