ISA formerly knows as Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society.
It is a professional organization that develops standards for the design and documentation of control and automation systems.
The International Society of Automation (ISA), formerly known as The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society, is a non-profit technical society for engineers, technicians, businesspeople, educators and students, who work, study or are interested in automation and pursuits related to it, such as instrumentation. It was originally known as the Instrument Society of America.
The society is more commonly known by its acronym, ISA, and the society’s scope now includes many technical and engineering disciplines. ISA is one of the foremost professional organizations in the world for setting standards and educating industry professionals in automation. Instrumentation and automation are some of the key technologies involved in nearly all industrialized manufacturing.
Modern industrial manufacturing is a complex interaction of numerous systems. Instrumentation provides regulation for these complex systems using many different measurement and control devices. Automation provides the programmable devices that permit greater flexibility in the operation of these complex manufacturing systems.
ISA provides leadership and education in the professions that it serves, assisting engineers, technicians, and research scientists, as well as many others, in keeping pace with the rapidly changing industry.
ISA professionals work in numerous fields and may provide expertise in diverse areas ranging from environmental quality to automobile manufacturing, to nearly any technological field in use today.
In recent years as the organization has modernized and broadened its scope, this has branched out to even more fields such as network security personnel, programmers, chemical engineers and more.
ISA’s 17 technical divisions, established for the purpose of increased information exchange within tightly focused segments of the fields of instrumentation, systems, and automation are organized under the Automation & Technology or Industries & Sciences Departments, depending upon the nature of the division.
The divisions in the Automation & Technology Department are :
- Analysis
- Automatic Control Systems
- Computer Technology
- Management
- Process Measurement & Control
- Robotics & Expert Systems
- Safety
- Telemetry & Communications
- Test Measurement
Industries & Sciences Divisions are:
- Aerospace Industries
- Chemical & Petroleum Industries
- Construction & Design
- Food & Pharmaceuticals Industries
- Mining & Metals Industries
- Power Industry
- Pulp & Paper Industries
- Water & Wastewater Industries
ISA standards play a major role in the work of instrumentation and automation professionals. Many ISA standards have been recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Many ISA standards have also been adopted as international standards by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).