Industrial Ethernet
Industrial Ethernet
Industrial Ethernet (IE) is an Ethernet variant optimized for industrial environments, employing deterministic and real-time control protocols like EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, and OPC UA.
This technology accommodates extreme conditions, such as wide temperature ranges, vibrations, physical contaminants, and electrical noise.
Industrial Ethernet ensures high network availability, is critical for industrial processes, and seamlessly integrates with both current and legacy systems while delivering predictable performance. Industrial Ethernet serves as a crucial communication backbone, ensuring the reliability and efficiency of industrial processes.
How Industrial Ethernet Works
Industrial Ethernet operates by modifying the conventional Ethernet to provide deterministic data transfer, ensuring that vital operational information is delivered accurately and punctually, which is imperative for the execution of precise and real-time industrial tasks. Key modifications include:
- Real-time Communication Protocols: Guaranteeing that essential data reaches its destination within the required time frames.
- Quality of Service (QoS): Prioritizing network traffic to prevent congestion and ensure consistent communication.
- Topological Adaptations: Creating network architectures that provide redundancy and fault tolerance, such as ring configurations.
- Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN): A set of techniques within Ethernet to make it deterministic and suited for real-time applications.
- Rugged Hardware: Utilization of equipment that can withstand extreme temperatures, vibrations, and interference, with robust cabling solutions.
Benefits of Industrial Ethernet
The transition to Industrial Ethernet was driven by the need to enhance efficiency, reliability, and interoperability in industrial settings. Its adoption is essential due to several benefits:
- Real-time Operational Performance: Critical for systems requiring simultaneous and synchronized actions.
- Standardization across Platforms: Ensures equipment and systems from different vendors can communicate effectively.
- Scalability: Facilitates network growth without significant overhauls.
- Durability: Designed to last in harsh industrial conditions, reducing replacement costs and downtime.
- Enhanced Diagnostics: Provides tools for proactive maintenance planning, preventing unexpected failures.
- Seamless Data Integration: Gathers and shares operational data across enterprise levels, paving the way for informed strategic decisions.
- Elevated Productivity: Streamlines industrial processes, thereby boosting overall operational throughput.
CoreTigo’s IO-Link Wireless Masters and Gateways support a variety of industrial ethernet protocols, enabling communication all the way from the factory floor level IO-Link Wireless Devices, through the Masters, to the PLC, and up to the Cloud and enterprise applications.
In such a manner, OT (operational technology) and IT (Information technology) converge.
