Industrial Ethernet: More than just a cable

FHI and PI Netherlands are organizing it on March 26 Industrial Ethernet event at De Basiliek in Veenendaal.

Rob Hulsebos is the plenary speaker and opens the Industrial Ethernet event.

Rob has been involved in the development and use of industrial network protocols from the very beginning. He graduated in computer science in Eindhoven and started at Philips after his studies. At the time, as he puts it, “he ended up in the world of networks by chance”. He subsequently worked for a number of years at ASML and other spin-offs of Philips. Now he focuses more on cyber security. He also gives courses on networks and cyber security and writes books and articles about his field.

Office vs Industrial Ethernet

Using an analogy, Rob explains the difference between office Ethernet and industrial Ethernet. He compares office Ethernet to the highway. Everyone can participate, freedom, happiness. But if everyone takes to the highway at the same time, you will be stuck in traffic jams. It is less crucial for the office that an email has to wait a while before it arrives. The network is full. This could mean, for example, that your order at the printer will only be processed after a minute.

This variation in speed is undesirable for industrial applications. Punctuality and predictability are crucial for industrial applications. If something has to be done now, then it has to be done now and not an unpredictable delay later. Rob gives the example of the brake in your car. When you step on the brake, it should respond immediately. Without any delay. It is necessary for an industrial network that a command is executed immediately, with the shortest possible interval. This is crucial for the correct functioning of industrial applications.

You cannot ask for standard Ethernet and standard TCP/IP protocol what you demand for industrial use: the guarantee that what you ask for will happen within a predictable interval. When standard Ethernet was developed fifty years ago, it was not built in. This is the big difference with the later developed industrial Ethernet.

The railway model

Rob compares industrial Ethernet with the railway timetable. Trains depart and arrive according to the timetable. The reliability and predictability of the timetable makes this a good metaphor for industrial Ethernet.

The rail model sacrifices the freedom of the highway for the sake of a guaranteed schedule. The railway model can be compared to industrial Ethernet. And office Ethernet can be compared to a highway.

Like a timetable, industrial Ethernet runs in cycles. Every few milliseconds a train departs with which your data can depart. If you are late, you will have to wait for the next train, just like at the railway. But you have the guarantee that your data can be transported one cycle later.

This rock-solid guarantee is necessary within an industrial environment. When a robot comes to the end of a track, it must stop. When you hit the brakes it should stop. These signals must get through regardless of the traffic on the network.

The TGV, the local train and freight transport

Within the railway model, within industrial Ethernet, there are different protocols. These protocols depend on the requirements that the industrial environment places on the network.

The TGV (such as the ProfiNet or Ethercat protocol) for the fastest applications. And legacy protocols (such as Modbus/TCP) could suffice if, for example, one second is fast enough. And then there is a difference in the amount of data you want to send.

The industrial environment

One of the characteristics of an industrial environment is that temperature, vibrations and, for example, electrical radiation can differ enormously from a standard office environment. Because of these differences, you need different materials in an industrial environment. The cabling you use in an industrial environment must meet much stricter requirements than the cabling you use at home or in the office. There are clearly physical differences between IT Internet and industrial Ethernet. Rob will discuss this in more detail during his lecture. Other types of connectors and other methods of cabling are used for industrial applications, and this of course requires constant development.

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