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Industrial Ethernet Guide - A Brief History of Ethernet and TCP/IP
The following is part of A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.The Ethernet technology came to life in 1972 at the Xerox Corporation’s Palo Alto Research Center, more commonly known as PARC, when researcher Bob Metcalfe designed and tested the first Ethernet network. While working on a way to link Xerox’s "Alto" computer to a printer, Metcalfe developed [...]
Industrial Ethernet Guide - Real-Time Works Only In A Box
The following is part of A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.Ages-old technology wisdom says that real-time works only in a box. This statement has, however, been obsoleted by Industrial Ethernet. Industrial Ethernet allows the design of a real-time network rather than an isolated real-time system.Note: The reference to real-time capabilities of Industrial Ethernet [...]
Industrial Ethernet Guide - The Dependence On Intelligent Nodes
The following is part of A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.In review, any Fieldbus system (a.k.a. Distributed Control), utilizing a certain level of network management, is based on communication between one central system (Master, Server) and several nodes (Slave, Client). These nodes are nothing else but processor systems, and old technology wisdom states [...]
Industrial Ethernet Guide - The Special Role Of Industrial Ethernet
The following is part of A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.While distributed control delivers a significant number of advantages, the most prominent being the vastly reduced amount of wiring, it still has to deal with the restrictions of traditional serial communication technologies, specifically their bandwidth limitations. The result is that traditional technologies, especially when [...]
Industrial Ethernet Guide - Client/Server Vs. Master/Slave
The following is part of A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.The distinct differences between a Client/Server and a Master/Slave network model have a significant impact on the design of Industrial Ethernet applications not only in terms of device/process interaction but also the data traffic pattern, which may require increased use of network segmentation [...]
CAN Bus And SAE J1939 Bus Voltage
CAN Bus MediumAccording to ISO-11898 specification, the CAN bus medium must support two logical states: Recessive and dominant. A CAN controller with its TTL output uses an additional line driver (transceiver) to provide the standard CAN Bus level. The dominant level (TTL = 0V) always overrides a recessive level (TTL = 5V), which is, especially [...]
Industrial Ethernet Guide - Network Topologies
The following is part of A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.Distributed Control, and the advantages that come with it, is best demonstrated through the classic, lean Bus network structure. There are, however, several different network topologies that serve virtually the same purpose but, at the same time, have their individual characteristics that are [...]
Industrial Ethernet Guide - The Benefits of Distributed Control
The following is part of A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.The advantages of distributed over central control, reduced wiring and distributed intelligence, as briefly mentioned in the previous chapter, amount not only to significant cost savings through the reduction of efforts during design and operation but also opens the door to supporting application [...]
Industrial Ethernet Guide - Central Vs. Distributed Control
The following is part of A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.Central Control is based on a single CPU burdened with the entire automation task. Consequently, the data traffic between the CPU and the hardware interfaces is very high. Central Control requires the use of a high-performance (i.e., fast) CPU, especially when it comes to real-time control.As the blow [...]
CAN-in-Automation (CiA) To Launch CAN XL During International CAN Conference
Today, CAN-in-Automation (CiA - not related to the American Homeland Security Department) announced its intention to launch yet another flavor of the ever-popular CAN Bus technology, namely CAN XL, which supports an extra-large (XL) payload of up to 2048 bytes. For more information on CAN XL, we have to wait until after the announcement during the [...]