The following is part of  A Comprehensible Guide to Industrial Ethernet by Wilfried Voss.

The demand for Ethernet as a real-time communication network has increased continuously in the past due to the benefits of employing a single network technology throughout the manufacturing facility, from office to plant floor.

However, the unpredictable nature of Ethernet TCP/IP’s timing (which will be explained in the following) has long been a drawback for many industrial network applications, specifically those with higher real-time capability requirements.

Note: As a general requirement, any industrial-strength Fieldbus system must be deterministic in guaranteeing data refresh during controller cycle periods.

While industrial users have already developed methods to overcome these apparent shortcomings, it is worthwhile to have a look at the challenges they faced.

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