What's the difference between industrial ethernet and ethernet ?
1. What is ethernet ?
Ethernet is a computer local area network technology. The IEEE802.3 standard organized by the IEEE has formulated the Ethernet technical standard and stipulates the content of the physical layer connection, electronic signal and medium access layer protocol. Ethernet is now the most popular LAN technology and the most widely used LAN technology in the world.
2. What is industrial ethernet ?
Industrial Ethernet is an industrial network developed on the basis of Ethernet technology and TCP/IP technology. Based on strong regional groups and IEEE802.3 (Ethernet). Industrial Ethernet is the first industrial communication method based on Ethernet communication proposed by Siemens. Industrial Ethernet has the advantages of high speed, high stability, strong anti-noise ability, and good interconnection and interchangeability.
3. Relations between industrial ethernet and ethernet
Industrial Ethernet is the perfect combination of Ethernet technology and general industrial protocols, and it is also the application expansion of Ethernet in the industrial field. In recent years, in order to meet the needs of high real-time industrial applications, major industrial automation companies and standardization organizations have proposed various real-time technical standards for industrial Ethernet. These standards are formulated according to the IEEE802.3 standard and are compatible with standard Ethernet network to establish contact.
Since Ethernet is designed for office and does not meet the requirements of industrial environment and standards, there are still obvious defects if using traditional Ethernet in the industrial field.
- Certainty
Since the MAC layer protocol of Ethernet is CSMA/CD, the protocol is conflicting on the network. For an industrial network, if there are a large number of conflicts, the data must be retransmitted many times, which greatly increases the uncertainty of communication between the networks and reduces the system control performance.
- Real-time
In industrial control systems, after an event occurs, the system must respond within an accurately foreseeable time frame. In the industry, the real-time requirements of data transmission are very high, and the update of data is completed in tens of milliseconds. The CSMA/CD mechanism of Ethernet, when a conflict occurs, retransmits data, and can try 16 times. This conflict resolution mechanism is at the cost of time.The disconnection of the equipment may cause major equipment or personal safety accidents.
- Reliability
Ethernet is designed for business, but when it is applied to industrial sites, its reliability will inevitably be reduced in the face of harsh working conditions and severe inter-line interference. Therefore, industrial networks require high reliability, recoverability and maintainability.
4. The difference for industrial ethernet and ethernet
- The real-time performance of industrial Ethernet is higher (or the media access control layer and the logical link control layer are designed more reasonably to ensure higher network utilization)
- Stronger anti-interference ability , so we can say, Industrial Ethernet is a fieldbus, but Ethernet is not.
Popular Industrial ethernet protocol
- Ethernet/IP
- CANopen
- Devicenet
- PROFIBUS
- INTERBUS
- PROFINET
- ETHERCAT
- Sercos
- Varan
- SFC-interface
- CC-Link
CAZN have various solutions of M12 to RJ45 cable for industrial ethernet
Main features of industrial ethernet
- High speed: real-time communicationLarge amount of data: high bandwidth
- Protection from spying and attacks : secure communications
- Reliable Connections: Robust and Reliable Components and Networks
- High flexibility: plug and play, simple (re)configuration on demand
- Suitable for industrial environment: anti-corrosion, anti-interference, oil-resistant
Requirements for M12 ethernet cables from Industrial ethernet
The transmission speed of the industrial Ethernet used in the automation system is not only affected by equipment such as switch and controllers, but also the cables and connectors that play a role in connecting. If the performance of the connectors and cables does not meet the requirements, will limit the speed of the entire industrial Ethernet.
Because in the industrial environment, there are many factors that can interfere with the transmission of signals, and the most important role of industrial Ethernet is to transmit signals and data accurately. If data transmission errors are caused by interference, it may lead to production accidents, so the anti-interference ability of cables and connections is very important.
In industrial automation, there are often a variety of harsh use environments, moisture, oil, vibration, corrosive gases and liquids, etc. If these factors cause the failure of the connector, it will affect the stability of the entire industrial Ethernet. Therefore, connectors and cables must have strong anti-corrosion, waterproof, anti-vibration, and anti-bending capabilities.
In industrial automation, the real-time transmission of signals is very important, because the actuator will take action according to the signal. If the signal is delayed, it will act at the wrong time, which will lead to the occurrence of defective products and serious production accidents.
Connectors and cables must have the following capabilities ：
- Support high speed transmission
- Strong waterproof, anti-corrosion, anti-vibration, anti-oil ability
- Strong anti-interference ability
- Support real-time data transmission, large bandwidth
- Pull-resistant and bend-resistant
What type connectors and cables will reach these requirements?
1. For M12 connectors
(1) M12 ethernet cable connector Features
- IP67 waterproof - CAZN connector of M12 ethernet cable , is designed IP67 protection , waterproof and anti-corrosion, suitable for harsh industrial environments .
- Anti-vibration - CAZN molded M12 ethernet connector have anti-vibration design
- Anti-interference - the full shielded CAZN M12 ethernet cable connector will
ensure stable and accurate data transmission and ensure that it is not interfered by other signals .
- Support high speed data transmission - M12 connector have same copper material conductor as ethernet cables , 24AWG - 22AWG conductors , can support CAT5 , CAT6 , CAT6a ethernet cables .
(2) M12 Coding type and pin-out for industrial ethernet
- Ethernet/IP : M12 A coded 4 pin , A coded 8 pin , D coded 4 pin , X coded 8 pin connector
- CANOPEN : A coded 5 pin M12 connector
- Profinet : M12 D coded 4 pin connector
- Devicenet : A coded 5 pin , B coded 5 pin M12 connector
- PROFIBUS : B coded 5 pin M12 connector
- INTERBUS : B coded 5 pin M12 connector
- EtherCAT/Sercos : D coded 4 pin M12 connector
- Sercos III : M12 X coded 8 pin connector
- SFC-interface : A coded 4 pin connector
- VARAN :
2 X coded 8 pin connector
- CC-Link protocol : A coded 4 pin connector
2. For ethernet cables
Not only the connectors, ethernet cables also face harsh industrial environments, such as corrosion, oil pollution, interference, twisting, etc.
And the real-time , quick data signal transmission have requirements for the ethernet cables.
(1) Which catagory of ethernet cable is required for industrial ethernet ?
In industrial Ethernet, 100 Mb/s has been widely used, and 1Gb/s Ethernet technology has gradually been applicated, while the maximum rate of traditional fieldbus is only 12Mb/s. The rate of industrial Ethernet is higher than that of traditional fieldbus. It is much faster and can fully meet the increasing bandwidth requirements of industrial control networks.
So Cat5 , cat5e , cat6 would meet most of the industrial ethernet requirements.
(2) How can the ethernet cable met the oil environment ?
For industrial ethernet cable jackets, PVC , PUR TPE are the most popular.
Compared with PVC cables, PUR and TPE cables have excellent oil resistance, good toughness, wear resistance, cold resistance (low temperature resistance), water resistance, aging resistance, acid and alkali resistance.
It has many excellent functions such as weather resistance, long service life, UV resistance and energy release, and is suitable for extremely harsh occasions such as oil pollution and low temperature environment. But, the cost of PUR and TPE material is much higher than that of PVC material.
So we can see , the PUR TPE jackets ethernet cable is more suitable for industrial ethernet.
(3) Stranded or solid ethernet cables ?
In automation applications, such as drag chains and logistics systems, operating systems, and mechanical automation systems of modern mechanical standard components, the ethernet cable will often be twisted, ordinary solid ethernet cables are not suitable for applications for industrial towline like robots because they are not soft enough,may stucked,or damaged.
The stranded ethernet cable has many thin copper wires in each conductor, that makes the ethernet cable more soft. If the industrial Ethernet cable is repeatedly move like in towline, or frequently connected and disconnected, a stranded cable is more suitable.
If don't need to any movement, or for powering the Ethernet, for outdoor, structured cabling applications, solid ethernet cables are more suitable.
(4) How to realize anti-interference of industrial Ethernet cable ?
The ethernet cable realize the anti-interference by twisted pair and shielding , there are may different types , such as
- Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
- Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
- Foiled Twisted Pair (FTP)
- Outer Foil Shield/Unshielded Twisted Pair (F/UTP)
- Outer Braided Shield/Unshielded Twisted Pair (S/UTP)
- Outer Braided Shield/Foiled Twisted Pair (S/FTP)
CAZN have various types of ethernet cables for different application
Different type of shielding for ethernet cables have different performance , from following chart we can see SF/FTP is the best
3. For RJ45
Different catagories ethernet cables fits different RJ45 , like there is Cat5e RJ45 , Cate6 RJ45 , and the RJ45 have unshielded type and shielded type , the shielded type have metal jacket .
With wrong RJ45 , the ethernet cable would not fit .
So , the user should choose the right RJ45 accord the ethernet cable , and decide if should use shielded RJ45 accord the application environment.
