12 Questions to Ask Before Selecting an Ethernet Network
Ethernet’s simple and effective design has made it a popular industrial networking solution at the physical and data link levels. With high-speed and high-bandwidth options and a variety of media types to choose from, Ethernet is efficient and flexible.
Most major control system manufacturers now incorporate versions of Ethernet networks and higher-level Ethernet related protocols into their product offerings, such as EtherCAT, Modbus-TCP, Ethernet/IP, Foundation Fieldbus
1. What is the distance requirement?
2. What cabling arrangement makes sense for this application?
3. What is the speed requirement for the most time-critical devices? Do all devices require that speed or should some have a higher/lower priority than others?
4. Does the network allow you to prioritize messages?
5. Does the network require security, segmentation and redundancy capabilities in the architecture?
6. If you are developing a network-capable product, what is the hardware bill of materials and cost of software development for that network?
7. How much electrical noise is present in the application and how susceptible is the cabling to such interference?
8. What is the maximum required packet size for the data that will be sent? If the data can be fragmented over several packets, how fast does a completed message have to arrive?
9. What type(s) of device relationships are desired: master/slave, peer-peer or broadcast?
10. Does the network need to distribute electrical power? If so, how much current?
11. What kind of fault tolerance needs to be built