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HIRSCHMANN NETWORK SYSTEMS
Hirschmann Network Systems Distributed Communication Architecture Industrial networking solutions with a future Hirschmann Boiler plate Section Industrial Communications Systems .5 Introduction .5 Hirschmann DCA - a strategy for the next millennium Strategic direction Why you need a network architecture? .6 Flexibility for the future The lack of a single transparent automation and control network .6 The network is a long-term major asset .6 Principles for industrial network architecture Industry trends The need for high performance Industrial networks .9 Distributed Communication Architecture – DCA 10 A statement of direction for industrial networks 10 Real time 10 Migration 11 Topology & Resilience 11 Management .11 Performance 11 Cost .11 A blueprint for future industrial network growth 11 Section 12 An industrial networking architecture for the next millennium 12 The future of automation 12 The Vision 13 Criteria for network evaluation 16 REAL-TIME 17 Ethernet 17 Legacy Fieldbus .17 MIGRATION 17 Ethernet 17 Legacy Fieldbus .17 TOPOLOGY & RESILIENCE 17 Ethernet 17 Legacy Fieldbus .17 Continued… 17 Ethernet 17 Legacy Fieldbus .17 MANAGEMENT 18 Ethernet 18 Legacy Fieldbus .18 PERFORMANCE 18 Ethernet 18 Legacy Fieldbus .18 COST 18 Ethernet 18 Legacy Fieldbus .18 Section 19 The Ethernet Evolution 19 A brief history 21 The road to deterministic Ethernet 21 Ethernet developments over the past decade 22 Evolving standards 23 Section 25 A time for change 25 Market dynamics .25 Vendor opportunities 26 Section 28 Hirschmann’s DCA 28 A blueprint for future industrial growth .28 The Hirschmann Ethernet Fieldbus Approach .29 Real-time 30 Migration 30 Topology & Resilience .31 Management 32 Performance 33 Cost .33 Benefits 33 What Hirschmann offers 33 Summary 34 Hirschmann Network Systems Communications Strategy Hirschmann's long-term communications strategy is based around the complementary strands of industrial automation & control communication and enterprise-wide communications, managed by a common management application, HiVision The Distributed Communication Architecture (DCA) describes a robust standards-based Ethernet solution for all levels of the industrial automation and control environment, managing and handling information from instruments and sensors to control devices which intercommunicate with plant computer equipment DCA can be deployed throughout the wide spectrum of industrial applications Factory automation, traffic management and process control are typical environments where Hirschmann’s industrial network solutions are being used With intranet/Internet access to the control network managers are able to view the shopfloor, data and activities easily and cost-effectively Industrial networks need to provide two views of the factory or process - a view of operations and a view of configuration/management/diagnostics Both require traffic management capabilities in the network to prioritize traffic and minimize congestion, which DCA provides The Scalable Ethernet Architecture (SEA) is a strategic framework for scalable Ethernet throughout the enterprise, from the workgroup to the enterprise backbone, comprising advanced network devices and management software Hirschmann Boiler plate Hirschmann Network Systems, a division of Richard Hirschmann GmbH & co, is the leading manufacturer of robust system solutions, designed specifically for industrial networking requirements Part of Rheinmetall Elektronik AG, the highly successful German industrial conglomerate, Hirschmann Network Systems have ambitious growth plans and aim to become the number one supplier of industrial strength networking solutions within the next three years With a broad spectrum of products, Hirschmann provides a complete range of Ethernet solutions for industrial and corporate end users Customers come from all enterprises, industrial and public sectors, including chemical and automotive industries, finance and banking, local government, education, the media and health care Hirschmann has performed particularly well in harsh industrial environments where the emphasis is placed on “super-resilient”, deterministic networks The industrial product portfolio, IndustrialLine, developed specifically for the challenging conditions of the industrial world, include maintenance free, long-lived, standards compliant products that are easily installed within a plug and play architecture Consisting of hubs, concentrators and switches, the IndustrialLine includes four product families: ASGE, MC, MR and the second generation DIN Rail family of products all designed to address the specific requirements of mission-critical industrial networking Steeped in a tradition of technological innovation, the first milestone for the company was back in 1984 with the installation of the world’s first Ethernet network, employing Fibre Optics at the University of Stuttgart Today, Hirschmann has 100,000 hubs and switches installed in over 15,000 networks world-wide while domestically; Hirschmann is the prime network supplier to 150 of Germany’s Top 500 companies Hirschmann continues to develop innovative, high quality network systems with 15% of its annual revenues invested back into R&D Hirschmann is ISO9001 certified and belongs to all the predominant standardisation bodies These include the IEEE, Gigabit Ethernet Alliance and ATM Forum, Open DeviceNET Vendor Association (ODVA), Profibus Trade Organisation (PTO) and the Fieldbus Foundation Section Industrial Communications Systems Networks exist to support the needs of the factory and are the lifeblood of the manufacturing process However, it seems all this transferring data around between the different layers of the current factory floor network is becoming too complex Hirschmann solves this dilemma Instead of viewing factory networks as independent layers, they are viewed as a single resource for data streams prioritised by application needs By viewing factory traffic as layered data streams, it is possible to forward data using a set of rules that applies to all layers Instead of compromising between the different capabilities of the different layers of today's factory network, managers can use them fully Introduction Most factory floor networks are not ready to take manufacturing into the next millenium The DCA product line from Hirschmann provides manufacturers with a practical highperformance answer with the ability to operate distributed high-bandwidth networks, delivering unmatched performance through sophisticated robust design Hirschmann DCA - a strategy for the next millennium The industry is dominated by legacy fieldbus solutions So-called fast control networks generally operate at a meagre or 2Mbps and lack the ability to scale to multi-megabit speeds and support thousands of devices Newer fieldbuses like 12Mbps Profibus promise higher performance, but with an accompanying expensive price-tag Foundation Fieldbus are now committed to using 100Mbps Fast Ethernet for the long awaited H2 specification Of these alternatives, it is only Fieldbus Foundation with the H2 standard that has the potential to provide an optimal solution for Industrial automation networks This is the market opportunity targeted by Hirschmann's Distributed Communication Architecture Designed to meet the demands of the most mission-critical application, DCA is optimised to deliver the deterministic performance, scalability and high resilience required by these applications at price-points far below those of today's fieldbus solution Hirschmann's Distributed Communication Architecture describes a control network strategy for the next millennium Strategic direction Simply, Hirschmann's DCA network architecture defines the strategic direction for its next generation Ethernet fieldbus products - IndustrialLine The combination of new demands on the factory floor network and the emergence of the intranet/Internet technologies has pushed current-generation fieldbus designs to their architectural limits Although elegantly simple in concept, DCA is a radical rethinking of the control network architecture - and also defines the strategic direction for the development of the Hirschmann IndustrialLine products The DCA architecture is the means by which Hirschmann will deliver high performance and guaranteed quality of service for real-time processes as well as easy, low-cost deployment, thanks to its compatibility with legacy fieldbus solutions Why you need a network architecture? Users are going to be spending large amounts of money on new automation and control networks to meet the forthcoming bandwidth and performance crisis, so it makes sense to it right first time A well thought-out network architecture outlines the solution to this crisis and gives customers confidence about a vendors capability to answer both current and future needs Flexibility for the future As the automation and control infrastructure changes over time, the network architecture must incorporate the necessary flexibility to accommodate evolving user needs Investing in the network today will buy flexibility for tomorrow The lack of a single transparent automation and control network The past lack of an appropriate automation and control network architecture coupled with the lack of standardisation of vendor offerings has prevented the rapid development of new products and new vendor services The subsequent lack of competitiveness (or dominance of any single vendor-driven set of "standards") and the complexity of current three-tier control networks has opened a new window of opportunity for vendors who want to embrace a new architecture The diagram below shows how and when Ethernet is going to push down from the information level all the way to intelligent devices at the instrumentation level The network is a long-term major asset For users, the deployment of an automation and control network and related equipment is a major expense and as a long-term major corporate asset and utility, a coherent network architecture justifies the spending of funds Network architecture identifies the major components of a network and how they relate to one another Since it is strategic in definition, individual components or devices may not be currently available, but available in a time-scale of about 18 months In essence, it defines the ideal state of an actual implementation of a network However, an architecture does not specify the exact sizing and placement of its components Principles for industrial network architecture Although hardware and software implementation differs, the underlying standards for open, production management systems are the same as can be found in today’s business systems That means freedom from the expense of maintaining specialized, one-of-a-kind systems to run their plants Further, open systems unchain live manufacturing data, enabling companies to distribute it freely across enterprise networks in real-time to people who can use it to make a whole company run more effectively Changing manufacturing practices are leading towards a new industrial automation and control infrastructure As firms move into the global marketplace and implement advanced production processes, new technologies - such as Internet, wireless communications, graphical client/server applications, smart devices and decision support systems - are being deployed to reduce costs and streamline operations However, these new tools and business processes create significant data distribution problems from the device level to the back office Companies employing the latest automation and control techniques can expect a steep rise in bandwidth requirements, along with multiple challenges as they embrace technology to improve vendors' and customers' role in production Emerging production processes, integrated systems and control/communications technology offer significant competitive advantages For many years, the drive in manufacturing has been towards streamlined operations, improved response time to production schedule changes and the use of electronics to price and fill orders Industry trends The Internet, and its associated technologies, has radically changed the way people go about their business today It has improved communications throughout society and is now ubiquitous on a global scale During the 1990’s the main user of the Internet has been people as they provide the intelligence to filter and sort the fast amounts of material available into useable information This model is changing In the world of office automation Internet technology has been designed into the devices that support the business and its infrastructure Example of this evolutionary process can be seen in products as diverse as photocopiers and printers to LAN routers and voice PBXs So why is this happening? The answer is simple - it makes sense! Giving intelligent devices the ability to communicate with the outside world is a good thing In the case of the printer & copier automated ordering of consumables such as paper or toner, either to the office administrator or the supplier by email both saves time, money and increases availability of the device As for the PBX, the ability for a device to inform the maintenance company when tolerances are exceeded and things start to go wrong, rather than wait for a complete system failure, saves time and money for all concerned The additional benefit is that the technology differentiates the supplier through improved customer service & support This value proposition, “to save time and money whilst offering increased service and support” has great worth in Industrial application where vast sums of money can be lost in a relatively short time when production or processes are halted For the process and manufacturing industries, this is the year of change and a shift to new technologies Underpinning all technological trends is the move towards open, transparent commercial installations based on intranet/Internet and away from legacy, vendor driven systems Every part of the process control and automation industry - from embedded systems to the Fieldbus Foundation - has recognised the importance of Ethernet and TCP/IP Ethernet has become the dominant network technology at the controller supervisory level Every Controller, PLC and DCS vendor has an Ethernet interface and it is now moving downwards towards device and the I/O level The need for high performance Industrial networks Adding these new processes, systems and technologies to today's automation and control communication infrastructure will stress it unbearably Bottlenecks caused by, typically three, discrete networks (Plant, Control & Device) will need to be removed before networks become a transparent and plant wide utility Over the past five years there have been many enhancements to the Ethernet standards, especially in areas of determinism, speed and prioritisation There is no longer any reason why Ethernet cannot be used to build deterministic fieldbus solutions that are costeffective and open Since Ethernet is already the network choice for business computing, its presence at the control level will make sensor to boardroom integration a reality rather than a goal for manufacturers With the physical bottlenecks removed raw transmission speed needs to be increased and management policies implemented to allow the various traffic types to be prioritised according to needs The initial impact of adding new, bandwidth hungry applications will be on factory floor network, followed by WANs, should a manufacturer want to make key manufacturing data available to customers and other partners in its supply chain Process management Product tracking and genealogy Performance analysis Quality management Document control Data collection/ acquisition sequences, changes,events, schedules, controls, buffers Monitor, control, correct, decision support, tracking, alarms, tolerances Visibility, status, who is working on what components, suppliers, lots, serial numbers, environments, alarms, rework steps, exceptions, history, tracing, usage Up-to-the-minute status, results, history, measurements, utilisation, availability, cycle time, conformance to schedule, performance to standards, parameters, reports Analysis, measurement, collecting, quality control, identifying problems, correlation, symptoms, actions, results, tracking, inspection Forms, instructions, recipes, drawings, standard procedures, programs, batch records, EC notices, as planned" and "as built" Interfaces, links, production/parametric data, forms, scanned transaction records, other collected data Complimentary technologies that support such network related business functions are many and varied They include: smart sensors and fieldbus devices Electrical panels and intelligent circuitry in specialised local factory networks which enable multiple performance measurements on production line equipment, operations and materials high bandwidth devices Ethernet interfaces, data collection terminals, radiofrequency (RF) devices/transmitters and programmable controllers traceability RF tags, barcodes and smart cards client/server installations & thin clients Internet access As these technologies mature over the next couple of years, current bandwidth levels are expected to hit their ceilings and new network solutions will be required For control systems, the immediate focus is the factory floor network Today, many devices are connected to a control network through proprietary serial cabling and protocols Information is then consolidated from the control network running at speeds typically under 2Mbps For this information to reach the corporate systems it must cross the divide between the control network and the information network with its links back into the enterprise office automation (OA) network Typically this function is carried out by a PC based gateway or HMI workstation With interfaces to the proprietary control network on the one side and the Ethernet/TCP/IP based information network on the other, the gateway provides a route, albeit restricted, across the divide In the majority of cases today, the information network utilises 10Mbps shared Ethernet The first casualty of the information explosion will be the legacy fieldbus system with 2Mbps as its upper limit Shared 10Mbps Ethernet will also be replaced initially by 10Mbps switched increasing to 100Mbps as need dictates Ethernet will also extend its reach, driving the technology closer to intelligent devices and remote I/O The Internet and modern networking designs will enable four major functions to be radically improved Easier product installation for remote or local personnel using HTTP server and browser technology set up, re-configuration and status monitoring Diagnostics/repair help find and solve problems with device or devices' mission using SNMP, FTP, peer-to-peer or HTTP technology and memory dumps to host for analysis, download programs to RAM or flash memory 14 Use the HTTP server to gather a wealth of information from a device Management reporting and network capacity planning 15 Criteria for network evaluation 16 REAL-TIME Ethernet Legacy Fieldbus Application target ALL ALL Determinism YES YES Response time 4ms or less 5ms or less Message size ALL SIZES LIMITED MIGRATION Geography Ethernet Legacy Fieldbus WORLD-WIDE REGIONAL Backwards compatibility HIGH LOW Degree of openness HIGH LOW Interoperability HIGH LOW Standardisation IEEE 802.3 EN 50170 / Fieldbus Foundation Network Security HIGH HIGH Protocol TCP/IP PROPRIETARY TOPOLOGY & RESILIENCE Ethernet Legacy Fieldbus Automation level Business YES NO Control YES YES Device YES YES GATEWAY YES Bit-sensor Physical Connectivity Media TP, FIBER, COAX, AUI, WIRELESS COPPER, FIBER Devices connected CONTROLLERS, FIELD DEVICES, REMOTE I/O CONTROLLERS, FIELD DEVICES, REMOTE I/O 64000 500 1-256 (APPLICATION DEPENDANT) 48 Up to 40Km Up to 20Km Max no of nodes Nodes per segment Distance between nodes Continued… Ethernet 17 Legacy Fieldbus Repeaters for longer distances YES YES Logical Connectivity Communication modes VARIED YES Internet/intranet VARIED NO Resilience Reliability HIGH HIGH Scalability HIGH MEDIUM Redundancy YES YES Hot insertion of devices YES SOME MANAGEMENT Ethernet Legacy Fieldbus Plug'n'play support YES NO Network topology BUS, STAR, RING BUS, STAR,RING VLANs YES NO HTTP / WWW YES NO SNMP YES NO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 7, User Layer ISO Levels supported PERFORMANCE Ethernet Data transfer rate Legacy Fieldbus LOW 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbps Speed HIGH 1-12 Mbps HIGH MEDIUM Scalability COST Ethernet Legacy Fieldbus Cost LOW HIGH Cost per connection LOW HIGH Cost of Ownership LOW HIGH MULTIPLE SINGLE VENDOR Sourcing 18 Section The Ethernet Evolution Advances in commercial networking technology have been coming so fast that it has grown difficult for automation and controls suppliers to keep comparable elements of their legacy systems abreast with state-of-the-art network developments With the networking industry offering dramatically increased bandwidth, commercially available Ethernet equipment is now beyond what suppliers can hope to develop in-house in terms of fieldbus and control networks For vendors, in-house development of computer hardware, operating systems and networking elements, which can be purchased cost-effectively on the open market, exacts a fierce toll It is very expensive for suppliers to support 20 year old, proprietary systems Originally ignored by the Automation industry because of its perceived lack of determinism and robustness, Ethernet has evolved into a technology which the automation and control industry is swiftly adopting Ethernet TCP/IP is a widespread network technology, with users exceeding 100 million world-wide Ethernet PC boards sell for sub $30 compared to the $900 or more for a control or device network PC board In addition, the growing acceptance of Microsoft Windows NT and its incorporation of Ethernet drivers into the operating system enhance Ethernet as the backbone of high-speed control and device networks Further, Windows CE is being considered as an embedded operating system for devices and controllers, leveraging Windows NT capabilities Many PCs include an Ethernet network interface card at little or no cost Ethernet TCP/IP also offers easy connection to the Internet, which is gradually filtering its way into the world of industrial automation and control systems Devices sitting on an Ethernet TCP/IP network need only be assigned an IP address for Internet connectivity In addition, a complimentary Internet technology – Java, is already being used in applications from automation and control suppliers 19 To meet the demands of industrial control networks, Ethernet architecture must be based on six main criteria: real-time capabilities, migration, topology & resilience, management, performance and cost 20 A brief history The history of local area networking is relatively short - Ethernet was the first working LAN It was developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Park, beginning in 1973, by a team headed by Dr Robert Metcalfe Ethernet was first widely employed commercially to network terminals to minicomputer systems - more specifically, to network Digital Equipment Corp terminals to its VAX line of minis Unix-based workstations and scientific workstations were also connected by Ethernet early on The original published specifications were known as DIX (Digital, Intel, Xerox) Ethernet Specifications Versions 1.0 and 2.0 The IEEE adopted, improved and modified the DIX Version 2.0 specification This became the IEEE 802.3 standard, which is equivalent to the ISO 8802/3 standard The first IEEE Ethernet standard was published in 1983, defining what we know today as 10Base5 or thick Ethernet The earliest commercial network, Ethernet, used a bus - a single data path to which all workstations attach and on which all transmissions are available to every workstation Only the workstation to which the transmission is addressed can actually read it, however A bus cable must be terminated at both ends to present a specified impedance to the network workstations The road to deterministic Ethernet How can only one computer at a time be allowed to transmit on the network? Access to the network - the right to transmit - can be allocated in one of two ways: randomly or in a deterministic order In a random access method, any station can initiate a transmission at any time - unless another station is already transmitting In a deterministic access method, each station must wait its turn to transmit Carrier-Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detect (CSMA/CD) is the random access method used for bus arbitration within the original shared Ethernet standard of IEEE802.3 CSMA/CD and random access are best suited where network traffic is unpredictable and bursty, consisting of many short transmissions Since industrial networks are characterised by their deterministic nature, consistent low latencies and low 21 jitter, it is hardly surprising that the leading Automation vendors regarded early Ethernet as unsuitable and developed their own networking solutions However, rapid developments in Ethernet switching technology in the early 1990s’ have eliminated what were once barriers to the adoption of Ethernet as the control network of choice With its speed, robust performance, low cost of deployment and constantly updated technology, Ethernet is a natural fit into the automation and control hierarchy Ethernet is typically used in manufacturing operations for communication both between business system components and plant networks Ethernet's capability to easily communicate with multiple devices and manage the traffic to the information level of the plant make it an ideal candidate for use at the control & device level Ethernet developments over the past decade A new version of Ethernet, 10BaseT, appeared in the late 1980s It uses twisted pair (TP) wiring and is arranged in a star topology Yet the network acts as a logical bus That is to say, signals transmitted by any workstation are available on the network to all workstations Only the station for which the transmission is destined can read it Ethernet switching arrived on the scene during 1992 The best analogy to switched Ethernet is switched voice and the PBX voice switch Ethernet switches also support multiple simultaneous communications between many devices without collisions Using addressing information contained in each Ethernet frame a switch forwards data to a switch port to where the destination equipment can be reached The ability to switch an Ethernet frame to a specific destination based upon information in the Ethernet frame rather than broadcast the frame everywhere was the first step in making Ethernet deterministic Ethernet switching has since revolutionised the business of networking, originally demanding a premium switched ports are now priced at a level where it makes good sense to deploy them widely IEEE 802.3x brought with it standardised full-duplex operation and link based flow control Full duplex working in point-to-point mode, further overcame the issue of determinism by giving a single station full wire rate connection, with no risk of data collisions It is collisions caused by two devices attempting to transmit at the same instant that made Ethernet unpredictable when loaded Where contention is a network issue, flow control provides a means whereby an Ethernet switch can indicate to transmitting stations that congestion exists in the network and that they should pause transmission The next evolution was Fast Ethernet (IEEE 802.3u), which is nearly identical to 10Mbps Ethernet The packet length, packet format, error control and management information are identical to 10BaseT, but the speed is increased by a factor of 10 It is implemented as a star topology IEEE 802.3ac, supporting the work carried out by the 802.1 p & Q IEEE working groups, added frame tagging for priority (8 levels) and VLAN identification which, when combined with Ethernet switching, delivers deterministic performance 22 Recently, Gigabit Ethernet (IEEE 802.3z) has been ratified, combining Fibre Channel technology with Ethernet media access, running at 1000Mbps (1Gbps) over fibre optic cabling Hirschmann has specifically addressed current concerns about Ethernet's lack of determinism and redundancy using the standards described above and adding further, complimentary features that are specific to building industrial networks The result is that Ethernet can now be adopted as the control & device network of choice Several control suppliers have begun to move towards open systems by taking advantage of new technologies and incorporating them into their control systems For example, Fisher Rosemount's DeltaV system uses standard Ethernet as the control network between workstations and controllers Foxboro and Schneider Automation use Ethernet products as the backbone of their control networks Evolving standards Three phases in the evolution of the Ethernet fieldbus can be identified In the first phase, Ethernet replaces proprietary fieldbus connectivity and wiring as well as proprietary fieldbus signaling implementations Above Layer 1, all fieldbus protocols are specific to the control network supplier There are many examples of this type of implementation such as Foxboro's Micro I/A Series which uses Ethernet for connectivity between workstations and controllers, but retains a proprietary protocol to communicate between controllers 23 In the second phase, Layers through proprietary fieldbus protocols are replaced with open networking protocols i.e Ethernet TCP/IP However, higher layers retain their proprietary nature in order for suppliers to maintain differentiation Examples of this approach include Modbus which is underpinned with Ethernet TCP/IP but has added application software in order to support the requirements of its field devices In the third phase, the trend towards a "standard fieldbus" becomes inevitable, driven by user demand The key example is the recent conversion of the Fieldbus Foundation for its H2 fieldbus architecture to be based on Fast Ethernet "The Foundation's Fast Ethernet Phase Phase Phase program is a direct response to the expressed needs and requirements of end users," said Fieldbus Foundation President, John Pittman 24 Section A time for change End users want an enabling technology that provides true device interoperability, enhanced field-level control and reduced installation costs However, both suppliers of controls and instrumentation and end users continue to seek a single international fieldbus standard Suppliers want to base their new product developments on an open, nonproprietary fieldbus protocol that is available to any company that wishes to implement it Market dynamics Every part of the process control and automation industry - from embedded systems to the Fieldbus Foundation - has recognised the importance of Ethernet and TCP/IP Ethernet has become the dominant network technology at the controller supervisory level Every PLC and DCS vendor has an Ethernet interface and it is now moving downwards towards the I/O and device level For example, NETsilicon (fomerly Osicom) is pricing its embedded Ethernet TCP/IP chips at commodity prices that will open the door to Ethernet at the device and instrumentation level In order to encourage take-up further, NETsilicon make starter kits available Microsoft has committed to extend the real-time capabilities of Windows CE, its embedded operating system, with the twin goals of thread response latencies of 50 microsec or better and increasing the number of priority levels beyond its current eight Windows NT is suitable for 80% of manufacturing and process control applications, Windows CE's proposed realtime capabilities will allow it to address 16% of the remainder, leaving a mere 4% for specialist embedded solutions At the fieldbus level, the Fieldbus Foundation are incorporating open commercial highspeed Fast Ethernet into its H2 program as a direct response to user needs Fisher-Rosemount uses standard Ethernet as the control network between its workstations and controllers in its DeltaV system Foxboro was the first to adopt Ethernet as the backbone of its control system with its I/A Series Initially, Foxboro modified the protocols to optimise Ethernet as a control bus, but today uses standard Ethernet Similarly, Schneider Automation and GE Fanuc use Ethernet to network their PLCs The industrial PC has also evolved in recent years from a mere graphics and data input terminal to a high-end operator interface with advanced control capabilities This evolution has expanded its role from a simple interface to a programmable logic controller (PLC) into a dedicated PLC solution While the traditional PLC cannot handle large volumes of data, the PC-based PLC integrates control and the logical functions of a PLC in software and runs these on a commercial operating system, such as Windows NT In essence, it provides the functionality of the traditional PLC, but with the advantages of the PC environment including open Ethernet networking and free TCP/IP communications software and lower capital outlay 25 Internet and intranet access to real-time process information can be accessed using Javaenabled, Web application servers and standard browsers over TCP/IP and Ethernet Using such Java tools, companies can unite control and computing equipment into a single, virtual network that overrides their incompatibilities Java is the computing environment from Sun Microsystems that enables software to operate independently over an intranet or the Internet, ignoring differences in computer platforms that use the software Vendor opportunities Since Ethernet is already the network choice for business computing, its presence at the control level will make the visionaries goal of sensor to boardroom integration a much easier task for manufacturers The speed and data transfer rate of Ethernet comfortably exceeds those of high speed fieldbus, such as Profibus and ControlNet Profibus has a maximum transfer rate of 12Mbps, while ControlNet is only 5Mbps Standard Ethernet has a transfer rate of 10Mbps, with 100Mbps Fast Ethernet rapidly replacing it With Gigabit Ethernet, the prospects of a 1000Mbps control network backbone become a reality To address redundancy, the IEEE 802.1d standard provides the ability to add redundant links into a network to aid automatic recovery of network connectivity when there is a link or repeater failure anywhere in the network path For control networks, however,the time to recover from a path failure is critical - and Hirschmann's Industrial Line recovers from failure several levels of magnitude faster than standard spanning tree implementations In addition, IEEE 802.1p standard for message prioritisation aids control applications where timing of control information is critical and enhances the deterministic nature of Hirschmann Ethernet based control network solutions In its Industrial Line, Hirschmann brings to Ethernet levels of determinism and resilience comparable to that found in today's fieldbus However, Ethernet TCP/IP does not define the user layer specified in the Foundation Fieldbus, and also does not include function blocks and other features unique to fieldbus For this reason, Hirschmann regards partnership with automation and control suppliers is key to delivering the proven benefits of Ethernet combined with the rich heritage of existing control network architectures Any technology based company that isn't at least thinking about how to use the Internet and Ethernet is missing out on the next major wave of product opportunities By the end of the next five years all products having anything to with measurement, control and information gathering will be networked Not only networked by Ethernet but also linked to Inter/Intranet/Extranet and Web enabled The momentum behind Ethernet is unstoppable and its domination of the control and automation industry is certain Nothing can surpass Ethernet as the lowest cost implementation of a transparent control network Hirschmann's DCA provides the means to deliver a future-proof open Ethernet fieldbus family with all the resilience, reliability and deterministic benefits which in the past have only been found in proprietary legacy fieldbus solutions 26 The freedom vendors’ gain from open networking does not mean fewer opportunities It means vendors will be able to add a lot more value by applying their expertise to providing reliable, fault-tolerant, real-time control packaged as co-ordinated transparent systems 27 Section Hirschmann’s DCA The Distributed Communication Architecture (DCA) describes a robust standards-based Ethernet solution for all levels of the industrial automation and control environment, managing and handling information from instruments and sensors to control devices that intercommunicate with plant computer equipment A blueprint for future industrial growth Manufacturing operations have to cope with unique problems - hazardous machinery, noisy environments, dirt and grease Yet the challenges on the factory floor are similar to those faced in office networks when it comes to protocols, speed and throughput Since Ethernet is already the network of choice for business level computing, its presence at the control will make sensor to boardroom integration a much easier task for control and automation suppliers Vendors are always looking for ways to become more competitive They are increasingly sales, service, and support-oriented However, they need to find additional ways to increase revenues and decrease costs Open networking - TCP/IP, Ethernet and Internet provides new vehicles to meet these needs Manufacturers are "the fountain of funds" and the last stop in the margin food chain All other parts of the distribution cycle look to manufacturers to provide their margins Margin enhancing strategies that are made possible by networking are new areas of leverage These strategies have great potential and will be quickly adopted by suppliers' as soon as they understand the benefits The Internet and Ethernet offer an almost limitless scope of new sales and margin increasing potentials DCA permits supplier system engineers to develop networks better, faster, and at a lower cost 28 ... enterprise backbone, comprising advanced network devices and management software Hirschmann Boiler plate Hirschmann Network Systems, a division of Richard Hirschmann GmbH & co, is the leading manufacturer... Benefits 33 What Hirschmann offers 33 Summary 34 Hirschmann Network Systems Communications Strategy Hirschmann'' s long-term communications... Today, Hirschmann has 100,000 hubs and switches installed in over 15,000 networks world-wide while domestically; Hirschmann is the prime network supplier to 150 of Germany’s Top 500 companies Hirschmann