
37-2 Industrial Communication Systems
First,.a.general.denition.of.Industrial.Ethernet.is.built,.as.well.as.a.technological.classication.of.the.
solutions.into.four.categories..en.a.focus.is.given.on.standardized.solutions.of.the.IEC.61158.
Finally,
.a.synthesis.table.is.proposed.to.give.the.main.features.of.each.solution..Indeed,.there.is.no.
solution.adapted.for.all.problems,.and.industries.have.to.be.aware.of.both.functional.and.technical.
requirements.to.choose.the.best.tted.Industrial.Ethernet.solution.
37.2 Industrial Ethernet
In.the.IT.domain,.Ethernet,.TCP.(or.UDP),.and.IP.are.now.the.de.facto.standards..Most.higher.layer.
protocols,.open.or.proprietary,.rely.on.those.protocols.for.access.control,.network,.and.transport.ser-
vices.
.us,.higher.layer.communications.protocols.can.easily.coexist.on.the.same.network..Moreover,.
many.standard.protocols.over.TCP/IP,.for.instance,.FTP.for.le.transfer.or.HTTP.for.transporting.web.
pages,.commonly.provide.the.necessary.network.services.needed.by.applications..is.is.far.from.being.
the.case.in.the.industrial.networking.solutions,.as.it.is.shown.in.the.two.following.subsections..Section.
37.2.3.then.suggests.a.classication.of.“Industrial.Ethernet”.solutions.
37.2.1 What Does Ethernet Mean?
Ethernet.is.dened.in.the.IEEE.802.3.standard..It.provides.most.of.the.functions.and.services.corre-
sponding
.to.layers.1.and.2.of.the.OSI.model.(cf..Chapter.1).and.is.well.known.for.its.famous.and.conve-
nient
.medium.access.control.method:.CSMA/CD.(cf..Section.2.1).
However,
.when.associated.with.the.adjective.“industrial,”.Ethernet.can.refer.to.three.dierent.exclu-
sive
.meanings..Such.designation.can.either.only.use.Ethernet.standard.products,.including.network.
interface.cards.(NICs),.switches,.and.cables;.be.used.in.a.network.with.Ethernet.standard.hardware.but.
with.specic.NICs;.or.only.use.Ethernet.cables,.everything.else.being.specic.
As
.a.consequence,.dierent.Industrial.Ethernet.types.are.not.interoperable.and.may.or.may.not.coexist.
on.the.same.network,.depending.on.the.solutions.
Gateway or DMZ
Gateway or DMZ
is illustration
shows the maximal
segmentation.
ese dierent
levels can be
assembled in many
dierent ways.
Corporate LAN
Industrial LAN
Level 3 : Domain
applications
Industrial LAN
supervision & control
Level 2 : local SCADA &
HMI
Level 1 : PLCs
Level 0 : Instrumentation
Levels concerned
by industrial
Ethernet solutions.
Fieldbus
Gateway
Automation network
FIGURE 37.1 eoretical.network.segmentation.from.Corporate.LAN.(top).to.Fieldbus.(bottom).
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC