The fourth Industrial Revolution, or simply Industry 4.0, is transforming the communication paradigm within modern factories. Networks must support more sophisticated connectivity solutions to meet the increasing demands of edge-node sensing and computing. Organizations need a reliable top-to-bottom Ethernet solution to support higher data rates, increasingly more connected devices, and centralized supervision.

The data shared factory-wide from sensors via the Ethernet network at the edge node—device layer—or after being aggregated at the application layer—Big Data—holds valuable information. Data is not particularly useful if we don’t know if, when, or how to take action based on it. The usefulness of data goes beyond the factory process engineer, factory manager, and OEM executive.

When contextualized, the data becomes useful for a whole range of external stakeholders—in fact, everyone along the supply chain supporting manufacturing, distribution, and retail. The availability of data, even if stripped of valuable business or private information, can help spur the development of innovative ways to put it to use.

Existing industrial environments use Ethernet for supervisory control and station management but still rely on legacy field bus solutions to communicate with field instrumentation. Such legacy protocols need to be replaced and modernized with low-cost single-pair Ethernet solutions allowing tomorrow’s factories to run Ethernet seamlessly from the cloud all the way to the edge.

When analyzed, data from the edge to the cloud sheds light on patterns and utilization, enabling better allocation of resources and development of infrastructure that most closely reflects the needs of factory staff and customers. This data will provide critical decision-making information for establishing factory processes and infrastructure maintenance to improve on-time manufacturing and quality.

A new IEEE standard 802.3cg overcomes today’s gap in Industrial Ethernet by delivering low-cost, 10 Mbps communication to field devices using two new physical layers: 10BASE-T1L for long-range, point-to-point communication up to 1,000 meters and 10BASE-T1S for multi-point communication up to 25 meters. See the video Ethernet at the Edge for more insight.

Wiring and installation costs can dominate the networking budgets for many modern factories. Yet, multi-drop Ethernet provides significant advantages over traditional solutions— reducing installation complexity and cost with up to 70% fewer cables and up to 80% lower installation costs. 10BASE-T1S also offers unparalleled flexibility to repurpose nodes for ever-changing system configurations after the initial installation.

Designed to provide reliable multi-drop Ethernet communication, the NCN26010 from onsemi is one of the first 802.3cg compliant controllers available on the market. The constant communication of intelligent sensors with communications enabled by IEEE 802.3cg-based Ethernet technology throughout the smart factory ecosystem will improve factory equipment maintenance, infrastructure, and processes. These communications can increase system-wide efficiencies through the automation of processes.

Smart sensor proliferation will spark innovations, develop new capabilities, and enable new touch points for engagement between manufacturing, downstream suppliers, distribution, customers, and retail. Network gateway technologies allow the communications of factory data and control of factory assets and help promote increased efficiency and development of innovation that offers improved human-centric factory design and actionable decision making.

The NCN26010 noise immunity extends well beyond the IEEE T1S standard, with a proprietary Enhanced Noise Immunity feature providing robust signal detection in noisy industrial environments. The NCN26010 exceeds the noise immunity levels specified in IEEE 802.3cg to enable 50+ meters of range.

In addition, the NCN26010 also offers the lowest line capacitance to support five times the node requirement of the IEEE 802.3cg standard, supporting up to 40 nodes on a 25-meter segment and maximizing the cost savings of wiring and installation provided by 10BASE-T1S solutions.

In addition to device robustness and scalability, the presence of intelligent cameras and visibility of data from factory processes powered by 802.3cg-enabled Ethernet provides enhanced customer experience and confidence in manufacturing capabilities via manufacturing transparency.

Contact onsemi to learn how you can transform your factory with 10BASE-T1S and the NCN26010. Check out the Application Note for more information on using the NCN26010.