Feature: Components


Figure 1: The Aitech A661 comprises two 24-port Ethernet switch boards


Research firm Gartner forecasts some 25 billion Internet


The growing importance of Ethernet switches


By Martin Frederiksen, Managing Director, Recab UK


W


hether referred to as the “Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)” or simply “industrial networking”, one thing is certain – connected systems are increasingly used across all industries. A main component


underpinning this connectivity is the Ethernet switch. Once used exclusively in IT environments, Ethernet switches now find themselves commonly used in harsh environments such as rail, marine, industrial and military.


34 March 2021 www.electronicsworld.co.uk


of Tings (IoT) devices in the world this year, the majority in field-level performance, diagnostic data processing and sharing across the private networks of critical industrial systems. In these applications, speed, security and the reliable availability of network communication is imperative. Hence, managed Ethernet switches have become a staple of modern industrial network architectures, promptly relaying data between connected devices and wider networks in a way that can be physically and virtually secured. Depending on the industry and application, Ethernet


switches – like all embedded computing components – have specific requirements.


Railway switches In the rail industry, Ethernet switches serve several purposes: they transfer data from networked sensors, cameras and accelerometers onboard the trains themselves, as well as handling trackside data transmission. In addition to their operational tasks, onboard Ethernet switches also provide Internet connectivity to passengers. In all these cases, high data speed, efficiency and security are


important, and the switch itself must be ruggedised to withstand the operating environment. Recab UK has extensive experience in developing bespoke


railway-grade Ethernet switches, but one go-to Ethernet switch for rolling stock is the NL30 series by Duagon-MEN; see Figure 2. It is an off-the-shelf, fully managed, multiport Ethernet switch in a rugged, IP30-rated aluminium enclosure with high port density. Its 29Gbps switch matrix allows high-performance layer-two switching across all connected interfaces, with layer-three protocols directly integrated into the switch for easy remote management. If a switch using a computer-on-module (COM) is required,


the recently-introduced switch module by Diamond Systems, the EPSM-10GX4, based on the COM Express Mini standard, is the best choice. It features 24 x 1Gbps copper ports and 4 x 10Gbps SFI ports. Tere is also the EPS-24G4X full-feature carrier board, which brings out its 1Gbps ports to latching connectors and the 10Gbps ports to SFP+ sockets.


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