Ethernet IP Industrial Protocol

Ethernet IP is a factory-floor networking system.

The "IP" in "Ethernet IP" stands for "Internet Protocol." Ethernet IP is not a separate protocol from the standard Ethernet protocols. It is the application of Ethernet to industrial environments.

Features

A cabling system specific to industrial environments is usually called a "Field Bus." There are many standards for field buses, either proprietary or created by industry bodies. Modbus, PROFIBUS and ControlNet are three examples of these. These standards include two layers: a physical layer, defining the type of cable; and an application layer, defining a method of communication over that cable. Ethernet IP involves replacing the physical layer of these standards with Ethernet.

Function

The creators of industrial field bus systems created separate versions of their systems to enable their applications to run over Ethernet. This involved the adoption of the Internet Protocol to convert to Ethernet compatible systems. An added advantage of this methodology is that factory-floor systems connect to factory office networks, which usually run on Ethernet.

Considerations

The Internet Protocol is part of a wider suite of protocols called TCP/IP. This stands for the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. Replacing field bus systems with Ethernet involves the adoption of the other protocols in the TCP/IP suite, particularly TCP or the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Data Link protocols mapping IP standards to Ethernet capabilities.

References

• Cisco Systems: Industrial Ethernet: A Control Engineer's Guide