A Comprehensive Guide to Industrial Networks Part 1: Why use an embedded network or fieldbus, and what are the most popular standards?

摘要

Silicon and software now make it possible to put network capability on a chip small enough to drop into a sensor. This guide explains why you'd want to do that and demystifies the confusing array of network protocols from which to choose. The Internet has grown from a bleeding-edge curiosity to a ubiquitous force that is redefining how we live and work. Every imaginable kind of device will eventually be networked, but pervasive connectivity of sensors will materialize in the industrial world before it happens in the consumer arena. This will transform sensors from information devices into communication devices. But the sensor world is more diverse than the PC world. In most cases, it's more expensive to network a sensor with embedded intelligence than it is to connect a PC, and there are more ways of doing it. The plethora of network standards and the inherent difficulties in supporting more than one protocol have stopped many an engineer cold. This three-part series discusses adding network capability to sensors via embedded devices. The remaining parts of the series will answer the following questions. Part 2: What are the basic hardware and software components needed to build networking capability into a sensor? Part 3: What are the prepackaged and off-the-shelf alternatives to designing network capability from scratch?