Indu-Sol GmbH - Specialist in Industrial Networks

Indu-Sol in the pressThe Network Switches PROmesh P9 & P20

The network switches with leakage current monitoring: Simple handling in spite of sophisticated functions Christian Wiesel, Indu-Sol GmbH

In the context of Industry 4.0, much more importance is being attached in automation to network management, including stability and security monitoring than is currently the case. As the IEEE 802.XXX standard evolves, Ethernet communication will be fully integrated into automation systems. With Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), multi-layered applications can run concurrently and the PLC loses its central role in network monitoring with the network becoming a means to an end. This means that the network‘s functionality, security and reliability are prerequisites for the ope-ration of applications and therefore not separately supported. In this context, the switch will acquire a central role in the future which many of the models currently available on the market will not be able to fulfil.

Controlling & Monitoring The network experts of Indu-Sol have previously often recognized trends in industrial communication at an early stage and played a significant role in shaping requirements according to quality para-meters and in assuring compliance with these requirements. The aim is always to ensure the relia-bility and long service life of industrial data communications – all the more so under the conditions of highly networked production. The seemingly limitless new possibilities of data communication,

Just like the traffic at a busy city intersection, switches in the network must effectively coordinate the communication of different subscribers, even under high loads. An additional challenge in the network is that the „roads“ are only one-lane and no overtaking is possible.

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Indu-Sol GmbH • Blumenstrasse 3 • 04626 Schmoellnwww.indu-sol.com • info@indu-sol.com • Telephone: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 0 • Fax: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 99

Indu-Sol GmbH - Specialist in Industrial Networks

Indu-Sol in the pressThe Network Switches PROmesh P9 & P20

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Indu-Sol GmbH • Blumenstrasse 3 • 04626 Schmoellnwww.indu-sol.com • info@indu-sol.com • Telephone: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 0 • Fax: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 99

increasing bandwidths and low latencies should not, however, prevent us from continuing to expect what we now take for granted with regard to standardized diagnoses – “maintenance signals” – not detract from the necessity for comprehensive network monitoring. In relation to Industry 4.0, Indu-Sol poses the question of what influence foreseeable technological developments will have on the sta-bility and reliability of communications and in which situations the network will require new solutions in the short, medium and long terms.

Progress generates increased requirements Up to now, in most industrial automation scenarios, the machine and the factory networks have still been considered separately. As Industry 4.0 progresses, this boundary will increasingly break down. Karl-Heinz Richter, Managing Director for Marketing & Sales at Indu-Sol GmbH, anticipates a trend in this area: “Despite the high profile wrangling about responsibilities, information technology (IT) is increasingly merging with automation (OT - Operational Technology), although those responsible are still striving to maintain a certain demarcation between the two. It is likely that in the medium

term the availability of structures and the performance of the communication networks will be regarded simply as given by users and that the areas of support, care and maintenance will be taken over by external service providers. In other words, the responsibility for assuring availability will be outsourced, something we are alrea-dy seeing today in IT. The transition has already begun and it is important to prepare for it.” With the switches PROmesh P9 and P20, the technology company is lay-ing the foundation for managing this development.

Why further switches, when there are so many already available on the market? Switches are offered today in the widest varie-ty of designs. Most, however, come from the IT world. As Richter puts it “when we talk about switches for future applications in the OT area, we need a very different perspective from that required in the office environment. For example, switches normally provide comparatively little information about network diagnostics; i.e. about the network status itself. Permanent monitoring, telegram analysis, anomaly detection, failure alarms – these are

requirements in the sense of predictive maintenance, which must be fulfilled in addition to the actual switch function. To an increasing extent, decentralized intelligences are communicating with one ano-ther independently, networks are becoming ever larger and more extensive, the smart sensor makes its information available to several consumers at the same time, and communication increasingly ‘bypas-ses the controller’. This means that the controller loses its central position in network monitoring and is available for this task only to a limited extent. In terms of the ongoing technological transition towards integrated Ethernet communication, the switch has an unprecedented central role, for which it must be prepared on the development side.”

Karl-Heinz Richter, Managing Director for Marke-ting & Sales at Indu-Sol GmbH, explains the rea-sons for the development of the new switch gene-ration PROmesh.

Indu-Sol GmbH - Specialist in Industrial Networks

Indu-Sol in the pressThe Network Switches PROmesh P9 & P20

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Indu-Sol GmbH • Blumenstrasse 3 • 04626 Schmoellnwww.indu-sol.com • info@indu-sol.com • Telephone: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 0 • Fax: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 99

In addition to their function as intelligent and robust switching centres for data streams, the switches of tomorrow will be equipped with extensive network diagnostic functions. With the development of the PROmesh P9 and P20, Indu-Sol has created a basis that opens up many options for future ela-boration. As Richter points out, this is more than just an extension of the Indu-Sol product portfolio: “In addition to providing service, we will strive in the coming years to increase our network respon-sibility for our customers and will also continue to provide complete network equipment offerings in the OT area. Time will soon tell whether this will be independently or in alliances with like-minded medium-sized companies. It is clear to us that we need more for our next development steps than just a switch. A next step could be our fog cloud solution which is currently under development.”

Tailored to the needs of automation provider What makes the PROmesh P9 and P20 unique? In addition to their excellent performance, the Indu-Sol switches are characterized by their highly intuitive user interface. The web interface provi-des key information on port status and port assignment at a glance directly on the start page and is visualized for the plant operator in familiar traffic light colours. For example, in addition to the basic availability and neighbourhood detection of a port, the network load, discards and errors are logged and permanently synchronized with preset trigger values. Alarm management via a potential-free contact, by e-mail or central SNMP query ensures timely warnings of failure. All irregularities are

The clearly laid out web interface makes port assignment and status directly visible at a glance; with just a few clicks you can view more details.

Indu-Sol GmbH - Specialist in Industrial Networks

Indu-Sol in the pressThe Network Switches PROmesh P9 & P20

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Indu-Sol GmbH • Blumenstrasse 3 • 04626 Schmoellnwww.indu-sol.com • info@indu-sol.com • Telephone: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 0 • Fax: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 99

documented internally and recorded as a snapshot. Initial positive feedback from users from the automotive industry indicates that simple and clearly presented information has significant benefits for maintenance personnel.

Leakage currents at a glance In addition, the development of the PROmesh P9/P20 addresses an is-sue that hardly ever arises in the IT field but must be taken into account in complex automation technology: Potential equalization currents which are derived from the shiel-ding of data lines in the switch. These can lead to irregularities in data traffic and even destroy de-vices. A specially integrated mea-suring circuit permanently monitors these so-called leakage currents and, if the present limits are excee-ded, stores the values including the frequency characteristic. The causes and contexts of EMC dis-turbances can be identified on the basis of a continuous measurement over the entire frequency spectrum (20 kHz) as well as a recording of mean values (RMS measurement) and peak values (peaks). If this leakage current exceeds a value of 200mA (effective) and 400mA (peak), this poses a threat to the trouble-free communication and a purposeful warning occurs. With this function, the PROmesh P9/P20 simultaneously takes into ac-count the guideline from the user organization PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI) with the title „Functional bonding and shielding of PROFIBUS and PROFINET“. This guideline clearly states the requirement for a monitoring facility to test the shield current levels in real-time.

A reliable interface between IT and OT Furthermore, the advance of Industry 4.0 has led to a rapid increase in the fusion of automation net-works, as well as in the number of connections in superordinate IT networks. Thus, the switch PRO-mesh P20 from Indu-Sol has been purposely developed for use as a link between the IT levels and the automation networks. Due to its integrated router functionality, it makes an important contribution to network security as devices connected at the switch can be separated from the super-ordinate network. However, there is also the possibility of permitting individual connections if required. Several networks communicate via the switch so a high volume of data is to be expected. The PRO-mesh P20 withstands such loads not just thanks to its certification according to the highest Netload Class III – it also has a high performance onboard diagnosis, which among other things, dissolves the Network Limit accurately to the millisecond, thus making peaks recognisable that even only oc-cur for a short time. These are „averaged“ in a representation for each second or even minute.

Netload or EMC? With the help of the diagnostic functions the PROmesh P9 and P20 offer the user gets precise hints about possible reasons for bad communication quality.

Indu-Sol GmbH - Specialist in Industrial Networks

Indu-Sol in the pressThe Network Switches PROmesh P9 & P20

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Indu-Sol GmbH • Blumenstrasse 3 • 04626 Schmoellnwww.indu-sol.com • info@indu-sol.com • Telephone: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 0 • Fax: +49 (0) 34491 - 58 18 - 99

Precise monitoring through decentralized data acquisition and central evaluationAlthough we like to distance ourselves from the IT environment and put the focus on our own world of automation, we still have a lot to learn from IT on the subject of network monitoring. Indu-Sol has been offering a server solution using the software PROmanage® for many years now. It polls all SNMP-capable network components every minute and generates minute-by-minute statistics over 365 days. The aim is to collate information about the network status at a central location and make it available to the maintenance and repair personnel. This makes it possible to determine when condi-tions change and which trends are emerging at an early stage. In addition, individual threshold valu-es for all monitored variables, such as network load, discards, errors and leakage currents can be set in a decentralized manner in the PROmesh P9/P20 and warnings be issued via the potential-free contact or SNMP trap. With the release of the two switches, Indu-Sol wants not only to expand its portfolio but above all to stimulate a discussion about development trends in automation technology, without having to rely on the crystal ball. The first step has been taken.

The sketch shows an example of the integration of the PROmesh P20 with routing functionality into the network in order to increase security.