The incredible progress in machine intelligence and robotics in recent years has driven progress in automation, especially industrial automation and automotive control.

Explore How Automation Networks Are Changing

TSN offers many benefits to modern industrial automation networks by providing high bandwidth and reliable, dependable real-time communication.

Why TSN?

TSN can be leveraged for a variety of applications not only because of the technological advantages but also because of its lower total cost of ownership (TCO). You may have the added cost of replacing existing switches with TSN switches, but that typically costs less than duplicating networks and maintaining the additional networks.

In automation networks, TSN enables the convergence of numerous small, disconnected networks into one unified network structure. This new network can accommodate the requirements for real-time communication on a larger scale, while providing more transmission bandwidth for background data. Have a look at some use cases showing the benefits of network convergence in different markets.

Experience Our TSN Capable Portfolio

Belden is committed to furthering the TSN technology and deliver Industrial Ethernet switches with the highest possible quality standards. Explore our continuously expanding portfolio of TSN capable devices and software solutions ensuring reliable vendor independent communication.

The Transformation of Industrial Automation

Industrial automation markets are driven by the transition from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0. or the smart factory, one part of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). This transition is commonly illustrated as a shift from the automation pyramid to the automation pillar.

The pyramid model, which industries have followed for several decades, strictly separates functional layers from the factory shop floor (the field level) up to the management systems at the top. Real time data communication is usually at the field level, where sensors and actuators are located, and between the field and controller levels.

The automation pillar in an IIoT (Industrie 4.0) production environment still has a field level on the factory shop floor, but the total number of sensors on the field level is drastically higher to allow a much tighter analysis and control of the manufacturing functions.

In the automation pillar, the controller level disappears. Some of the control functions move to the field level as distributed control units, which are used for extremely fast and reliable reactions, such as for safety functions. Other control units move into the management level (factory backbone) as centralized control units (“Virtual PLC”).

Virtual control functions or virtual programmable logic controllers (PLCs), hosted in the local automation cloud, interact directly with the production process through the connectivity layer. Virtualization of the PLCs provides maximum flexibility; they can be added and removed, and computing power can be allocated to wherever it’s needed most. Applications in the factory backbone don’t even need to be located physically close to the field-level applications. They can be located anywhere: in the IT department or even in a data center far from the factory, depending on the maximum end-to-end latency (delay) the applications allow. This flexibility in the control processes translates into flexibility in the production process.

Between the field level and factory backbone is a connectivity level. Both the field level and the connectivity level require high-speed, low-latency network performance. In addition, the connectivity layer carries lower-priority background traffic in a way that must not slow down the time-critical traffic. This is where TSN comes in.

FIGURE: Moving from the automation pyramid to the automation pillar.

Recognizing the Need for TSN in the IIoT Environment

The connectivity layer in the automation pillar can be considered as the information superhighway between the factory backbone and the field layer. Traffic consists of mission-critical data and less urgent data. The connectivity layer needs to get all traffic where it’s going, but mission-critical data is urgent; it needs to reach its destination on time. When building a network to carry both urgent and non-urgent traffic, you have four options:

• Use TSN, which enables urgent and less urgent data to share the network connection, while preventing less urgent traffic from hindering the flow of the more urgent traffic.
• Build separate networks for the different applications — a high-cost option.
• Massively oversize the network infrastructure, a widely used but extremely expensive approach called bandwidth overprovisioning.
• Live with the traffic delays in mission-critical data, which usually isn’t a viable option.

Of these four options, the clear choice is the first option — use TSN.

TSN – A New Evolution in Mission-Critical Networking

In highly automated systems, real-time communication is essential and sometimes vital. Imagine a self-driving car hesitating to brake for a pedestrian in its path or robots on an assembly line receiving delayed instructions from the computer that’s synchronizing their movements.

Several real-time communication technologies, including EtherCAT, PROFINET IRT, and Sercos III, are used to ensure timely communications, but they have compatibility issues and offer limited, if any, support for future enhancements such as increased bandwidth.

Time-sensitive networking overcomes these limitations to provide the following three essentials:

• Dependable real-time communication
• High bandwidth to accommodate the vast amount of sensor and background data that flows across automation networks
• Backward compatibility to Ethernet devices

TSN Future-Proof Ethernet Networks

TSN takes IEEE* 802 Ethernet to the next level to address the requirements from today’s and future automation networks. TSN offers unprecedented low end-to-end latency, as well as frame delivery precision with very low jitter that goes beyond anything that was ever possible with standardized IEEE 802.1 technology. Standardization in IEEE 802.1 and IEEE 802.3 ensures interoperability between different vendors, a broad market scope, scalability with future Ethernet speed increases and investment security.

* Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Since the establishment of the Field Level Communications (FLC) initiative in the OPC Foundation in November 2018, it has been clear: The technology combination of OPC UA and IEEE TSN as a vendor-neutral communication technology enjoys broad support not only on paper, but also in technical implementation. Belden has supported this development from the very beginning.

• Belden is a pioneer in TSN Industrial Ethernet and is constantly re-de fining the limits of the technology.
• Belden excels in time synchronization. Hirschmann Switches are used in the most demanding applications that require precise timing.
• Belden network management software solutions enable the conflguration and operation of modern lloT networks.

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