Utilize single pair Ethernet to unlock the benefits of big data and IoT

OT networks do two important jobs: they take care of the profit-making assets of the business—machines, process skids, etc.—and occupancy, safety, and comfort within a building.

The edge of OT networks, where data is generated from things like sensors, actuators, and damper motors, is Ethernet’s final frontier in terms of adoption, which is far less common in comparison to higher levels within smart building and industrial networks.

But single pair Ethernet (SPE) adoption is gaining momentum and for good reason. 

By enabling the entire OT network to be Ethernet and replacing legacy protocols with a universal language, SPE lays the foundation for a higher functioning, more secure network, instantly adding value to the enterprise by allowing OT to become an integral part of a single-protocol, seamless network.

This is a huge IoT enabler. 

IoT brings more information forward than just what’s mission critical, like when to open a valve or to ignite a pilot light; it provides contextual data that can optimize operations. But if all that data is on different networks, it may not be of much help.

You’ve probably heard a million-and-one definitions for IoT, so to align on how it’s being thought of in this article, picture another “final frontier”—Star Trek.

A crew member of the Starship Enterprise could be anywhere onboard and access the network by saying “computer,” and the system would provide any information that was requested. “Is the Captain onboard?” “Do we have enough power in the warp drive to make it to this next planet?” and so on.

In technical terms, the crew had access to an enormous, rich data stream that’s able to be federated and delivered at the right moment to make critical decisions.

Ultimately, that’s what IoT translates to, the ability to deliver more context to employees in a business so they can make better decisions faster.

Unlocking these advantages is possible, but not as accessible when the critical information at the edge of the OT network is running on various protocols and needs to be translated.

The sources of the mission critical information that’s absolutely needed to transact the manufacturing process, the components that are typically acquired from your favorite automation providers, are engineered to deliver specific data but not to connect any dots that will help increase operational efficiencies.

Operating at peak performance requires more than installing sensors throughout the plant floor, uploading data sets to the cloud and looking for trends.

It’s possible that valuable insights can be discovered this way, but they won’t give you access to the most critical element of streamlining operations: the context that demonstrates why things are happening.

Here’s an example that’s a bit more down to earth.

A convenience store owner analyzes sales data and notices that Friday beer sales are down.

This is valuable information.

More valuable would be to have access to another data set that showed the store sold out of beer at noon that day because it reveals the root of the problem so the right solutions can be deployed.

Bob Voss is senior principal engineer at Panduit Corporate Research and Development. His practice areas are industrial automation, building automation and the IoT, and domain expertise including four decades of control engineering and industrial network architectures. Voss also the chairs the Ethernet Alliance SPE subcommittee and is a contributing member of the Converged Plantwide Ethernet architecture team.

Now, extrapolate this simple example to represent all of the complexities, data sources, and consequences within a modern industrial operation, and the benefits of migrating OT networks to SPE become clear.

The challenges of translating increased IoT data flow into competitive advantages extend far beyond just how the data is processed. Considerations and challenges stemming from IoT data flow increases also overlap into the areas of infrastructure and security.

Thankfully, so do the benefits of SPE.

Technical + security advantages

There are a number of things that the standards and developments community got right with SPE that lead to technical and security advantages:

• Extreme distance—SPE can create Ethernet links up to a kilometer in length, 10 times what can be done with 4-pair Ethernet, plus the option of supplying power.
• Significant speed increase—SPE replaces protocols running at 31.2kb/s with 10 Mb/s speeds.
• Easy to use—SPE utilizes a simple, robust media that’s easy to field terminate.
• Compatibility—SPE supports proven topologies like point to point and multidrop that we use in OT networks today.
• Massive increase in network security—SPE can replace vulnerable older protocols with IP networking.

In addition to the technical benefits, SPE adds a ton of security benefits as well because it isn’t cyber vulnerable like some OT network legacy protocols.

An all-to-common viewpoint regarding the data on the edge of OT networks is that it’s inconsequential if an unauthorized third party can see that type of non-sensitive data.

And while that may be true, the fact is that the cyber vulnerability at the edge isn’t necessarily the exposure of data; it’s that cyber criminals will exploit these compromised areas to work their way back up the network where more valuable information is housed.

SPE excels in this scenario because Ethernet opens the doors to the full IP security suite—VLAN, segmentation—and all the other cutting-edge security that isn’t available with legacy protocols.

One way to see it is that older protocols rely on “security through obscurity,” a notion that if no one knows what they’re looking at that they won’t tamper with it.

Unfortunately, cyber-crime is a big business these days and taking this type of lax position to security is an enormous risk.

Growing adoption

Adoption of SPE will gain compounding momentum as more and more use cases and case studies emerge.

Automation manufacturers aren’t going to adopt new tech for the sake of new tech. They need to see the value first. And with the growing number of benefits that SPE provides for modern industrial operations, each successful deployment will embolden the next.

The history of tech adoption may not repeat, but it often rhymes. Right now, SPE growth feels a lot like BASE-T Ethernet did when it was new.

There are four billion BASE-T ports out there, and at the beginning, they were only used for VoIP phones and computers.

Adoption didn’t really balloon until people figured out that by adding printers to the network, they could serve jobs right from the network by just plugging in an RJ45. No more drivers, no more parallel stuff, no more dedicated computers to support the printer.

The overwhelming benefits became clear, and the rest is history.

We’re seeing the same patterns occur right now for SPE, driven by emerging solution within process industries via Ethernet-APL, a new optimized instantiation of SPE and IEEE 802.3. It’s a great first step because it’s an effective solution designed for complex environments with life safety implications.

Ultimately, IoT devices will become ubiquitous, and more and more data will flood into industrial networks.

Some companies will drown in the burgeoning data streams. Others will utilize SPE solutions to unlock the benefits of big data and ride the waves to prosperity.

This story originally appeared in the May 2021 issue of Plant Services. Subscribe to Plant Services here.