COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT
Communication equipment is an integral part of any data collection and management system.
The need for communication equipment is due to various factors. For example, the Ethernet data transmission technology itself assumes the presence of network hubs to which the terminal devices are connected.
Currently, switches (Level 2 devices) are used as hubs, which, unlike simple splitters (hubs), work with the contents of transmitted packets. They use the physical destination address (MAC) field of the packet to establish independent channels between ports, which significantly increases the bandwidth of the switch. The company offers industrial-grade switches with support for a number of technologies that increase network reliability, as well as Gigabit switches and PoE-enabled switches.
Twisted pair fieldbus interfaces do not need special network devices, but their topology has its own physical limitations that can be overcome with the help of appropriate repeaters. Often, in the conditions of one project, it is necessary to use equipment with different types of interfaces or protocols. In this case, there is a need for converters and gateways. Special interface cards are used to connect the PC and the fieldbus.
Taking into account the variety of tasks that arise when creating data collection networks, the companies have developed a wide range of industrial-class communication devices for RS-232/485/422, Ethernet, CAN, PROFIBUS and FRnet interfaces with support for the corresponding protocols based on them (DCON, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-TCP, CANopen, DeviceNet, PROFIBUS).
Many of the communication tasks being solved are typical, so most devices are endowed with complete functionality. However, there are often non-standard situations for which a ready-made solution is not provided. In this case, programmable devices are used, the functionality of which is determined by the developer.