Network Redundancy

Cable break and failure or misconfiguration of network equipment are frequent causes of failure in the daily automation routine. Searching for errors in the process often proves to be expensive and difficult. This means that even little carelessness carries the risk of longer production interruptions and economically relevant outages.

The introduction of double-guided real-time networking makes separate cable routes possible. In conjunction with the simultaneous transmission of all data packets on both network lines, single failures on the transmission line no longer have the effect of disrupting communication and therefore automation.

The product Network Redundancy fulfills these qualities precisely by means of a combination of media and communication redundancies.

Even in the case of an error, no data packets to the receiving stations (MainDevice or SubDevice) are lost in the process (see Figure). Integrated self-monitoring and diagnostics interfaces draw attention to transmission errors and make finding their location easier. 

The Network Redundancy is optimized for real-time capability compatibility, ruggedness and performance. Conformity with Ethernet standard IEEE 802.3 guarantees the cost-effective networking of more than one hundred redundancy stations ¹⁾ .

^{1) Limit value subject to CPU type, memory available, application size, number of exchangeable variables, network bandwidth available as well as network and CPU load via nonredundant applications}

• Switching time ≤ 1 PLC cycle
• Real-time network fully Ethernet compatible (IEEE 802.3q)
• Monitoring and diagnostics of errors via SolutionCenter
• Application programming interfaces, libraries and system variables for data transmission and communication monitoring in IEC 61131-3
• Prioritized redundancy data transmission makes parallel communication via IP-based protocols possible
• Bandwidth limit integrated
• Connection of all terminals via TCP/IP