Harting has developed an Ethernet switching technology that, it says, will make it easier for manufacturers to integrate their office and automation networks in a single Ethernet-based system. Unlike other approaches, which use modified versions of Ethernet, Harting says that its Fast Track Switching system uses standard Ethernet, but adds a new switching method to ensure that automation requirements for performance and determinism are achieved.

The key to the protocol-independent system is a range of Fast Ethernet switches which detect real-time automation frames and give them right-of-way over non-real-time frames. The switches can identify automation profiles such as Profinet, Ethernet/IP and Modbus TCP, accelerate their transmission speeds and prioritise them.

The first Fast Track switch to be released is the unmanaged Ha-Vis FTS 3100s-A (shown above), which allows up to ten network devices to be connected using shielded, twisted-pair cables. It supports 10 or 100 Mbit/s Ethernet. The switch is configured using a software application called FTS Manager, which allows users to specify which automation protocols need to be detected and prioritised.

The Fast Track technology allows components and sub-systems which may not support automation-specific protocols – such as vision or RFID systems – to be integrated into automation networks via their Ethernet ports.