What Is An Industrial Ring Network Switch?

Ring network switch is a special kind of switch. Because the mainstream ring network switches are Industrial Switches, they can generally be called industrial ring network switches. So, what is an industrial ring network switch?

Ring network, as its name implies, is a closed network cycle. It is different from ordinary Ethernet switches. Once a ring is formed, a broadcast storm will occur. A link on the ring network is disconnected, which will not affect the transmission of data on the network. Therefore, the ring network structure has its own advantages, such as redundancy and reliability.

The difference between the industrial ring network switch and the ordinary ethernet switch is mainly reflected in the function and performance:

The difference in function mainly refers to that the industrial ring network switch is closer to the industrial network communication in function, such as the interconnection with various field buses, the redundancy of equipment and the real-time of equipment;

The difference in performance is mainly reflected in the difference in adapting to the external environment parameters. In addition to many particularly harsh environments such as coal mines and ships, industrial environments also have special requirements on EMI (electromagnetic compatibility), temperature, humidity and dust prevention.

Components: The selection of components of industrial ring network switch is required to be higher to better meet the needs of industrial production sites.

Mechanical environment: The industrial ring network switch can better adapt to the harsh mechanical environment, including vibration resistance, impact resistance, corrosion resistance, dust prevention, waterproof, etc.

The ring network can ensure that the signal sent by one device can be seen by all other devices on the ring. Ring network redundancy refers to whether the industrial ring network switch supports the industrial ring network switch to receive this information and activate its backup port when the network cable connection is interrupted, so that the network communication can resume normal operation.

The industrial ring network switch has a high bandwidth back bus and internal switching matrix. All ports of the switch are attached to this back bus. After the control circuit receives the data packet, the processing port will look up the address comparison table in the memory to determine which port the NIC of the destination MAC is attached to. The data packet will be quickly transmitted to the destination port through the internal switching matrix. If the destination MAC does not exist, it will be broadcast to all ports. After receiving the port response, the switch will "learn" the new address, add it to the internal MAC address table.

The industrial ring network switch can also "segment" the network. By comparing the MAC address table, the switch only allows necessary network traffic to pass through the switch. Through the filtering and forwarding of the ethernet switch, it can effectively isolate broadcast storms, reduce packet errors and packet errors, and avoid sharing conflicts. The ethernet switch can transmit data between multiple port pairs at the same time. Each port can be regarded as an independent network segment, and the network devices connected to it enjoy all the bandwidth independently, without competing with other devices.

In a word, the industrial ring network switch is a network device based on MAC address recognition, which can complete the function of packaging and forwarding packets. The ethernet switch can "learn" the MAC address and store it in the internal address table. By establishing a temporary exchange path between the originator and the target receiver of the data frame, the data frame can directly reach the destination address from the source address. Based on the above advantages, ring network switches have been introduced into many industrial communication fields to form ring networks.