Time Sensitive Networking, TSN, is widely seen as crucial for next-generation automation and production systems. It will play an important role in the bigger digitization scenario. And it could allow, for the first time, different cells of automation to exchange data in full synchronization, and to collaborate in real time. While industry is in the early stages of TSN definition and deployment, many are asking: What should we do now? How can vendors and users prepare themselves for the eventual migration to TSN architectures and devices? This Tech Brief lays out the current state of TSN, why it will be so important, and how to prepare for its deployment in automation. Hilscher is keeping ahead of all technical developments and pioneering many learning opportunities already. Download Tech Brief.
TSN itself is not a product or a protocol, but a set of IEEE 802.XXX extensions to Ethernet supporting the increasing need for the tightly synchronized networking of huge volumes of data at high speed. The IEEE 802 TSN solution addresses Layer 2 of the OSI Model - the Data Link Layer - and therefore is applicable to an infinite range of Ethernet applications across commerce and industry. In industrial automation, next-generation systems must work closely together if the promises of Industry 4.0, Industrial IoT, and digitization are to be delivered. TSN clearly has a role to play in automation.
As a networking solutions vendor, Hilscher fully supports the international TSN standardization efforts via membership in organizations, committees and working groups. Taking it a step further, the company has been demonstrating TSN solutions at trade fairs and in testbeds for several years using its own hardware and software components. These are based on Hilscher’s netX family of network controller chips which are software-configurable and therefore easily adapted as the TSN automation solutions evolve.
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