Recommended Transmission Media Selection Criteria
Industrial Ethernet offers a wide range of transmission media such as copper and fiber. It can be difficult to choose the best media for your application. The following are criteria to consider.
Ensure cabling is specified to withstand high voltage, noise, harsh, and potentially hazardous environments factors:
- Shielded cables are recommended for especially high noise environments
- Cat 5e Cord Sets rated for 600V (*see appendix)
- Oil Resistance
- Moisture resistance, UV, and weathering resistance
- Weld splatter resistance in addition to having good flame and fire retardant properties
- Flexibility and low-temperature brittle point
- M12 connection systems – IP67 compliant
Determine the correct cable/fiber for the data transmission rates you need.
- POE Requires a minimum of CAT 5e cable
- Cat 5e (2 pair) – Up to 100Mb/s @ 100 MHz
- Cat 5e (4 pair) – Up to 1Gb/s @ 100 MHz
- Cat 6e (4 pair) – Up to 10Gb/s @ 500 MHz
- Cat 7 (4 pair) – Up to 10Gb/s @ 600 MHz
- Fiber Multimode – OM1-OM4 step-index or graded-index: Up to 10Gb/s – 33m-2km
- Fiber Singlemode – OS1/OS2: Up to 100Gb/s – 40km (*see appendix)
Industrial Ethernet networks should utilize 22-24AWG stranded or solid cable types, which provide significant transmission performance advantage over traditional 26 AWG cables.
Industry standard limits channel length to 100M (copper cable) =
- 90M horizontal (solid)
- 10M patch (stranded)
- Direct connect – Solid conductor cables have full CAT 5e performance to 100M
Avoid service loops or stretching the cable – specify cord set lengths as closely as possible.
Cabling must be certified for the design and performance specifications.
Our Solution Architecture team in North Carolina put together a set of standards to help our customers with networking solutions over EtherNet.
Download EECO’s EtherNet/IP Standard document.
You can also schedule time in our Connected Power Lab. We built a hands-on smart lab in Raleigh, N.C., to provide you with a clear, up-to-date understanding on the state of smart technologies. The Connected Power Lab is a learning environment to explore interoperability of smart devices over EtherNet/IP.
