As the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) drives the production of connected devices, wireless and Ethernet-based technologies have become an important piece of the connectivity conversation. Entire industries are making digital transformations and it’s changing the way businesses operate. There are billions of IoT devices in service and development continues to ramp up. Recently, we’ve seen several wireless and Ethernet technologies headlines in the news.
Wireless and Ethernet News
Is Ethernet Coming to the Network Edge?
By David Greenfield | Published on @automationworld
“We’ve tarBygeted a small scale, single-chip processing solution (to bring Ethernet to industrial edge devices) by reducing processor speed, memory and RAM size, reducing the interconnection complexity from processor to network interface, and reducing the pin count and complexity of the network interface,” said Weingartner. Essentially, “we’re bringing MAC into the PHY (the physical layer of the OSI model which connects a MAC to a cable), which is what Ethernet is all about. Doing this opens up possibilities not just for new implementations, but for brownfield applications as well.”
Wireless Electric Cars About to Hit the Road
By @robnikolewski | Published on @sdut
“What’s called dynamic charging foresees a future where vehicles charge themselves as they drive. Using coils embedded in roads, EVs would refuel as they stay in transit, creating their own self-perpetuating electrical loop. It’s similar to the way some mobile devices get charged.”
The Ethernet Ecosystem Today is Driven by Applications, not Speed Alone
By David Chalupsky | Published on @networks_asia
“For many years, Ethernet evolution was characterized by the “need for speed” as networks and data centers sought higher and higher throughput. But over time, Ethernet has found its way into applications unforeseen by the developers of the original specification, resulting in a broad and varied Ethernet ecosystem. Today the desire to bring the advantages of Ethernet into new applications necessitates a new approach where the needs of the application are considered first and foremost in defining new Ethernet incarnations.”
Actualizing the Internet of Things Starts with Wireless
By @robrueckert | Published on @TechCrunch
“The most promising of wireless power technology seems to be radio frequency. With its apparent lack of serious problems and its unique strengths, radio frequency has the greatest long-term potential to become the market’s leading source of wireless power to fuel the Internet of Things. No significant evidence exists depicting radio frequency as posing a threat to humans. The human body consists mostly of water and radio waves do not transmit energy through water. Radio frequency is also highly configurable. Devices sending and receiving radio frequency power can easily be equipped with regulators, enabling control of how much power will be emitted and received.”
