In today's modern industry, factories compete to produce more products with less cost consumption, and the slim profit margin requires enterprises to continuously increase output and quality. Digital transformation makes it more and more worthwhile for enterprises to consider investing in order to obtain more factory data from process automation systems and instrumentation. However, to do this, new quality processes and products are needed to access data from every aspect of the factory and obtain more value in every production operation. The adoption of the new Ethernet-APL of advanced physical layer and the automation protocol that defines the structure and meaning of the information of the field devices, will become a key driving factor for IIoT in process automation in the future. It will provide an important prerequisite for expanding the digital world to process automation and instrumentation.
Ethernet-APL is an enhanced physical layer based on 10BASE-T1L Single Pair Ethernet (SPE). It communicates at a full duplex speed of 10MBit/s over cables up to 1000 m, which is more than 300 times faster than current technologies such as HART or field buses. It is a logical extension of Ethernet, providing the attributes needed for reliable operation in the processing plant field. Ethernet-APL is a physical layer that can support EtherNet/IP, HART-IP, OPC-UA, PROFINET, or any other higher-level protocol.
Ethernet with an advanced physical layer (Ethernet-APL) will communicate and power through two wires, enabling long cable lengths and explosion-proof protection. Based on IEEE and IEC standards, Ethernet-APL supports any Ethernet-based automation protocol and will evolve into a single, long-term, and stable technology for the entire process automation community.
CHINASIMBA has recently launched the ANL-9080-APL and AiW-4120MG-APL radar level meters, which is a two-wire system product with an APL communication interface that can be quickly connected to the control system and other business systems. The communication distance is 200 meters, and the rate is 10Mbps; through the APL Coupler AEP6101-1E-S, it realizes flexible applications based on the TCP/IP application layer, and realizes the interoperability of the device. It supports various types of field instruments (APL meters, general-purpose meters, wireless meters, etc.).
