Industrial Engineer · phase 5 of 16 · noun
EtherNet/IP
ODVA industrial Ethernet network that uses the Common Industrial Protocol over standard Ethernet, TCP/IP, and UDP.
The Explain card
- Plain English
- EtherNet/IP is the industrial network that runs the CIP protocol over ordinary Ethernet hardware. The IP stands for Industrial Protocol, and the cables and switches are the same ones an office uses.
- Example
- A ControlLogix controller owns a connection to a remote I/O block and to a PowerFlex drive over the same switch. The I/O block updates every 20 milliseconds and the drive takes its speed reference and returns status the same way.
- Why it matters
- It is the default network in Rockwell plants for I/O, drives and HMIs alike, so drive command words, references and parameter reads all travel on it. Its weak point is that every connection counts against a limit, and an over subscribed controller drops devices without much warning.
- Hook
- The office cable, carrying the factory.
Word knowledge
How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.
In a sentence
The PLC exchanges drive speed references and fault status with the variable frequency drive over EtherNet/IP.
How it is built
- Ether combining form the opening element inherited from Ethernet
- Net clipped word network
- / separator joins the network name to the protocol initials
- IP initialism Industrial Protocol
Where it came from
- Origin
- English technical coinage formed from the stylized name EtherNet and the initials of Industrial Protocol
- Entered the language
- 2001
- What changed
- Ethernet gained an internal capital N, while IP was assigned Industrial Protocol rather than its more familiar expansion, Internet Protocol.
How it is spelled
- Pattern
- The official spelling preserves capitals in Ether, Net, I, and P.
- Pattern
- A slash separates the mixed-case network element from the uppercase initialism.
- Breaks the pattern
- EtherNet uses a medial capital N unlike the ordinary spelling Ethernet.
- Breaks the pattern
- IP represents Industrial Protocol here, although it commonly represents Internet Protocol.
Spelled like
- DeviceNet
- ControlNet
- EtherCAT
Broken into chunks
-
Net
- DeviceNet
- ControlNet
-
Ether
- Ethernet
- EtherCAT
-
IP
- TCP/IP
- IP address
What it sits beside
Same subject
- CIP
- DeviceNet
- ControlNet
- PROFINET
- Modbus TCP
Same shape
- DeviceNet
- ControlNet
- EtherCAT
industrial Ethernet names
- EtherNet/IP
- PROFINET
- EtherCAT
- Modbus TCP
ODVA network families
- EtherNet/IP
- DeviceNet
- ControlNet
Where it sits in the deck
Phase 5: PLC Industrial Communications
The protocols that let controllers, drives and operator panels talk, plus the addressing and description files that make them agree on what was said.
