Serial device servers provide redundant connection

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 18, 2008

The loss of the primary connection initiates an immediate and automatic switch-over to the backup, ensuring data integrity and peace-of-mind.

Advantech has released the EKI-1521 and EKI-1522 serial device servers, which allow RS-232/422/485 serial devices to be remotely monitored, managed and controlled over Ethernet and internet Protocol (IP) networks.

Equipped with dual 10/100Base-TX Ethernet ports and dual media access controllers (MACs), these devices ensure data transmission even in the event of a network link failure.

With redundant Ethernet connections, communication is not interrupted in the event of a network problem.

With one connection automatically assigned as primary and the other as backup, the loss of the primary connection initiates an immediate and automatic switch-over to the backup, ensuring data integrity and peace-of-mind.

The EKI-1521 and EKI-1522 offer a number of conventional operating modes that allow connections to be initiated by either attached serial devices or remote Ethernet hosts using both UDP/IP and TCP/IP protocols.

For applications beyond simple point-to-point connections, two new multiaccess modes allow one-to-many and many-to-one communications.

The first allows up to five Ethernet hosts to access a single serial device and the second allows a single serial device to simultaneously send data to as many as 16 Ethernet-connected hosts.

In addition to these exciting new features, serial transmission speeds have been increased to 921Kbps, allowing a much broader range of serial devices to be network enabled.

More importantly, optimisations in serial to Ethernet handling have yielded an round-trip latency of less than 10ms where network traffic is not an issue, allowing the use of timing-sensitive serial protocols and increased polling rates.

"It's an industry first to offer both redundant LAN connections and round-trip serial throughput under 10ms in optimal conditions" said Paul Wacker, Advantech's Product Manager for Industrial Communication products.

"Applications previously only attempted with direct serial connections are now able to leverage the power of networks, without any sacrifice in performance or availability".

For easy integration with COM-port based Windows applications, included redirection software allows remote serial devices to be accessed just like a built-in COM-port.

In the event of the primary network connection interruption, the redirection software automatically activates the backup connection, re-routing serial data over the secondary connection to ensure critical data delivery.

Like the other members of the EKI industrial Ethernet family, the EKI-1521 and EKI-1522 Serial Device Servers are packaged in a compact and thin DIN-rail mount chassis.

They are ruggedised for demanding industrial applications with 4000V DC Ethernet ESD protection, dual 12 to 48V DC power inputs with power line surge (EFT) protection of 3000V DC and feature an operating temperature range of 0 to 60C to ensure system uptime.