Industry-Specific Ethernet Switches for Power/Railway Networking

The IEC 61850 for utility automation is the international standard to regulate a unified and standardized communication protocol for electrical substation and power grid automation. The new IEC 61850 standard focuses its domain knowledge on the electrical power grid system. It is an object-oriented protocol which utilizes a data modeling scheme that clearly describes each component (such as process objects, protection, and control functionality) of the grid or the substation as standard logical nodes. This enables data access to the power grid system to yield more details. IEC 61850 Part 3 also defines requirements for network and hardware that are suitable for substation automation. These requirements include electromagnetic immunity (EMI), surge protection, vibration, shock resistance, and temperature ranges that the devices in smart grid system should comply with.

Features of the Mencom IEC 61850-3 compliant industry-specific ethernet switches include:

Operate in a wide temperature range from -40 to 85 °C
Handle reliable, long distance transmissions through fiber optics connectivity
Guarantee QoS (Quality of Service) management and real-time packet switching for GOOSE (Generic-Object-Oriented- Substation-Event)
Guarantee a certain level of redundancy in order to minimize packet loss with RSTP (Rapid Spanning-Tree Protocol) and ERPS (Ethernet Ring Protection Switch) rings
-Guarantee a wide tolerance for vibrations and shocks (MIL-STD-810F)
Comply with the tough electromagnetic immunity and emission standards

EN50155 Railway Networking

EN 50155 is a widely recognized international standard for electronic equipment used in any railway application. This standard covers aspects of this electronic equipment including temperature ranges, humidity, shock resistance, vibration resistance, power supply, electromagnetic interference/susceptibility, power surge, electrostatic discharge (ESD) and transient factors. Mencom railway-certified switches combine the powerful platforms of industrial Ethernet switches and all of their advanced features in a robust and reliable unit.