Industrial Ethernet adoption rate in process automation will rise to 96% in 2016

According to IMS Research, a division of IHS, the number of Ethernet nodes in the process industry is expected to nearly double in 2011-2016, continually challenging the fieldbus leadership in the industrial networking market.

Industrial Ethernet nodes in the process industry are expected to have 8.7 million shipments in 2016, up 96% from 4.4 million in 2011, as shown in Figure 1. This means that Industrial Ethernet will account for 45% of the network nodes in the process industry in 2016, up from 39% in 2011. Fieldbus will pay for it, with growth expected to be 51% over the same period.

Although process industries have always been slow to adopt new technologies, the adoption of Industrial Ethernet in some key areas has started to outpace the field bus as one of the mainstream network technologies.

A good example is the area of ​​security. Although not always encouraged by mandatory regulations, a process safety system, a safety integrated system, is regularly updated by manufacturers to ensure operator safety and maximize line up-time. The shorter life span means that new technologies can get to market faster and are easier to implement because there are more opportunities to retrofit networks.

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In addition, there is also a tendency to expand networking. The network is becoming commoditized, meaning remote monitoring and control is easier to access. Discrete automation is also happening in this area.

Process elements and systems, such as remote terminal units and distributed control systems, are also commonly connected to the network. Approximately 95% of the new shipments support network is expected in 2016, up from 90% in 2011. The rate of increase is expected to be relatively slow, but may reach 100%. Network-enabled products are now almost treated as homogeneous goods and the process industry wants to adopt it. As networking capabilities increase, the number of ordinary nodes is also growing. This creates the conditions for using more sophisticated networks and topologies.

Industrial Ethernet is expected to continue to grow throughout the industrial automation sector. IHS predicts that by 2016, the CAGR for the new ProcessAutoNode will be slightly above 14%. This growth rate is much higher than the new fieldbus node, which is expected to grow at less than 9% over the same period.

As process industries adopt more Industrial Ethernet, Industrial Ethernet-based networks appear to be the smart choice for vendors looking to upgrade their network infrastructure in the near future. While fieldbus adoption rates are still growing, Industrial Ethernet offers the benefits of network uniformity and simplicity, resulting in lower costs and longer uptime.

However, the fieldbus still has some advantages. HART, an important protocol in the process industry, transmits signals over a 4-20 mA line, a significant advantage for those using legacy infrastructure. In addition, the considerable legacy of some fieldbus solutions means that a large number of machines are still using older protocols.

However, Industrial Ethernet must overcome these obstacles and is expected to largely replace the fieldbus in the last 10 to 15 years. Reducing general overhead, making it easier to access production data and reducing downtime, these advantages will drive adoption of Industrial Ethernet in the longer term.