What is Your Game Plan for Fulfilling Diverse Network Requirements?

With IIoT applications on the rise, we are moving towards a smarter future where various machines, equipment, and applications are interconnected. Industries around the world are already taking full advantage of IIoT technology to seize new opportunities for innovation. However, as the number and types of end devices keeps changing, how do you deal with the increasing complexity in the various stages of your industrial network’s lifecycle?

Challenges

When you think of introducing IIoT into your network, consider the following likely challenges:

• How do you estimate the number and type of Ethernet switches you will need to accommodate the growing network scale?
• With video surveillance becoming an essential part of industrial control and monitoring processes, how do you integrate bandwidth-intensive connections with sufficient PoE power delivery?
• How do you ensure maximum uptime in increasingly sophisticated network infrastructure?
• Complex network topologies make daily operations and maintenance more difficult. How do you reduce the hidden cost and increased overhead of managing complicated networks?

Let’s take electronic toll collection (ETC) networks as a practical example to illustrate such complex network requirements and challenges in the context of modern-day transportation infrastructure.

Diverse Network Requirements

Many expressways use ETC systems to collect tolls through connected toll gantries. These installations capture and transmit data and images in a matter of milliseconds when vehicles pass through them.
Although all toll gantries share the same function, each one requires its own customised network segment to support its local facility, which varies in scale, capacity, and functionality. For example, where some toll gantries take charge of wider road sections with more lanes, other gantries house additional speed detection equipment, cameras, or traffic signage.

These diverse needs in ETC networks lead to higher costs and more overhead in several areas as integrators need to:

• Evaluate each toll gantry installation to determine the required number and types of Ethernet switches tailored to the respective network segment.
•  Plan and manage spare switch part inventory for in-time maintenance.
•  Review connectivity requirements when adding or changing switches if the network topology changes.

High Costs to Prevent Downtime

Demanding outdoor operating conditions such as extreme temperatures, high humidity, and dust, all wear down network equipment at a much faster pace. Worn equipment, in turn, can lead to network instability and costly downtime.

Therefore, spending additional resources on purchasing spare switch parts, performing frequent inspections, and prompt troubleshooting is essential to minimising downtime.

Complicated Management

To ensure that every driver pays and passes through the tollgate smoothly, the entire ETC system relies on full collaboration between various subsystems for vehicle detection, toll deduction, and surveillance functions.

Running so many subsystems makes it difficult to oversee the entire network. Network operators often have to follow time-consuming procedures to identify network problems and spend additional time locating the problematic device before being able to dispatch an engineer for on-site troubleshooting.