First conceived in 2018, the process industry’s Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer, or simply Ethernet-APL, has now gained sufficient support among instrumentation and control system providers to change the way process plants are controlled, leveraging a single, unified Ethernet architecture from field devices to the cloud.
“We've introduced something new in the industrial Ethernet space,” said David Tishmack, IIoT solutions architect with Endress+Hauser, in his Ethernet-APL orientation session at the eChemExpo event, April 8-9, in Kingsport, Tennessee. “We’ve seen a dramatic decrease in the complexity necessary to interface with field instruments, together with new onboard capabilities. We've completely maximized our sensor intelligence.”
In simple terms, Ethernet-APL is a two wire physical layer that extends standard industrial Ethernet protocols (e.g., PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, HART-IP) into the process field with long reach, intrinsic safety and power and data over industry’s familiar shielded, twisted-pair cables. Ethernet-APL addresses modern industrial demands for cost-effective digital transformation, reduced complexity, improved interoperability from field to ERP, enhanced diagnostics, hazardous-area support and predictive analytics.
8,000 Times Faster than HART
Compared with 4–20 mA/HART and fieldbus protocols, Ethernet-APL offers up to 1,200 m per segment, transparent Ethernet connectivity from field to cloud and data rates around 10 Mbit/s per device — roughly 8,000 times faster than HART. Meanwhile, it remains suitable for classified and explosive zones via standardized trunk/spur topologies and 2-WISE intrinsic safety rules. “We now have increased interoperability across our systems, not just at the field instrument level, but all the way up to the top-level ERP systems,” explained Tishmack.
He went on to detail engineering and design considerations such as distance and power budgeting, cable reuse, connector choices and the role of APL power and field switches in building scalable, intrinsically safe networks that integrate seamlessly with existing IT infrastructure, including fiber and copper backbones.
Higher Network Speeds Are Only the Start
On the operational side, Ethernet-APL simplifies commissioning and lifecycle management by enabling direct Ethernet access to instruments from tablets, maintenance workstations, asset management systems and control systems, often via integrated web servers and onboard configuration tools. “When in the field, you can plug a portable tablet directly into the APL field-switch layer,” Tishmack said.
High bandwidth allows rapid retrieval of rich diagnostics such as echo curves, dramatically reducing setup time compared with HART-based devices. These sorts of capabilities effectively “unlock technical debt,” Tishmack said, allowing organizations to define and leverage data strategies, align stakeholders, exploit advanced diagnostics, analyze field data and implement comprehensive validation programs to improve uptime, detect degradation and support predictive maintenance.
Tishmack also cited early adoption case studies from BASF and Procter & Gamble that demonstrate faster commissioning, hardware cost savings and a strategic move away from using 4–20 mA signals in new plants. Indeed, BASF was instrumental in helping drive Ethernet-APL to market readiness and positioning it as a platform for the next phase of digital transformation. “In short,” summarized Tishmack, “Ethernet-APL delivers long-distance, high-speed, intrinsically safe Ethernet from field to cloud, enabling simpler architectures, better lifecycle economics and more secure, data-rich industrial IoT ecosystems.”
Editor’s Note: To dig deeper into the details of how Ethernet-APL works, and how it streamlines a next-generation approach to digital transformation, check out this video of David Tishmack’s full eChemExpo presentation at the other end of this link (no registration required): Ethernet-APL: Evolving a Successful IIoT Ecosystem.
About the Author
Keith Larson
Keith Larson has more than three decades of experience covering industrial automation and other aspects of operational technology and its convergence with the IT space. He currently serves as content director for Endeavor Business Media’s brands in the industrial automation, engineering design and process industry sectors. He holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked as a research engineer for Amoco Chemicals (now BP) before joining the ranks of the business media in 1989 as senior editor for the then-fledgling process control and instrumentation start-up Control. He holds several U.S. and international patents for his research work in industry, and among other journalistic achievements, has been honored with a Jesse H. Neal award for editorial excellence from the American Business Press, now part of the Specialized Information Industries Association.