It is often predicted, and has been for some time, that there will be an explosion of Internet-of-Things devices. This expansive growth is not only supposed to impact consumer applications but is also supposed to be heavily driven and impact industrial (Industry 4.0), automotive, aerospace, and satellite applications. Though these types of trends, which depend on a huge number of variables, are hard to predict, the general trend has been huge growth in IoT device, service, and infrastructure development.
The main backbone for IoT devices is the internet, which has also recently experienced its own fast past technological advancement and expansion. Alongside the massive internet infrastructure supported by a few internet service providers, there are now a plethora of cloud-based service providers that offer everything from back-end services, data analysis, high performance computing, storage, and even use the data they collect as a new avenue for profit. Though the cloud service market is growing there is another set of applications, products, and services emerging around providing enhanced edge functionality.
In the early visions of IoT, the modern landscape was predicted to be populated by a myriad of various IoT devices, all tied to the internet for advanced services and functionality. These often miniature and low-power nodes have historically relied on IoT gateways, through wireless or low-power/low-data rate links, to package the data and handle the communication with internet services.
However, there has been another trend toward more advanced edge nodes, that aren’t just small wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) or low-power monitors/actuators. These new breeds of edge devices are extremely capable processing and control systems that are designed for more demanding low-latency tasks where internet connectivity is an augmenting factor and not the dominant capability of the device. Many of these new high capability edge nodes are designed for computing, but also advanced control tasks that otherwise couldn’t be adequately performed if the nodes relied on delayed communication or the unreliability of cloud services/internet connectivity.
Along with this trend there is also a rise of intranets that use the same IoT technology, but for security or compliance reasons, are restricted to an internal network. These systems have different requirements from typical IoT devices used in consumer applications, and often require much higher levels of reliability, redundancy, security, and in some cases, functionality. There are also other constraints for these applications, such as for industrial automation and building automation, that also require more compact ethernet connections or benefit from greater Power Over Ethernet (PoE) capability. Hence, there are a variety of recently released ethernet connectors and cables that use less internal wires and include other features that better facilitate industrial use cases.
