WHAT IS ECHORING?
EchoRing is, in function, a wireless industrial cable. It’s an ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) network that can easily handle the performance requirements of manufacturing, logistics and aerospace, while freeing operators from the engineering and operational limits of wired systems. In this way EchoRing provides a keystone technology of Industry 4.0.
DETERMINISM
REAL-TIME CONTROL THROUGH DETERMINISM – THE “RING” IN ECHORING
- EchoRing ensures stable real-time performance through a deterministic “token ring” system
- A station within a token ring network can only transmit data when it receives the token (a small control packet), preventing signal interruptions from other stations
- A station holds the token for a predefined duration (THT: Token Holding Time) before passing it along to the next station
- As individual THTs are known and controllable, the overall system latency is also knowable as their sum total (TTRT: Total Token Rotation Time)
- Intelligent methods allow for immediate recovery in the event of a token loss
COOPERATION
RELIABILITY THROUGH COOPERATION
– THE “ECHO” IN ECHORING
- Stations within an EchoRing network cooperate independently and interchangeably, rather than as sub-units directed by a controller
- Signal reliability is ensured through a flexible "echo station” protocol – should an information packet fail to deliver on the first attempt, the sender’s echo station immediately relays it instead
- Echo stations are assigned automatically, based on algorithms held within the token
- The echo station system is far more efficient than the standard re-transmission process employed by other wireless protocols
