ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an outline of the new document and the requirements specified for the real-time Ethernet (RTE) standardization. The users of an RTE network have different requirements for different applications. Several RTE solutions use the TCP/UDP/IP protocol stack without any modification. With this protocol stack, it is possible to communicate over network boundaries transparently, also through routers. Therefore, it is possible to build automation networks reaching almost every point of the world in the same way as the Internet technology. The Vnet/IP is in fact not an RTE protocol. It just uses the UDP/IP protocol suite to transport the RTP application protocol. Time-critical control network is able to handle redundant transmission media. The RTE-TCnet application layer service defines the common memory system. From an Ethernet point of view, an Ethernet for Control Automation Technology (EtherCAT) segment is a single Ethernet device, which receives and sends standard ISO/IEC 8802-3 Ethernet frames.
