Interconnection Product of the Year

Product Name: NCN26010

Company: onsemi

Entry Statement

NCN26010 Multi-Drop Industrial Ethernet Controller

The NCN26010 is the first 10Base-T1S MAC plus PHY Ethernet controller on the market. Designed to provide reliable multi-point communication in industrial settings, the controller supports multi-point Ethernet with up to 71% less wiring and 80% lower installation costs.

For in-cabinet wiring, the NCN26010 reduces the wiring up to 71% while significantly increasing bandwidth. In backplanes, it simplifies the layout and power distribution without impacting data rates or latencies. Many applications, such as elevators, will be able to increase data throughput over existing wiring with the new device and, due to the ability to carry power over data cables, complex sensor networks can be built upon simple and low-cost cable runs.

The NCN26010 controller implements multi-drop 10BASE-T1S (802.3cg) Ethernet that is an effective replacement for legacy point-to-point and multi-point industrial communication standards. The T1S MAC/PHY can replace RS-485, CAN, FlexRay, RS-232, HART and others. As a result, greater data throughput is achieved over existing wiring, eliminating the need to pull new wires, which is often the greatest expense in a networking installation.

Single-Pair Ethernet installations based upon the controller reduce the number, volume, and cost of wiring while the multi-drop capability allows for multiple nodes (such as sensors) to be connected to a single twisted pair. The NCN26010 offers a proprietary enhanced noise immunity feature that is essential for installations in electrically noisy industrial environments. Alternative solutions do not offer this feature.

Additionally, the NCN26010 has lower capacitance on the line pins than existing T1S solutions, which allows for more nodes to be implemented on a single network. As the communication with the NCN26010 can be over SPI, the pin count is lower and the package size is smaller. The NCN26010 can connect to controllers, sensors and other devices without the need for a dedicated or integrated MAC.

In summary, the NCN26010 provides leading industrial users with a multi-point, 802.3cg compliant, 10Base-T1S multi-drop Ethernet MAC/PHY controller that includes proprietary, enhanced noise immunity enabling ‘best-in-class’ bit error rate performance in noisy industrial environments. Furthermore, the NCN26010 has the world’s lowest capacitance on the T1S line pins, enabling more than 40 nodes on a single twisted pair. This exceeds the number of nodes requested by the IEEE 802.3cg standard.