Application of Industrial Switches in the Industrial Control Industry: Breaking Through Network Port Bottlenecks and Building Efficient Network Hubs
In today's era of deep integration between Industry 4.0 and IoT technologies, the industrial control sector is undergoing an unprecedented digital transformation. From the precise equipment collaboration in smart manufacturing workshops to the video surveillance networks in safe cities, and further to the real-time signal scheduling in intelligent transportation systems, various industrial scenarios impose stringent requirements on the stability, real-time performance, and scalability of network connections. However, a prevalent pain point is restricting the full potential of system efficiency—the insufficient number of network ports on 4/5G industrial routers. When a single router needs to connect dozens of sensors, controllers, or cameras, the limited physical ports become a bottleneck for system expansion. At this juncture, industrial switches, with their robust port expansion capabilities and industrial-grade reliability, emerge as the core solution to overcome this challenge.
In the construction of safe cities, a medium-sized community may deploy hundreds of high-definition cameras, each requiring connection to the core network via Ethernet cables or fiber optics. Taking the Skynet project in a certain city as an example, a regional monitoring center needs to simultaneously connect 128 4K cameras. Relying solely on the eight gigabit network ports of a router clearly cannot meet the demand. Traditional solutions involve stacking multiple routers, but this approach introduces issues such as complex configurations, dispersed management, and soaring costs.
In an automobile manufacturing plant, a welding production line may integrate over 20 PLC controllers, robots, and visual inspection devices. These devices need to exchange motion control instructions, sensor data, and high-definition images in real-time through an industrial network. A certain automaker once attempted to directly connect all devices using a single 5G industrial router, but the lack of ports prevented some devices from being accessed. Ultimately, a cascaded architecture of "router + industrial switch" was adopted to achieve full-process digital management and control.
Urban traffic signal control systems require connection to various devices such as intersection cameras, geomagnetic sensors, electronic police, and signal controllers. Taking a main road in a second-tier city as an example, a single intersection needs to deploy 16 IoT terminals, while traditional industrial routers only provide four network ports. This forces engineers to adopt a three-tier architecture of "router-switch-switch," which not only increases fault points but also reduces network response speed.
The core advantage of industrial switches over commercial products lies in their environmental adaptability. Taking the USR-ISG series as an example, it features a full-metal casing and an IP40 protection rating, enabling it to withstand dust, humidity, and electromagnetic interference. It supports wide-temperature operation from -40°C to 85°C, ensuring stable performance in outdoor monitoring boxes in northern winters or factory workshops in southern summers. Built-in with a 6000V industrial-grade lightning protection module, it effectively withstands lightning strikes and power surges. These characteristics make it a "network tough guy" in industrial scenarios.
Taking a monitoring project in a chemical park as an example, the original solution involved directly connecting 32 cameras using a single 5G industrial router, but the lack of ports forced the abandonment of some monitoring points. After switching to a "router + USR-ISG1008" architecture, the 8-port gigabit switch expanded the network ports to 16 (including the router's original ports) and supported PoE power supply, enabling simultaneous power and data transmission for eight cameras. This reduced system costs by 40% and improved deployment efficiency by 60%.
In smart manufacturing scenarios, industrial switches must meet requirements for microsecond-level latency and 99.999% availability. The USR-ISG series employs store-and-forward technology, with packet forwarding delays below 5μs, and supports the ERPS ring network redundancy protocol, enabling link fault self-healing within 50ms. Real-world testing in an automobile welding workshop showed that after adopting industrial switches, the number of equipment communication interruptions dropped from three per month to zero, and the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) increased by 12%.
In the Skynet project of a provincial capital city, the core monitoring center adopted a "core router + multiple USR-ISG1016" architecture. The 16-port switch expanded the network ports of a single router to 32, supporting simultaneous access to 256 4K cameras. By implementing VLAN segmentation, video streams from different regions were isolated for transmission, preventing network congestion. Over three years of operation, the system's failure rate remained below 0.1%, and maintenance costs were reduced by 65%.
After introducing a "5G industrial router + USR-ISG1005" solution, a certain electronics manufacturer expanded the connection ports for AGV trolleys, robotic arms, and visual inspection devices from four to nine using a 5-port switch. By configuring QoS policies to prioritize the transmission of motion control instructions, the equipment collaboration response time was shortened to within 10ms, and the product defect rate dropped from 0.8% to 0.3%.
In an intelligent transportation project in a new district, intersection signal controllers were connected to cameras, geomagnetic sensors, and electronic police via USR-ISG1008 switches. The switches supported PoE++ power supply, with a single-port output power of up to 60W, enabling simultaneous power supply for eight devices. After system deployment, the response time for signal timing optimization was shortened from 15 seconds to 3 seconds, and intersection traffic efficiency increased by 22%.
As Industry 4.0 evolves, industrial switches are upgrading from mere "port expanders" to intelligent network hubs:
Taking the USR-ISG series as an example, its next-generation products have already laid the groundwork for TSN technology, planning to support end-to-end latency guarantees to further meet the deterministic requirements of industrial automation. This indicates that future industrial switches will become the "intelligent brains" of the Industrial Internet, driving production systems toward higher efficiency and lower costs.
In the industrial control sector, network port bottlenecks have become the "Achilles' heel" restricting system efficiency. Industrial switches, with their port expansion capabilities, industrial-grade reliability, and real-time communication characteristics, provide the ultimate solution to overcome this challenge. From the "all-seeing eye" networks in safe cities to the "seamless dialogue" in smart manufacturing, and further to the "zero-latency" scheduling in intelligent transportation, industrial switches are silently supporting every pulse of the Industrial Internet as "invisible heroes." With the integration of technologies such as TSN and edge computing, their value will ascend from "connectivity" to "intelligence," injecting stronger momentum into the Industry 4.0 era.
