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Ethernet-APL: Last chance for digital field communication

Do you remember the sound of the internet? Some of you may nostalgically remember the sound of their 56k dial-up modem. And at the same time, you probably think “good old times, but even better that they are gone”. In times of high-speed internet at home and 5G mobile coverage, date rates in the kbit range seem rather outdated. At the same time, not only date rates increased dramatically over the past decades, but complexity of technology was reduced significantly at the same time. Remember when every device needed a specific driver loaded from a floppy disk? Or the cumbersome interaction with your mobile before the first iPhone swept away a full range of devices and vendors by revolutionizing user interaction? 

While all this holds true for your private use of technology, this is not the case in the field of process automation. Of course, requirements significantly differ between these domains, especially regarding robustness and availability. Nonetheless, low data rates, complex device integration, as well as high effort during the engineering are still major issues that hinder digitalization of plants.

Change of paradigms: Ethernet-APL and a community-based initiative to foster adoption 

Ethernet-APL is the technology that has been in the starting blocks for some time and which  promises to overcome these challenges. Nonetheless, for end users not technology itself matters, but maturity, availability, and simplicity regarding its application within the field. In addition, this is not an individual challenge, but a challenge for process automation as a whole. 

Hence, almost two years ago, the NAMUR board decided that a holistic community effort was needed to address the technology introduction in a strategic way. While back then many technical questions have already been answered, the main issues were device availability, lack of understanding and transparency, as well as the need for tangible use-cases. As a result, the NAMUR board established the so-called NAMUR APL Task Force, composed of representatives by BASF, Bayer, Bilfinger, Covestro, Dow, Evonik, ExxonMobil, and Lanxess, to synchronize activities within NAMUR and to catalyze the technology introduction. This activity from the start had a limited lifetime of two years, spanning beginning of 2023 to the end of 2024. The Task Force reflected a fundamental change of paradigms, not only technical, but also organizational: on the one hand, the industry will experience a significant change concerning communication in the field. On the other hand, instead of all end users tackling this fundamental change individually, a community effort was established to share experience and to foster collaboration. 

Now, with the Task Force reaching its planned end of activities, we want to take to chance to recap the most significant contributions, as well as to give an outlook on our ongoing community journey.

Figure 1: Project Overview within the NAMUR APL Task Force as of 19.09.2024.

Beyond Buzzwords: Why Ethernet-APL alone won’t solve our industry challenges 

One thing that you probably often read is that Ethernet-APL was developed to overcome the industry’s issues, specifically addressing the bad memories of the fieldbus introduction (and this article does as well!). Yet, this is not the full truth: Ethernet-APL standalone will only solve minor issues, like bandwidth bottlenecks. But it does not address the other major challenges we are facing.  

It is important to understand, that only when a set of technologies come together, real and lasting value for end users is created. This set of technologies is called “technology stack”. 

The good news is that the change of technology on the communication layer has been used by vendors and end users to also prepare these supplementary technologies and to package them 

into a technology stack. This stack consists of: 

  • Ethernet-APL serves as the base layer, providing high-speed transmission of data for  intrinsically safe applications. 
  • Protocols that build on top to transmit relevant data in realtime. These are PROFINET or EtherNet/IP for the moment, and potentially OPC UA FX in the future. 
  • Generic device profiles according to NE 131 that implement NAMUR standard devices, e.g., the PA Profile 4. This greatly simplifies device integration as well as allows to use a single device driver for transmitters of different vendors and versions during operation. 
  • FDI (Field Device Integration) coupled with PA-DIM for interoperable device integration into asset management systems for device parametrization and for structuring diagnostic information for NAMUR Open Architecture applications. 
  • For future applications, with still a way to go, a safety protocol such as PROFIsafe that allows the usage of the technology stack within safety applications. 

Nonetheless, while this is known within an expert community, it is not common sense for normal end users. Therefore, one of the first initiatives of the APL Task Force was to update the NE 168 as the relevant requirements document, jointly with the responsible NAMUR working group 2.6. This document not only provides guidance for vendors and end users regarding the mentioned technology stack, but also addresses other technical questions.  

Evolution instead of revolution: A community effort 

One thing must be clear for every end user: with the huge base of installed brownfield systems, we cannot afford a revolution or disruption within our plants. Instead, the way we take with Ethernet-APL must rather represent an evolution of technologies and plants. This includes migration paths for the installed base, but also answers to other relevant questions, such as security of Ethernet-based field installations or usage within safety applications. Furthermore, as end users, we cannot single-handedly address all of these challenges: it is imperative that vendors comprehend the obstacles we encounter as a collective community. 

All this reflects the key driver for the NAMUR APL Task Force’s activities: not purely focusing on the technical aspects of Ethernet-APL’s adoption by the industry, but instead following a holistic, community-driven, and collaborative strategy.  

End users, you are not alone in this 

A great example for this is the joint NAMUR Position Paper “Requirements for the Next Generation of Ethernet APL Field Devices and Components” (see QR-Code at the end) that was aligned within all Work Groups (WGs) of NAMUR Work Area 3 “Electrical and Instrumentation Technology” as well as the relevant WGs for Ethernet-APL itself (2.6), security (4.18.3), and safety (sub-WG APL-safety). This document reflects the first-ever consolidated end user voice regarding what end users currently lack when it comes to Ethernet-APL, including a dedicated section for backward compatibility for brownfield applications. 

Another contribution of the Task Force is reflected in the beforementioned WGs: while security- and safety aspects becoming more and more important for end users, there were no dedicated 

WGs within NAMUR that dealt with these essential topics on an Ethernet-APL-specific basis. Therefore, based on the Task Force initiative, these WGs have been established with the support of the responsible Work Areas. Within these, experts from various companies jointly, on the one hand, collaborate to develop concise security requirements and concepts for Ethernet-APL-based installations. On the other hand, NAMUR brings forward the application of Ethernet-APL within the safety domain – here in close collaboration with the vendor side represented by the relevant protocol organizations, such as the PI for PROFIsafe and ODVA for CIP Safety.

Vendors onboard: A wider community  

As already mentioned, our Ethernet-APL community not only encompasses end users: instead, it is essential to closely align and collaborate with vendors as well. Thus, the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturer’s Association ZVEI established a sister APL Task Force for the vendor side. Both Task Forces are in regular and close contact to exchange current needs, share success stories, and to bring the whole topic forward. 

A first contribution that must be mentioned here is the structured collection of use-cases for Ethernet-APL within the process industry that can be downloaded from the NAMUR and ZVEI web pages respectively: this jointly developed collection serves mutual understanding of both end users and vendors and reflects the expected benefits of Ethernet-APL. 

A second, still ongoing activity, is the joint work on brownfield migrations for Ethernet-APL. Here, vendors and end users joined forces to guide the way for potential migration scenarios and strategies, as well as to define requirements and component needs.  

Ready for liftoff or already midflight? 

At the time the Task Force started its activities, there were not many Ethernet-APL devices on the market and skepticism was still significant. So, when the NAMUR board set out the goal of ten Ethernet-APL-related projects by the member companies of the Task Force within two years, this seemed rather ambitious back then – was Ethernet-APL even ready for liftoff?  

Yet, over the past almost two years, many things happened. In a first step in 2023, to give better transparency for end users, the Task Force initiated and supported a detailed and publicly available Ethernet-APL device availability survey together with the atp magazin and ZVEI. The results reflect the first-ever concise and detailed overview of available Ethernet-APL field devices, infrastructure components, as well as support of distributed control systems and asset management systems for the technology stack. The survey was such a success that it was already repeated and updated for the ACHEMA fair in 2024. Look up the results if you are not aware of these – they can be downloaded from the atp magazin for free. In summary, the whole range of components is available in the market already, but maybe not from your preferred vendor, with many more to come over the next one to three years. 

Coming back to targeted number of Ethernet-APL projects, one can definitely conclude that Ethernet-APL got unexpected dynamic and traction. Figure 1 gives an overview of Ethernet-APL-related projects within the NAMUR APL Task Force. And instead of the, back then, very ambitious ten projects, we are very happy to already have 26 projects within our tracking list. These projects, of course, include a significant number of lab installations for testing and learning. But more importantly, also twelve production-sized projects have been identified, with three of them already in realization. 

What is important to mention as well is that the number of pilotsized installations is relatively low (four projects) – hence it seems that end users within the Task Force are mostly skipping the 

pilot-phase and go for production-scale directly after satisfying experiences within their lab environments. Looking on which partner contributed what number of projects, one can clearly see that all Task Force partners are actively rolling out the technology already. 

Figure 2 reflects the timelines for the ongoing rollout (“in realization” within Figure 1) of pilot- and production-scale Ethernet-APL installations. Beginning of next year, the first pilot will be up and running, with another four, bigger installations being operational towards the end of 2025/beginning 2026. Hence, we can conclude that Ethernet-APL is not ready for liftoff nor liftoff just happened – we are already midflight on our Ethernet-APL rollout journey!

Figure 2: Ongoing rollout of Ethernet-APL.

Task fulfilled, force in full motion 

Looking back on the past two exiting years, Ethernet-APL gained significant traction. With this year’s NAMUR general assembly and the end of the year, the Task Force’s activities will come to an end. Of course, we have not reached our destination yet (for instance, a fully digital, easy to integrate process automation), but we consider us as a community on a good way – we are midflight! While the technical questions have been mostly answered for core automation, there is still work to be done considering the next generation of devices, as well as regarding security and safety aspects. These aspects will be followed up within the respective NAMUR WGs. Also, the close contact to the vendor side will continue of course. Yet, from a Task Force’s perspective, our task has been fulfilled: developing and executing a holistic, community-driven strategy for the introduction of Ethernet-APL.  

Nonetheless, we are planning to continue our community efforts. And this not only within the WGs, but also with a more open strategy, where interested end users will be able to contact relevant experts that are happy to share insights, knowledge, and expertise – stay tuned for the official announcement of this activity. 

Lastly, we want to thank all involved end users and NAMUR colleagues, but also the vendors as well as atp and other magazines for the trustful collaboration. We are convinced that the  NAMUR APL Task Force can serve as a role model for further activities within our community!

Dr.-Ing. Emanuel Trunzer 

Senior Automation Engineer
BASF SE
emanuel.trunzer@basf.com

Maria C. Molina Cintas 

DOC Hardware Leader
Dow Inc.
mmolina@dow.com 

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