Load distribution and high availability over ethernet advanced physical layer

1 . An Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer (Ethernet-APL) bridge system providing communication between an edge field device and an industrial network, the bridge system comprising:

at least one Ethernet-APL switch; and

a plurality of physically separated redundant physical Ethernet-APL 10BaseT1L ports coupled to the at least one switch, the redundant ports connecting the field device to the industrial network via the at least one switch to enable a local operation of the field device,

wherein each redundant port has a unique Ethernet address enabling load between the field device and physically separated networks to be actively distributed among the plurality of redundant ports, and

wherein in response to a failure of one of the plurality of redundant ports, the field device is capable of continuing the local operation by receiving a load of a failed port of the plurality of the redundant ports through at least one other one of the redundant ports due to the port redundancy.

2 . The Ethernet-APL bridge system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one switch supplies Power over Data Lines (PoDL) to each of the redundant ports.

3 . The Ethernet-APL bridge system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more of a network port, a cable, and an on-board network interface component coupled to each of the redundant ports.

4 . The Ethernet-APL bridge system of claim 1 , wherein each redundant port connects to the at least one switch via two-wire intrinsically safe Ethernet (2-WISE) 10BaseT1L.

5 . The Ethernet-APL bridge system of claim 1 , wherein each of the redundant ports comprises either an active standby port on Ethernet-APL 10BaseT1L Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) with fast failover or a passive standby port on Ethernet-APL 10BaseT1L SPE with failover.

6 . The Ethernet-APL bridge system of claim 1 , further comprising a processor executing at least one of an Active-Active software configuration and an Active-Passive software configuration.

7 . The Ethernet-APL bridge system of claim 6 , wherein the Active-Active software configuration, when executed, provides zero fail-over time and load balancing among the redundant ports.

8 . The Ethernet-APL bridge system of claim 6 , wherein the Active-Passive software configuration, when executed, defines one of the redundant ports as a passive port acting as a Hot Standby and provides a minimum failover time.

9 . A field device comprising:

a controllable element for performing a local operation; and

a plurality of physically separated redundant physical Ethernet-APL 10BaseT1L ports coupled to at least one Ethernet-APL switch, the redundant ports connecting the field device to an industrial network via the at least one switch to enable the local operation of the field device,

wherein each redundant port has a unique Ethernet address enabling load between the field device and physically separated networks to be actively distributed among the plurality of redundant ports, and

wherein in response to a failure of one of the plurality of redundant ports, the field device is capable of continuing the local operation by receiving a load of a failed port of the plurality of the redundant ports through at least one other one of the redundant ports due to the port redundancy.

10 . The field device of claim 9 , wherein the at least one switch supplies Power over Data Lines (PoDL) to each of the redundant ports.

11 . The field device of claim 9 , further comprising one or more of a network port, a cable, and an on-board network interface component coupled to each of the redundant ports.

12 . The field device of claim 9 , wherein each redundant port connects to the at least one switch via two-wire intrinsically safe Ethernet (2-WISE) 10BaseT1L.

13 . The field device of claim 9 , wherein each of the redundant ports comprises either an active standby port on Ethernet-APL 10BaseT1L Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) with fast failover or a passive standby port on Ethernet-APL 10BaseT1L SPE with failover.

14 . The field device of claim 9 , further comprising a processor executing at least one of an Active-Active software configuration and an Active-Passive software configuration.

15 . The field device of claim 14 , wherein the Active-Active software configuration, when executed, provides zero fail-over time and load balancing among the redundant ports.

16 . The field device of claim 14 , wherein the Active-Passive software configuration, when executed, defines one of the redundant ports as a passive port acting as a Hot Standby and provides a minimum failover time.

17 . A method of providing high availability and load distribution in an intrinsically safe edge field device communicating with an industrial network, the method comprising:

connecting the field device to a plurality of physically separated redundant Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer (Ethernet-APL) ports, wherein each redundant port has a unique Ethernet address;

actively distributing load between the field device and physically separated networks among the plurality of redundant ports via the unique Ethernet address of each redundant port;

coupling each of the redundant ports to the industrial network via at least one Ethernet-APL switch;

enabling a local operation of the field device; and

in response to a failure of one of the plurality of redundant ports, continuing the local operation of the field device by receiving a load of a failed port of the plurality of the redundant ports through at least one other one of the redundant ports due to the port redundancy.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising executing at least one of an Active-Active software configuration and an Active-Passive software configuration, wherein the Active-Active software configuration, when executed, provides zero fail-over time and load balancing among the redundant ports and the Active-Passive software configuration, when executed, defines one of the redundant ports as a passive port acting as a Hot Standby and provides a minimum failover time.