EtherNet Industrial Protocol

A procedure was developed in 1998 by a ControlNet International working group for adapting the application protocol, the Com-mon Industrial Protocol, to Ethernet. Ether-Net/IP was published as an official industrial standard based on this procedure in March 2000.

EtherNet/IP (EtherNet Industrial Protocol, or EIP for short) is a real-time protocol used  primarily in automation technology, and is promoted by more than 150 manufacturers.  Based on the TCP and UDP standards,  EtherNet/IP supports continuity between the office and production network. The web

server integrated in the Logix control  interface module can be used during startup (diagnostics) of EtherNet/IP networks as well as web servers available in other EtherNet/IP equipment.

The typical cycle time of an EtherNet/IP network is 10 ms, which means it is not  suitable for “hard” realtime applications 

(<1 ms), for example, for controlling servo motors. A protocol extension is available  for EtherNet/IP for this purpose in the form of CIPSync or MotionSync. Normal twisted pair cables or fiber optic cables are used as  a transmission medium.