Single Pair Ethernet is ready to roll

Single Pair Ethernet is ready for action in the railway engineering arena. Connection technology, appropriately designed cables and chipsets with the requisite transmission lengths and transmission rates are available. Teaming up with the companies Bustec, R2P and partner Studer Cables, HARTING is presenting an SPE-supported passenger information system at InnoTrans 2024. A 40 metre SPE transmission line extending from HARTING to Studer Cables will demonstrate the potentials and advantages of the technology in railroad technology scenarios.

The connection of cameras, control computers, WLAN routers, sensors for passenger counting, seat displays, entertainment and passenger information systems is necessitating more and more data connections in the train, which are handled by way of Ethernet networks. As a result, more and more data lines have to be routed to more and more areas of a railway carriage. This presents manufacturers with logistics problems for both new trains and retrofits. In the course of InnoTrans 2024, HARTING, Bustec, R2P and Studer Cables will be demonstrating a live camera transmission to a passenger information system that is connected by way of Single Pair Ethernet.

Single Pair Ethernet stands for a high-performance data infrastructure for railroad applications that is reduced to two copper wires. Compared to conventional 8-core data cabling, SPE delivers decisive advantages in terms of weight, space requirements, fire load and resource consumption.

Thanks to SPE cables, railway manufacturers are achieving weight savings of up to 40 % by comparison with conventional data cables. Consequently, there is less weight to accelerate during operation and therefore lower operating costs for energy. Using less material for data cabling also saves resources and pushes the fire load down to a low 0.14 kWh/m.

At the same time, an SPE rail cable saves up to 35 % in diameter, which can allow more data cables to be accommodated in the narrow cable ducts of a retrofit. This means more data lines with up to 1 Gbit/s data transmission each with simultaneous power supply for small devices via Power over Dataline.

International standards for connectors, cables and transmission standards ensure that manufacturers have access to second sources and offer long-term, reliable planning security.

SPE holds decisive advantages for the railway sector, especially with regard to the retrofits sector and in new trains.