Feedback Desired on Kit for Experimenting with Single Pair Ethernet

I think it is best to provide a comprehensive kit to evaluate SPE capabilities, but also because there are several incompatible flavours of SPE as well, depending on the intended operating distance and media (i e. cabling). In some cases, perhaps something that bridges the SPE side to ordinary Ethernet might be useful too, which may be possible on some PLCs.

Ys, that would be ideal. However, our budget is not limitless. So, I wanted to get a sense of what is needed in a basic way to perform the testing. if it's the whole thing, then so be it.

Hopefully any of the first three options would be good, although, maybe less is more otherwise people may spend too much time on the accoutrements like the HMI, if the focus is more on SPE.

The Beagle Play board that was RoadTested last year supports SPE, but it's difficult to want to suggest that should be an option, because of the poor documentation from BeagleBone these days (and for a long time).

I think the switch is going to be a critical component for supplying the systems with the power it needs.  I would want to be sure that I got a compatible one.
I selected the choice with the HMI based on the hope that it communicates over SPE.  That would be cool.

I would like to see power over single pair ethernet. It would need the power and ethernet infrastructure at both ends and a cable. This would allow max flexibility about which application is implemented.

SME is a tricky one. I think at least it would need to be a sensor and something to read it. SPE connectors might be more useful that pre-made SPE cables (although they might be handy) because it would be nice to test how well things perform over longish distances of cheap and perhaps sub-optimal cabling.

I assume flavour-wise it woud be 10BASE-T1L (rather than T1S). I may have got mixed up a bit, but I believe this is only point-to-point so wouldn't work with a switch. I'm happy to be corrected on this, as my knowledge of SPE is only theoretical. I found that there was nothing to connect to my only SPE device - the BeaglePlay - so never had the chance to explore.

The ability to experiment with PoDL 9Power over Data Lines) would be good too.

Maybe if there was a list of potential components, we could work out a suitable kit that would work well together.

>Maybe if there was a list of potential components, we could work out a suitable kit that would work well together<

That's my next step. I wanted to get a sense of what folks might like to see in a kit. There seems to be interest in power and ethernet, so I'll have to address that. I'll post the lost of the components and have everyone go at it.

I think that displaying the possibility to power the sensor/camera using the same single twisted pair as communications would be really interesting...

I've only thought briefly about this but here goes:

The big boost to Ethernet in everything came about only when it got really cheap and easy to put Ethernet in everything.

Some of the key things that made it happen were SPI interface chips and modules, widespread availability of MAC and RGMII interface on micros, dirt cheap connectors and cables.

What I would like to see is a module with  Arduino footprint and SPI interfaced PO SPE (is that a thing ?).

AD have a chip (ADIN1110) with SPI interface and SPE MAC and PHI but you need something else for POE.

So what would interest me would be a set of low level parts that would enable construction of and SPI interfaced module that was a comms and power bridge.

Failing that a set of parts that didn't do the POE.

AD do an eval board for the chip (at £118) with most of the features but you are stuck with their choice of processor.

You would need a link board to get to 10BASE T and AD have the ADIN1100EBZ  (about £155).

The above are all 10BASE-T1L parts.

Microchip have 10BASE-T1S parts  - the LAN 8650/1 has an SPI interface. There is a cheapish ($42) tiny board with it fitted (https://www.mikroe.com/two-wire-eth-click). and again some kind of bridge will be needed to real Ethernet - and you can't connect T1L to T1S.

But you can see from this the hill that SPE has to climb - I looked on Aliexpress and I can buy a packaged 1Gbit Fibre to 1000BASE-T converter box for £12.

I couldn't find one single product on AliExpress that supports SPE !

Add to that the cost of development parts, multiple standards etc !

I'd need to do some real research before thinking of using SPE in any form in a product - right now its going to be way cheaper in development and parts to use multi pair so there needs to be a really good reason to jump.

Getting a single pair connection working from a device to a PC starting at chip or module level would be quite a challenge - the bits wouldn't cost that much but I'm not sure how many takers you would get.

MK

"Getting a single pair connection working from a device to a PC starting at chip or module level would be quite a challenge"

On Semi also have a controller (SPI to MAC+PHY) for 10BASE-T1S.

www.onsemi.com/.../ncn26010

The product page says they have example software for Linux (R. Pi) and STM32. That would get you from microcontroller to something with an OS.

Their evaluation kit is a silly price, but it wouldn't be too difficult to do a daughterboard with the part - there isn't all that much around it.