Successful Second Deterministic Ethernet Forum in Vienna
Over 200 participants gathered in Vienna last week for the second Deterministic Ethernet Forum to discuss the latest developments in the evolution of this technology. Standardization, convergence and examples of successful applications in the industrial and automotive sector were the dominating topics on the agenda.
Upon invitation of the hosts IIC, OPC Foundation, OpenFog Consortium and TTTech as well as lead consortia exhibitors Avnu and IEEE, renowned speakers took the stage and presented their view on the Deterministic Ethernet development and application. B&R and Intel were won as strategic partners for the event. During the hosts’ opening remarks, Thomas J. Burke, President & Executive Director at the OPC Foundation, already stressed that “Deterministic Ethernet is a game changing technology”, a statement that was supported by all host representatives and the following speakers on stage. The hosts also encouraged the audience to build applications on top of the foundation laid by the different consortia. In the following presentations and discussions, the megatrends IIoT and autonomous driving were recurring themes.
Industry: Convergence and OPC UA over TSN
The industrial speakers centered around the paradigm shift in industrial automation towards open standards and the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT). The big industry-wide support for the open standard communication solution OPC UA over TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) became apparent during the event. The maturity of said standards was also the topic of a lively panel discussion. Members of the IIC TSN testbed talked about recent successes of the testbed, including the expansion to a second site in Germany as well as the concrete value of the testbed for the participating companies. The demands customers have today can only be satisfied when inefficiencies are addressed by means of connecting the unconnected and analyzing all kinds of data. These steps towards the (Industrial) Internet of Things can be ideally supported by the rich capabilities of Deterministic Ethernet.
From ADAS to Autonomous Driving
Deterministic Ethernet is also an enabler for autonomous driving: the first level 3 autonomous driving solution will be on the road this year, based on Deterministic Ethernet. One of the most pressing issues on the way from ADAS to autonomous driving is to satisfy the need for more bandwidth and speed in in-vehicle networks in a cost-sensitive way – a task that can be fulfilled by applying determinism. Scalable and open platforms based on Deterministic Ethernet were introduced as an effective way to series production. The issue of how to successfully turn the idea of autonomous driving into series production reality was the topic of an afternoon panel with experts from the automotive industry and semiconductor companies. The complete agenda of the event can be found here.
The Deterministic Ethernet Forum was kicked off on April 27 with two side events. Cisco’s Maciej Kranz presented his New York Times best-selling book “Building the Internet of Things” and talked about how companies can successfully transfer into a connected world. Following this, 160 participants enjoyed an evening dinner reception in the unique setting of Palais Ferstel in the heart of Vienna.
We would like to thank all speakers, exhibitors and participants for contributing to a successful event.
A selection of pictures from the Deterministic Ethernet Forum and its side events is available here. A highlight video is available on YOUTUBE.
