Advanced Interconnect Solutions Take on Demanding Electronic Apps

Jan. 13, 2023

Single-pair Ethernet (SPE) technology is a relatively new offering in industrial networking, going beyond conventional Ethernet capabilities to expand IP connectivity in automated factory settings.

Alix Paultre

Related To: Electronic Design

Single-pair Ethernet (SPE) technology is a relatively new offering in industrial networking, going beyond conventional Ethernet capabilities to expand IP connectivity in automated factory settings. Molex is launching a family of cables and connectors to support this new standard, and talked about them with us at the SPS 2022 event in Nuremberg.

In contrast to conventional Ethernet, which requires two or four pairs of wires, SPE only requires one pair, which reduces cost, bulk, and weight. SPE can achieve 10 Mb/s per IEEE 802.3cg and 1 Gb/s per IEEE 802.3bw. Molex plans to reach 10 Gb/s for a newly developed standard IEEE 802.3ch. It's expected that SPE usage in these categories can replace almost all existing fieldbus types.

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About the Author

Alix Paultre | Editor-at-Large, Electronic Design

An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces.