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IOL Blog: Ethernet
The Evolution of Power for Single Pair Ethernet
By Craig Chabot - November 13, 2023
Don't forget to watch the 'Demystifying the Powers of Single-Pair Ethernet' webinar. Click here.
10 years ago, in IEEE 802.3, a working group of standard specifications for Ethernet, issued a Call for Interest or CFI to propose a new Ethernet powering solution called “Power over Data Lines” (PoDL). This new standard was designed to improve upon 1000BASE-T1, another Ethernet standard that had just been introduced, which offered gigabit speeds over a single copper twisted pair, instead...
PoDL and SPoE: What it Means for Industrial and Automotive Conformance Testing
By Mara Johnson - September 13, 2023
The latest IEEE 802.3 standard has enhanced power capabilities and data transports for both industrial and automotive markets. With this breakthrough, PoDL and SPoE technologies have been making their way into the market. Learn more about these technologies in this brief overview.
What is PoDL?
PoDL stands for Power over Data Lines (PoDL) and delivers from 0.5 to 50 watts of power from 12, 24 or 48 volts DC power classes. This technology was originally designed...
Pilot Program Open to the Ethernet Alliance Gen-2 Contributors
By Stephanie Clark - January 25, 2019
The UNH-InterOperability Lab is the exclusive 3rd party test house for the Ethernet Alliance (EA) Power over Ethernet (PoE) Certification Program. The PoE Certification Program aims to assure interoperability of products based on IEEE Std 802.3™-2018 PoE standards. Passing products are eligible for listing on the Ethernet Alliance Certified Product Registry. PoE technology grants the ability to deliver power over data communications cabling for IP networks. The Ethernet Alliance is currently developing the Gen-2 PoE Certification Program, which includes an...
Showcasing NBASE-T Interoperability at the 2017 Interop ITX
By Michael Klempa - June 14, 2017
Droves of eager engineers looking to learn a thing or two about the new spin on a classic technology congregated below the light blue banner waving overhead of the NBASE-T Alliance booth. When asked by a novice who could benefit from NBASE-T technology, the easy answer was anyone at the Interop ITX event. WIFI was particularly slower than usual, possibly from the bottleneck caused by everyone simultaneously trying to tweet about the amazing next generation BASE-T demo. The added bandwidth...
BitPhyer: Ethernet Testing for the Future
By Ethan Fahnestock - August 25, 2016
Is this test tool right for you?
BitPhyer’s intriguing ability to test even the strangest networking scenarios without much effort makes testing devices quick, efficient, and intuitive.
BitPhyer revolutionizes the use of FPGA’s for Ethernet conformance testing. I have been using BitPhyer for six months, and in that time I have adapted the tool to do multiple forms of conformance testing. The flexibility granted by the FPGA presents the opportunity to perform a diverse set of...
The BitPhyer 10G – The IOL’s 10GBase-R Ethernet Test Tool
By Sebastian Young - August 24, 2016
The UNH-IOL has a number of commercially available traffic generators that are used in 10Gb Ethernet conformance testing. These traffic generators allow us to send custom frames to DUTs (Devices Under Test) during conformance and interoperability testing. We can customize the type, size, and data payload of the frames, and we can even use these traffic generators to send specific patterns of different frames. Yet many tests of the underlying physical layer we identify in our test suites require a...
Who’s Down with Open Networking?
By David Woolf - September 21, 2015
This week UNH-IOL is holding our 3rd Plugfest with the Open Compute Project (OCP) Networking Group. Our earlier events were focused on defining and improving our testing processes, but this event is special. We’ll be using everything we’ve learned as a community over the last year to prove interoperability of Open Networking by incorporating open testing, then using that to publish sets of known interoperable Open Networking solutions.
IOL First Conformance & Interop Test House for OPEN Products in Automotive Applications
By David Estes - May 21, 2012
We are proud to announce that we are working with the OPEN (One Pair EtherNet) Alliance to become the first test house to perform physical layer conformance and interoperability testing for one pair Ethernet products in automotive applications. Reducing the cable to only one pair will reduce the weight and cost required to add Ethernet to automobiles. The OPEN Alliance is comprised of auto manufacturers, parts suppliers, and chip manufacturers to promote the adoption of one pair Ethernet for automotive communication. The OPEN Alliance is also assisting in defining the standard for higher-speed reduced pair Ethernet.
40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet: Can you get your hands on it?
By Jeff Lapak - July 11, 2011
One of the most frequent questions we receive about Ethernet lately is, "I see you have a 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium, but do you actually have any devices to test?" The answer is a qualified yes; while our test bed is small, it's growing every day and test reports are going out. However, it turns out that the most aggravating problems with 40 and 100 Gigabit devices are not related to conformance to the 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet standard, but to the availability of components such as optical modules and PHY silicon.