The RuggedRated™ certification indicates that the device has been specifically designed to withstand the demands of harsh industrial environments. In order to qualify for this rating, a product must have the following characteristics:
- Rated for reliable operation in harsh electrical environments:
- IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 (Electric power substations)
- IEC 61000-6-2 and IEC 61800-3 (Industrial Environments)
- NEMA TS 2 (Traffic Control Equipment)
- Rated for error free operation in high EMI environments:
- Zero Packet Loss™ Technology for fiber-based networking devices
- IEEE 1613 Class 2 error free performance under EMI stress for fiber-based networking devices
- Fiber optical ports supporting both short and long haul fiber
- Rated for operation over a wide temperature range:
- -40°C to 85°C (+185°F)
- Passive cooling (no fans)
- CSA/UL 60950 safety approved to +85°C (+185°F)
- Rated for high availability:
- Integrated single or dual redundant power supplies
- Wide input range: 24VDC, 48VDC, (88 - 300VDC or 85 - 264VAC)
- Dual power supplies can be powered independently, from different input voltages
- Rated for industrial installations:
- 18 gauge galvanized steel enclosure for durability and impact protection
- Heavy duty steel DIN rail mount or 19” rack mount
- Industrial terminal blocks for power and I/O connections
RuggedCom Gets RuggedRated™
In addition to designing RuggedCom products to meet the demands of RuggedRated™ certification, every RuggedRated product is thoroughly tested for performance prior to shipment to our customers. This includes:
- A Dielectric Voltage Withstands test on all power ports and signal ports in accordance with IEC 60255-5, UL 508 and CSA C22.2
- A High Voltage Impulse test of 5kV on all power ports and signal ports in accordance with IEC 60255-5 and IEEE C37.90
- 24 hour burn-in test period during which the following occurs:
- The product is placed in an environmental test chamber and temperature is cycled between –40 and +85°C (+185°F) ensuring reliability in extreme winter and summer temperatures
- Built-in self-test features are activated which test all of the product’s key features (e.g. communications rate and throughput) at their maximum capability
- A final operational test using industry standard network simulation and test equipment to test the following:
- Throughput
- Latency
- Frame/Packet loss
All RuggedCom products are backed with a standard 5 year warranty.
RuggedRated™
Certified Technology:
Zero Packet Loss™
and eRSTP™
- 15 Destructive EMI Tests
- 2 Industry Standards
- 0 Errors
RuggedCom’s approach was to develop technology which would withstand all of the EMI type tests required by IEC 61850-3 without experiencing any communications loss or delays and also qualify as an IEEE 1613 Class 2 error free networking device. This technology is known as Zero Packet Loss™ technology and it is designed to provide the same level of EMI immunity performance and reliability as protective relaying devices.
- <5ms/hop Fault Recovery
- Large Rings with up to 80 Switches
- Compatibility with RSTP
The Spanning Tree Protocol (IEEE 802.1D) was designed to solve the fundamental problem of traffic loops. The next evolution of the protocol, IEEE 802.1w Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) greatly improved the fault recovery performance, but was still too slow for most real-time control applications.
RuggedCom’s approach was to build upon the RSTP standard and enhance it in two ways:
1) improving the fault recovery time performance and 2) improving the performance for large ring network topologies.