Specifications

CP143 H1 / TCP/IP manual Network planning
Rev. 00/07 3-1
3 Network planning
3.1 Ethernet network-terminology
An ethernet network provides a communication link between different stations on the network. The
stations on the network may consist of personal computers, industrial computers, automation
equipment etc. Stations are connected to the network and located a certain minimum distance from
each other. The stations on the network and the LAN cable form a network segment. (See Fig. 3-1).
The cable of the network segment usually consists of a number of network cables of varying length
that are linked by means of connectors.
The length of the network segment and the number of stations that may be connected to it is limited.
It is possible to extend a network segment by linking multiple segments via repeaters.
A repeater increases the physical topology of a network. The repeater requires two transceivers to
link two different segments to each other. In this case the repeater is transparent to the network and
combines the two segments into a single logical channel.
In this situation the repeaters task is to regenerate and to amplify the signals in both directions. It
must also be able to recognize, process and to communicate inter-segment collisions. Repeaters do
not possess a unique address and are therefore not accessible as they are invisible to the stations
connected to the network.
The overall network cable consists of the sum of all segment cables.
Fig. 3-1:Parts of an ethernet network