A deep dive into Single Pair Ethernet

Having used a wide range of field device communications busses from simple 4-20mA, classic serial busses like UART and Modbus, and more modern CAN bus, native USB, and Ethernet options I'm always playing with different transports and protocols to see what solutions make sense in my grab-bag of designs for hardware projects.

I first became aware of Single Pair Ethernet when I was mindlessly browsing Sparkfun's new products announcements a while ago, but didn't jump in because I felt the real utility was the ability to power devices over the same cable.

More than a year later, Sparkfun's Single Pair Ethernet Design Challenge gave me the excuse to create the hardware I originally wanted, offering a power budget that can handle non-trivial hardware with data rates to match.

Some light reading for the weekend.