Power over Ethernet PoE

In this article I describe the term Power over Ethernet PoE used in networking field. Before going to Power over Ethernet you should be familiar with the term Ethernet. You can learn about Ethernet from this link. We use Ethernet for data transmission an receive. For transmission and reception of data only four wires are sufficient. Two for transmission and two fore reception of digital data in a network. The Ethernet connector RJ45 is a 8 wire connector. So there are always 4 wires are spare in the Ethernet connector or cable. The Idea of Power over Ethernet comes from there.

Ethernet works on Data link and physical layer of OSI reference model. Ethernet Cabling Types in networking is related to access the media from a device with various types of cables. The Ethernet provides connectivity between nodes and different networking devices. The most popular Ethernet connector also known as RJ45 connector. Implementation and maintains of Ethernet is very easy. Ethernet port provides speed up to gigabits per second. Ethernet is responsible for formatting and transmission of data in a predefined format. Similarly, at the receiver end the received data reformatted in a predefined format.

Working of Ethernet: Ethernet Cabling Types in Networking

Ethernet belongs to IEEE standard IEEE 802.3 family. Ethernet Cabling Types, Ethernet working depends on both physical and data link layer. The Ethernet send and receive the bits and frame in a network. Physical layer defines the bits streaming and data link layer defines the frame streaming. Ethernet is responsible for VLAN tagging, QOS, error correction and identify the transmission problems. An Ethernet do work metallic conductor cables. Ethernet Cabling Types may be co-axial, twisted pair, CAT-6 cables and optic fibre cable.

Some devices need power along with the data connectivity. We need to provide the power to these devices with a separate wire. Power over Ethernet PoE technology minimized the number of wires which is a good thing for any network.

Example of Power over Ethernet PoE

The best example of PoE is the digital camera used for surveillance in a network. The digital camera needs only four wire to transmits the data towards DVR. Remaining 4 wires of Ethernet can be used for carrying the power required to operate the camera. By doing this we do not need an additional power cable along with the Ethernet cable. So basic concept of using PoE technique is to reduce the number of physical cables in a network.

Another example of Power over Ethernet is WAP installation. WAP is a device which allow devices to connect with the network over Wi-Fi. Data between the devices and WAP transmit and receive via radio waves. So there is no any wired connection required for devices but WAP need a backbone to connect with the network. This backbone is generally an Ethernet cable. This cable carry the data from the WAP to the network and vice versa. Only four wires are used for transfer the data between WAP and Network. There are four wires remain spare in the Ethernet cable. These spare wires can be use to provide power to the WAP. So we need only a single Ethernet wire for both the power and data transmission.

Provision of Power over Ethernet PoE in devices

The concept of carrying the electrical current with the data in a single cable is good but there is a problem. The electrical current produce interference when travels from any conductor. This interference can manipulate or delete the data flowing in the same cable. To avoid such issues a special component used to enters the current in the Ethernet cable known as injector.

By using an injector the current kept separate from the data to avoid the data lose. If the device is compatible to use the Power over Ethernet PoE then there is no issue. In case the device is not compatible there is another component require to separate the power from the Ethernet cable. This component known as Picker. Picker divert the current to the power jack from the Ethernet cable.

Advantage of using Power over Ethernet PoE

PoE provides an easy installation of power along with the network cabling. You do not need an electrician. The cost of cables reduce by using the PoE technology. The installation of devices become easy like Camera and WAP can be install any where without having an power extension board. It is safe to use PoE as there is no additional electric wire available in the wiring. The chances of wrong connectivity are very minimum as there is pre-define connectors available to provide connectivity.

Example of devices which use Power over Ethernet

There are many devices uses the Power over Ethernet technology. Some of them are IP camera, Digital PTZ cameras, Wireless Access point, Bluetooth Appliances and IP phone. In short we can say mostly the networking devices can use the Power over Ethernet PoE technology.

In this article i describe the basic function of PoE. I hope you found this little article helpful. For any query or suggestion drop a comment below or contact us. Your suggestions always welcome by us.