In the age of IoT, both industrial routers and home routers play a vital role. For home or industrial routers, even though the basic concepts and technologies are similar, the differences can be huge. Let's take a look at some basic networking scenarios and learn more about the subject.Application scenariosAn industrial router is a rugged router designed to withstand harsh environments and handle a wide temperature range from freezing environments to hot deserts. It is mainly used in different industries such as intelligent transportation, environmental monitoring, industrial automation, finance, electric power, water affairs, etc., and supports a wide temperature of -30~+75 degrees Celsius. Home routers are mainly used in personal rooms, so the adaptability to the environment is only 0~+55℃.FeatureIndustrial-grade routers are designed for consistent 24/7 and heavy workloads. They contain better technology, from faster CPUs and more RAM to better-operating systems that can be tuned and customized for your specific business operations.Industrial routers often come in the form of integrated service appliances, which means they provide network, application, and security services on a single device, providing hardware-based VPN access to remote workers and customers.Industrial routers are highly configurable and offer advanced options for managing connected devices. Examples include controlling data flow control, bandwidth control, website filters, and quality of service (QoS) for devices, ports, and specific types of traffic.rs232 через вайфай Hardware componentsIndustrial routers typically use high-quality components that can last for years, while consumer devices typically use cheaper components that can degrade and sometimes fail. The industrial router adopts a durable industrial design with a rugged metal housing, IP30 protection, wall/Din rail mounting, built-in high-performance industrial-grade communication processor wireless module, embedded real-time operating system as a software support platform, and simultaneous connection of serial devices, Ethernet device or WIFI device. Industrial 4G/3G routers have embedded cellular modules, while consumer 4G/3G routers have built-in cellular chipsets.Security functionIndustrial routers have many security rules and more advanced firewalls, such as supporting APN/VPDN private networks, and devices have many VPN connections, such as IPSEC, PPTP, L2TP, GRE, OPENVPN, with VPN clients, servers, etc. Civilian routers are less secure.Signal stabilityIndustrial routers can provide reliable networking and stable communication for complex systems. In the same environment, the signal sensitivity is stronger.Interface equippedThe industrial router supports RS232/485/422, Ethernet, WIFI, digital I/O, USB, and other interfaces. It can connect serial devices, Ethernet devices, and WIFI devices at the same time to realize transparent data transmission and routing. The main interfaces of home routers include WAN, LAN, and WIFI.Installation methodIndustrial routers always support a variety of mounting types, including the desktop, wall, and DIN rail mounting, for a variety of applications, and mounting kits are available. Whereas home routers are desktop or pocket-sized.CostThe cost of industrial routers must be more expensive than home routers. Industrial routers are made of higher-quality materials and cost a lot, but they offer better performance and can handle heavier workloads. So the cost of an industrial-grade router can't even be compared to a home router.As we've seen, industrial routers are more complex and are designed as a single high-performance device in larger, more complex networks, while home routers are designed as an all-in-one solution for easy connectivity and access.
