Diamond Systems EPS-24026-104 Rugged PC/104 Layer 2 Managed 26 Port Ethernet Switch with Dual SFP Ports

Linking the computers, sensors and displays across a vehicle often needs more copper ports than a PC/104 stack offers, plus a fibre run to another cabinet. The EPS-24026-104 is the 26-port PC/104 Ethernet switch in the Diamond Systems EPSILON-2400 series, designed for industrial, on-vehicle and military use and able to run standalone or with a host computer.

It combines 24 Gigabit copper ports (10/100/1000 Mbps) with two SFP sockets, one at 1G and one that runs at 1G or 2.5G. The copper ports sit on latching connectors, split between the main board and a PC/104 daughterboard. Switching is managed Layer 2+ under a built-in microcontroller, with an in-band web interface over any Ethernet port and a command-line interface over RS-232. The 2.5G port supports stacking two switches for a combined total of 50 ports.

Network features include 4K IEEE 802.1Q VLANs with push and pop of up to two tags, 8K MAC addresses, eight priorities and eight CoS queues per port, per-queue and per-port shaping and policing, storm control, IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation, RSTP and MSTP, IEEE 802.1X and jumbo frames at all speeds. Our explainer on what a VLAN is shows how VLANs separate traffic on a shared switch. The EPS-24016-104 is the 16-port version without SFP sockets, and the EPS-8130-XT covers eight ports with a heat spreader.

Input is +5 to +34 V DC through a built-in DC/DC supply, with 15.7 W maximum at +12 V and all 26 ports active. The switch operates from -40 to +85 °C, and latching connectors give better protection against vibration. Both boards follow the PC/104 form factor. For evaluation, the DK-EPS24026 development kit contains the switch, the CK-EPS24026 cable kit with six quad-port Ethernet cables and an LED accessory board.