Westermo launches new Merlin range of industrial cellular routers for remote sites

Westermo has launched a new range of industrial cellular wireless products designed to provide resilient data communications for remote sites. The Merlin range of compact, rugged and secure cellular solutions has been specifically developed to support industrial IoT (IIoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions in demanding utility, infrastructure and transportation applications.

“An increasing desire to implement IIoT and M2M solutions at remote facilities creates a greater reliance on the availability of resilient, reliable and secure data networks,” explained Dermot Mannion, Product Manager, Westermo. “The Merlin range of cellular wireless products will meet this requirement, supporting the most demanding industry applications, while providing the advanced functionality needed to maximise connectivityand reduce installation time without affecting security.”

The first Merlin products to be released are the 4600 series, which further strengthen Westermo’s existing range of industrial wireless routers. These four compact and feature-rich devices provide high-speeddata network connectivity for demanding industrial, smart grid, and rail trackside applications. The routers meet the requirements of IEC 61850-3 Class 1 Medium Voltage substation and railway trackside EN 50121-4 standards.

The Merlin range has been designed to be easy to install and maintain. When coupled with Westermo’s zero touch deployment software activator, the Merlin devices provide cost-effective, reliable and consistent onboarding within large-scale projects.

To achieve best-in-class cybersecurity, the Merlin 4600 series is equipped with a TPM (trusted platform module) chip that keeps cryptographic keys secure, while Secure Boot ensures that the routers boot using only software signed and trusted by Westermo. A set of cybersecurity tools is available as standard, including virtual private network (VPN) and stateful firewall support for data security and user authentication.

A built-in industrial gateway enables multiple devices, using different protocols, to be accessed via a common interface. For example, in a substation application with IEC-101, Modbus and DNP (distributed network protocol) devices, all three types can be presented viathe SCADA system by a single IEC-104 or MMS (multiple messaging service) interface.

The Merlin 4600 series also supports six inputs and twooutputs for local monitoring or control. The number of digital and analogue inputs and outputscan be increased using external I/O modules and the status of the internal or external I/O is accessible via the supported industrial communication protocols.