Whatever you were doing in high school, it probably wasn’t this cool. Murex Robotics, the underwater robotics team of Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, has created what it claims isthe world’s smallest network switch, and for significantly less money than any of its larger counterparts.
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Designed for use in a remotely piloted underwater rover, the mrxSwitch v2.0 supplies five 100 Mbps Ethernet ports at a footprint of only 44.9mm by 42.2mm.Network switchesof this form factor are typically reserved for highly embedded systems; the team prioritizes its use in remote-operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), but IoT devices and other consumer devices with space constraints may have use for network switches this small. The switch in Murex’s case can allow a Raspberry Pi, NUC, or other computer to communicate with IP cameras, driver motors, or any of the rest of its tools to operate a robot underwater.
The five beige 4-pin connectors on the board are the network ports, using the Molex PicoBlade connection to save space, as multiple RJ-45 ports would dwarf the tiny board. The integrated chip onboard doing the switching is smaller than a fingernail, and the largest component, a dual-port transformer, is barely longer than a knuckle. The mrxSwitch v2.0 represents a 30% size reduction over its predecessor, along with a BOM cost reduction of 15%, even with its smart-looking custom PCB.
For a deeper dive into the team’s development process of v1.0 straight from the creators, be sure to read the team’sown development blog. The 100 Mbps speed is pretty slow for today’s rocket-fast standards, but at least you’re only paying $7 for it. Lest we forget, some audiophiles were sold on a$4,349 “audiophile grade” network switchrunning fewer ports at the same speed last year.
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Sunny Grimm is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware. He has been building and breaking computers since 2017, serving as the resident youngster at Tom’s. From APUs to RGB, Sunny has a handle on all the latest tech news.
