A Protocol Agnostic Electrically Transparent Distributed Switch Fabric for IT/OT Testbenches

Abstract

This thesis presents the design and development of custom hardware, based upon RF (Radio Frequency) MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical System) switch technology and a grounded, conductor backed, edge coupled, coplanar waveguide transmission line design to facilitate protocol-agnostic, electrically transparent switching of different hard-wire protocols, such as Ethernet, USB (Universal Serial Bus), CAN (Controller Area Network) bus, RF and more within an IT/OT (Informational/Operational Technology) environment. This is achieved through a distributed, decentralised switch fabric composed of individual switch fabric nodes, which achieves fully reconfigurable IT/OT environments at the electrical level. Traditional IT/OT environments consist of diverse systems involving computers, network switches, routers, firewalls, PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers), SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, and various other devices employing different wired protocols. Reconfiguring these environments for new test or use cases can take hours or even days, necessitating a custom solution to address this problem. The thesis outcome is named X-Plex (Cross-Plex), a functioning prototype and proof of concept which introduces novel hardware design and application, significantly reducing configuration time for IT/OT environments from hours to seconds. The X-Plex system features an electrically transparent, protocol-agnostic, distributed switch fabric achieved by employing discrete RF MEMS switches, providing a scalable, versatile, modular, switching and rerouting architecture. which can be cascaded to expand functionality and controlled independently or as part of a larger switch fabric system, creating a protocol-agnostic distributed switching system.X-Plex was designed through simulation followed by an iterative design and development approach, with a real-world application as a case study within the Cyber-SHIP lab at the University of Plymouth. The performance and utility of X-Plex demonstrates its potential to be of significance to many industries and applications.

Awarding Institution(s)

University of Plymouth

Supervisor

Kevin Jones, Kimberly Tam, Toby Whitley

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2025

Embargo Period

2026-09-25

Deposit Date

October 2025

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

This document is currently not available here.

This item is under embargo until 25 September 2026

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