Abstract: Industrial control network is needed for industrial communication and advanced manufacture. An overview on the evolution process was given, and the real-time technology of industrial ethernet was summarized. I3y analyzing the real-time behavior of industrial ethernet, this paper divided it into soft real-time, hard real-time and isochronous realtime classes,and expatiated the realtime research methods of each class in detail. The architecture of real-time heterogeneous networks was described, and the researches of wireless industrial network were proposed. Finally, the prospects and the further research direction were pointed out.

Key words: Industrial control network, Industrial ethernet, Soft real-time, Hard real-time, Isochronous real-time