Hybrid topology ethernet architecture

An internetworking device for communicatively coupling a plurality of nodes in a first network to a second network external to the first network, each of the plurality of nodes communicatively coupled to at least one other node via a direct link and at least one other node via a skip link, the internetworking device comprising:

• a first gateway interface operable to couple the plurality of nodes to the external network, the first gateway interface comprising a first node and a second node of the plurality of nodes;
• and
• a second gateway interface operable to couple the plurality of nodes to the external network, the second gateway interface comprising a third node and a fourth node of the plurality of nodes wherein the first node is configured to communicate data in a first direction through the first network to a fifth node via a direct link and the second node is configured to communicate data in the first direction to the fifth node via a skip link;
• and wherein the third node is configured to communicate data in a second direction through the first network to a sixth node via a direct link and the fourth node is configured to communicate data in the second direction to the sixth node via a skip link.

A distributed control system for controlling an engine comprising:

• a resource cabinet located off the engine, the resource cabinet comprising a plurality of computational cards, wherein the plurality of computational cards are operable to communicate using a first protocol;
• a plurality of on-engine components operable to communicate using a second protocol that is different from the first protocol, each of the plurality of on-engine components coupled to two neighbor on-engine components via direct links and to two skip on-engine components via skip links;
• a first gateway interface operable to couple the plurality of computational cards to the plurality of on-engine components and to convert between the first and second protocols;
• and
• a second gateway interface operable to couple the plurality of computational cards to the plurality of on-engine components and to convert between the first and second protocols.