Software-Defined Time Sensitive Networks Configuration and Management
Hamza Chahed, Andreas Kassler
Abstract
Deterministic real time networking is typically provided by dedicated fieldbus networks which prevents innovation due to their proprietary nature, inflexibility and high-cost. Recently, Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) emerged as a set of Ethernet enhancements, which enables innovation in deterministic networking areas thanks to its openness and capability to serve a variety of traffic types over a converged network infrastructure. However, configuration and management of TSN is difficult due to the complexity of mechanisms that need to be deployed, configured and managed in order to provide real-time guarantees. Luckily, with recent advancements in the area of software-defined networking (SDN), control plane programmability is simplified, also enabling logically centralized view for network configuration methods. In this paper, we focus on the potential of SDN for the configuration and management of TSN elements. We aim to contribute to an (i) understanding on how SDN can help in the configuration of TSN and (ii) propose a standards compliant TSN network controller, using micro-service architecture for flexibility and scalability. We motivate the potential and discuss the main research questions related to its design.