Time-Sensitive Networking Solutions for Mission-Critical Systems

TSN extends PTP, SyncE, and NTP capabilities by introducing a suite of IEEE standards designed to provide deterministic, low-jitter communication in Ethernet networks.

TSN achieves this through features like time synchronization, traffic scheduling, and path control, ensuring critical data is delivered within strict time constraints.

No, TSN does not mean faster networking. Although TSN can prioritize data streams to have no queues and enhance throughput for specific streams using Time-Aware Shaper, TSN will not make the network faster; on the contrary, sometimes TSN induces artificial delays to eliminate bursts of information and longer queues. Inducing delays is one of the tools of the TSN protocol pack to make the Ethernet network more resilient to jitters.

The main protocols used in TSN are:

• IEEE 802.1AS (gPTP): Defines protocols for timing and synchronization in time-sensitive applications over local area networks.
• IEEE 802.1Qbv: Specifies enhancements for scheduled traffic, allowing time-aware scheduling of Ethernet frames.
• IEEE 802.1Qav: Provides forwarding and queuing enhancements for time-sensitive streams, ensuring low-latency and reliable data transmission.
• IEEE 802.1Qcc: Enhances the Stream Reservation Protocol (SRP) to support more streams and improve performance for time-sensitive networking.
• IEEE 802.1CB: Specifies frame replication and elimination for reliability, ensuring fault tolerance without failover in Ethernet networks.
• IEEE 802.1Qci: Defines per-stream filtering and policing to improve Ethernet network robustness by managing data streams individually.

Traditional networking relies on the same physical infrastructure as TSN networks. The key difference is that in traditional Ethernet networking, the network works in a "Best Effort"; therefore, the network doesn’t guarantee the delivery of a packet or the time of its arrival. On the other hand, TSN ensures timely and reliable data delivery using its mechanisms.

TSN is needed in Ethernet applications with critical timing and reliable data delivery. These Ethernet applications include MIMO radar systems, autonomous vehicles, real-time control systems, and other scenarios requiring low latency and high reliability.

Enercon's TSN products have several benefits.

They are the only ones in the military market incorporating Sync-E and timing signals as 1PPS into the TSN world, making integration easier for non-TSN devices.

In addition, the Enercon's TSN products produce and deliver timing signals from the network. Moreover, the Ethernet network can be synchronized to the 1PPS or 10MHz clock signal, eliminating the need for a GPS timing module for each unit.