On the Development of a Real-Time Ethernet Switch for Ultra-highly Dependable Applications

The development of systems for ultra-highly dependable applications requires restrictive development processes that adhere to industry standards to ensure that the end product is of superior quality. The knowledge of those standards and their application is, thus, essential for successful system development. Time-Triggered Ethernet (TTEthernet) is a network platform that extends standard Ethernet with hard real-time capabilities and mechanisms for use in ultra-highly dependable applications and applications with mixed-criticality requirements. Over the last couple of years two teams in Romania and Austria have jointly implemented TTEthernet in the form of TTEthernet end systems and switches. Having first target applications in the space and aerospace area, a development process based on the avionics DO-254standard has been used. This development process began with requirements capturing and ended with full verification for certification of the design. In this paper we discuss the development process of the TTEthernet switch according to the DO-254 objectives and use a small running example, the ARINC 664-p7 age check, to illustrate the application of the standard.