A tight end-to-end delay bound and scheduling optimization of an avionics AFDX network

Inspired by the response time analysis (RTA) technique, this paper presents a new method for the estimation of end-to-end delay bounds in AFDX networks. For the purpose of comparison, an end-to-end delay analysis based on the Network Calculus (NC) is first carried out. In order to apply the RTA technique, an interference model of virtual links with common transmission paths in a typical AFDX network configuration has been established. The corresponding worst-case response time (WCRT) as well as a schedulability criteria are then derived. Furthermore, a procedure for scheduling policy optimization is deduced based on RTA. Numerical analysis shows that the RTA can achieve a tighter end-to-end delay bound compared to the one given by NC. Simulations are also carried out to confirm the validity of the proposed approach.