A compact approach to clustered master-slave Ethernet networks

Ethernet switches are increasingly used in real-time distributed systems as a technical solution to guarantee the timeliness in communications. However, there are still limitations related to real-time behavior caused by the limited number of priority levels and the possibility of memory overruns with consequent message losses. These limitations can be eliminated using a master/slave technique such as proposed by the FTT paradigm. This led to the FTT-SE protocol that schedules transmissions centrally in a master node. While this protocol has already been well studied and investigated for small networks with a single switch, its extension to larger networks is still an open issue. In this paper we propose a compact clustered solution to scale the FTT-SE protocol to networks of multiple switches by organizing the network in sub-networks composed of one master and one switch each and which can be connected directly, without bridges. This paper also shows how the timeliness of the traffic can still be enforced. The response time analysis, implementing a prototype and developing a simulator is currently on-going.