Requirements for deterministic control systems

This paper will explain what a deterministic system is, why it is important for real-time mission critical control systems to be deterministic, and provide examples of what types of network protocols should be selected in order to ensure deterministic behavior. In evaluating determinism, the need to consider not only network throughput and latency, but also delay variability or jitter will be discussed. Methods of how to measure determinism will be discussed as well as what types of analysis and testing need be performed in order to validate that a network exhibits deterministic behavior. The paper will offer suggestions for new rules and requirements to be added to naval and commercial rules to ensure that mission critical or vital automation systems are deterministic.