Approximation of FDDI minimum reconfiguration time

FDDI, with its inherent reconfiguration capabilities, is being selected as the key technology for data transfer within mission critical systems including those used aboard military platforms. Much has been written about FDDI mechanisms and interconnection topologies which can increase the number of failures needed to segment an FDDI network. While this is one attribute key to mission critical systems, another important attribute is the time needed to complete reconfiguration. The paper is intended to provide a theoretical and analytical description of FDDI reconfiguration and provide a means for experimentally determining FDDI reconfiguration timing. The theoretical minimum reconfiguration time provides a basis for considering the results of FDDI product testing