Dynamic Resource Allocation of Switched Ethernet Networks in Embedded Real-Time Systems

Abstract

Manual reconfiguration of a distributed real-time communication system by humans is error-prone and time consuming. To avoid errors, which may result in latter failures of the system, the reconfiguration of the communication resources should be carried out automatically by the system itself. This paper introduces a new broker model which enables the system to respond dynamically to changes in the system composition, like newly added network nodes or services. Further, we introduce a new client model that implements protocols for the agreement and coordination of the reconfiguration phases of the network nodes. Besides the support for ARINC 615A-3 (ARINC615A), the client model also provides a new way for data loading for devices that are not compatible with this standard. Our introduced models are finally implemented and evaluated within an experimental setup for TTEthernet. The main contribution of our approach is to adapt to both changes within the system’s service compositions (e.g., new services, changed timing requirements) and changes within the network composition (e.g., newly added switches or nodes).