Deterministic Hybrid Architecture with Time Sensitive Network and Wireless Capabilities

Abstract

Industrial automation systems that present strong real-time requirements have been traditionally implemented using wired networks. However, the prolific development of the wireless networks, and the important benefits derived from their use, have brought an increase in the introduction of the wireless networks as an extension of wired ones. Even so, the current wireless standards do not allow the coexistence with wired networks that present severe reliability and real-time requirements, such as those used in industrial control applications. In order to solve this problem, this paper presents a hybrid network with deterministic features, including a wired network with Time Sensitive Network (TSN) and a new Medium Access Control (MAC) wireless protocol for the wireless section. Moreover, this paper gives details about the bridge that has been developed for transmitting data between the two sections of the hybrid network in a deterministic way. The proposed approach has been implemented, and the measures in real hardware prove the fulfilment of the deterministic real-time requirements demanded by the hybrid network.