Reliable networking in Ethernet ring mesh networks using regular topologies

Abstract

Reliable networking is an important factor in Ethernet ring mesh networks (ERMs) with ITU-T G.8032 Ethernet ring protection recommendation or with the IEC 62439-3 high-availability seamless redundancy protocol. However, there are two major challenges for this purpose: (1) Hitherto, irregular topologies are used in ERMs that it causes difficulty in analyzing and improving reliability. (2) A topology is appropriate for practical implementation, if it is low cost, simple to implement, and simple to develop for large scale-systems (i.e. scalable). However, irregular topologies are extremely difficult to implement and develop. To deal with these challenges, this paper introduces two regular topologies called chordal ring and k-cube networks, for the first time in the area of ERMs. In addition, the proposed topologies are carefully analyzed in terms of reliability. These analyzes prove that the proposed regular topologies outperform existing irregular multiple-ring networks namely shared link, shared node, complex shared link, redundant link, and 3-connected network.