Dave Cavalcanti, President of the Avnu Alliance shares why he thinks Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a foundation for many industry verticals
When it comes to networking infrastructure and management, businesses are always looking out for ways to reduce operational complexity and expenditure, while optimising performance and scalability. It’s for this reason that many businesses – particularly in the industrial, automotive and professional audio/video (ProAV) sectors – are now turning towards converged networks for their operations.
A key component for the ongoing digitalisation of businesses, these networks allow different classes of applications to coexist on the same physical network, across both wired and wireless mediums. Because they are able to deliver multiple traffic types with mixed criticality requirements on the same infrastructure, converged networks can handle data more efficiently, streamlining complex network engineering and management tasks.
TSN: The bedrock for networking optimisation
Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) is the key to enabling this convergence, empowering businesses to move beyond their archaic, single function networks. Originally created and driven by the IEEE’s 802.1 Task Group, TSN refers to the family of standards that can be used to enable deterministic low latency and improve reliability in converged networks.
Take the industrial sector as an example. The deployment of Industrial IoT (IIoT), such as sensors, actuators, and robotics, have helped businesses make great strides when it comes to enhanced safety and productivity within facilities. For these to work successfully, operators need to trust the data delivery to the connected devices arrive as close to real-time as possible. If components do not respond to commands within an appropriate time, it can lead to errors in production, or worse, injuries to the workforce.
In these scenarios, TSN features like time synchronisation (based on the 802.1AS protocol) and traffic scheduling enhancements (based on the 802.1Qbv standard) can deliver greater determinism for time-critical data flows. It means fine manipulation tasks (such as with a robotic arm) and emergency stop commands can be requested near-instantaneously, without fear of interruption or corruption.
TSN capabilities like 802.1AS and 802.1Qbv are capable of working together to deliver deterministic latency across Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and 5G systems. To make these more accessible to businesses however, ongoing certification programs will be key – especially to ensure device interoperability.
Bringing converged networks to all
It’s for this reason that Avnu Alliance, the not-for-profit industry forum dedicated to interoperable, converged networking, launched the ‘Component Certification Program’ earlier this year. The first of its kind to certify capabilities within the TSN toolbox, the program is enabling manufacturers across various markets to guarantee their components meet the essential requirements defined by TSN standards.
By certifying components, these manufacturers are helping to deploy key functionalities such as 801.AS and 802.1Qbv and help businesses benefit from precise time synchronisation and time-aware scheduling. Because the program is profile-agnostic in nature, it means that components and devices from multiple vendors can be utilised across industries, satisfying the growing market demands for compatibility and interoperability.
The program is already expected to expand in order to cover additional TSN features, such as interspersed express traffic (IET) and the forwarding and queuing of time-sensitive streams (FQTSS), later this year.
Profile-specific network device certification
Avnu Alliance is also streamlining certification for network devices, such as Ethernet switches, that meet market-specific TSN requirements. These include those defined in the 802.1BA Audio Video Bridging (AVB)/TSN profile and the IEC/IEEE 6082 TSN profile for industrial automation. As a result, in August 2024 the 802.1BA bridge certification program was announced to transform the way Ethernet switches are tested and certified to meet the needs of the ProAV market.
The precise timing within devices and across the network facilitated by the TSN standards will support low-jitter media clocks and accurate synchronisation of multiple nodes, allowing diverse types of traffic to coexist seamlessly on a single network.
The new 802.1BA program started with a comprehensive pilot phase to enable members to obtain conditional certification, through which they can begin to market and deploy their products with the assurance they are compliant with the latest AVB/TSN standards. Work is ongoing within Avnu Alliance and its partner organizations to extend the TSN testing and certification capabilities to meet the needs of the industrial automation segment by aligning the programs with the upcoming IEC/IEEE 60802 TSN profile.
The new era of networking
As networks continue to evolve and incorporate increasingly diversified applications, TSN capabilities – validated through key certification programs – have become essential tools for businesses. Certification is driving greater interoperability and adherence to important specifications, and therefore paving the way for smoother, successful deployments.
Once in play, the TSN functionality will pave the way for innovation across wired and wireless networks, offering the flexibility needed for new technological advancements to cross-pollinate from one sector to another. The ability to select diverse features from the same toolset will help businesses to design products that meet current market demands, while cutting out any redundant infrastructure. With programs revolving around industrial and wireless devices in the pipeline, these benefits will soon extend to new technologies and markets as well.
The benefits of TSN are clear-cut and long-lasting, and we will soon see a greater number of certified, off-the-shelf devices that businesses can deploy with ease as the basis for their own converged networks.
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