System and method for controlling time dilation in time-sensitive networks
View Patent ↗A system and method determine a clock drift and a clock variance of each node in plural nodes of a time-sensitive Ethernet network. An accumulated clock offset along a time-sensitive network path in the time-sensitive network is determined based on the clock drifts and the clock variances. A guard band having a dynamic size is determined based on the accumulated clock offset. The times at which Ethernet frames are communicated through the nodes are restricted by communicating the guard band with the dynamic size to one or more of the nodes.
1 . A system comprising:
one or more processors configured to:
determine a maximum accumulated clock offset along a time-sensitive network path in a time-sensitive network based on a sum of clock offsets of clocks of nodes along the time-sensitive network path;
determine a guard band having a dynamic size based on the maximum accumulated clock offset and an eigenvalue centrality metric;
communicate the guard band with the dynamic size to one or more nodes of the time-sensitive network; and
allocate the guard band to at least one of the nodes, the guard band restricting when Ethernet frames are communicated through the at least one of the nodes.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors also are configured to determine the eigenvalue centrality metric based on a location of one or more of the nodes in the time-sensitive network, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the dynamic size of the guard band based on the eigenvalue centrality metric.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a rate at which clock synchronization messages are reported to the nodes along the time-sensitive network path, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the dynamic size of the guard band based on the rate at which clock synchronization messages are reported to the nodes along the time-sensitive network path.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to insert the guard band before and after a scheduled window time of forwarding a time-sensitive network frame at each of the nodes.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the guard band as one or more of a time period or a bandwidth in which non-time-critical Ethernet frame traffic cannot be communicated through the nodes.
6 . A system comprising:
one or more processors configured to:
determine clock drifts and clock variances of plural nodes in a time-sensitive Ethernet network;
determine an eigenvalue centrality metric based on a location of one or more of the nodes in the time-sensitive network;
dynamically allocate, based on the eigenvalue centrality metric and a maximum accumulated clock offset along a time-sensitive network path in the time-sensitive Ethernet network, a guard band to one or more of the nodes to prevent communication of one or more Ethernet frames through the one or more nodes during the guard band in a time sensitive network schedule of the Ethernet network, wherein the maximum accumulated clock offset is determined based on a sum of clock offsets of clocks of nodes along the time-sensitive network path.
7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to dynamically allocate the guard band by changing a size of the guard band responsive to a change in one or more of the clock drifts, the clock variances, or the eigenvalue centrality metric.
8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine an accumulated clock offset of the nodes along a path between two or more computer devices based on the clock drifts and the clock variances associated with the nodes along the path, wherein the one or more processors are configured to allocate the guard band based on the accumulated clock offset.
9 . A node in a time-sensitive network, comprising:
at least one processor configured to:
obtain a guard band having a dynamic size, wherein the dynamic size of the guard band is determined based on (a) a maximum accumulated clock offset along a time-sensitive network path in the time-sensitive network and (b) an eigenvalue centrality metric, wherein the maximum accumulated clock offset is determined based on a sum of clock offsets of clocks of nodes along the time-sensitive network path; and
communicate Ethernet frames based on the guard band allocated to the node, wherein the guard band restricts when the Ethernet frames are communicated through the node.
10 . The node of claim 9 , wherein:
the eigenvalue centrality metric is determined based on a location of one or more of nodes in the time-sensitive network.
11 . The node of claim 10 , wherein:
the dynamic size of the guard band is determined based on a rate at which clock synchronization messages are reported to the nodes along the time-sensitive network path.
12 . The node of claim 10 , wherein:
the guard band is inserted before and after a scheduled window time of forwarding a time-sensitive network frame at each of the nodes.
13 . The node of claim 10 , wherein:
the guard band is determined as one or more of a time period or a bandwidth in which non-time-critical Ethernet frame traffic cannot be communicated through the nodes.