Method of routing virtual links in a frame-switching network with guaranteed determinism

1. A method for routing virtual links in a frame switching network including a plurality of source terminals and destination terminals of frames, frame switches being connected together through physical connections, each virtual link being defined for a point-to-point type, by a path through the network between a source terminal and a destination terminal and, for a multipoint type, by a plurality of paths through the network between a source terminal and a plurality of destination terminals, the method comprising:

(a) searching for oriented loops in the network, up to a circular permutation of the switches they contain;

(b) selecting a triplet of consecutive switches within each oriented loop, each triplet defining a forbidden routing path;

(c) determining a routing solution for the virtual links not following the forbidden paths; and

(d) verifying determinism of the network on the basis of the thus routed virtual links by:

computing flow envelopes at the output of the switches crossed by the thus routed virtual links,

computing the latency times relative to these links, and

comparing the thus obtained latency times with set latency limits.

2. The routing method according to claim 1 , wherein, if the determinism of the network is confirmed, the switching tables corresponding to the routing solution are stored in the switches.

3. The routing method according to claim 1 , wherein triplets common to the largest number of oriented loops as possible are selected in the selecting (b).

4. The routing method according to claim 1 , wherein triplets belonging to routing paths forbidden by a topological constraint are selected with priority.

5. The routing method according to claim 4 , wherein the topological constraint for a network partitioned into distinct areas powered by independent power supplies, forbids:

any routing path crossing a boundary between two areas, when the switches respectively connected to the source terminal and to the destination terminal of the virtual links belong to the same area; and

any routing path crossing more than once a boundary between areas, when the switches respectively connected to the source terminal and to the destination terminal of the virtual link belong to different areas.

6. The routing method according to claim 1 , wherein the frame switching network is an AFDX network.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the routing method according to claim 1 .