Method for configuring an avionic network, computer program product and related configuration module

1. A method for configuring a mixed avionic network formed by a communication system including:

a plurality of switches connected to one another;

a plurality of end systems, each end system sending or receiving digital data and being connected to at least one switch;

the method comprising the following steps:

determining sending rules imposing the sending of digital data in the form of frames of a first type or a second type, each frame of the first type being according to a first protocol of type ARINC 664 P7, each frame of the second type being according to a second protocol of type ARINC 664 P3;

each frame of each type including a field making it possible to determine its type and being defined by an identifier, the frames of the first type having a same identifier forming a flow of a first type, the frames of the second type having a same identifier forming a flow of a second type, wherein the sending rules further define, for each flow of the second type, a bandwidth;

determining conveying rules comprising defining a path for each flow of the first type between a sending end system and a receiving end system;

determining priority rules comprising defining a priority for each flow of the first type such that the priority of each flow of the second type is lower than the priority of each flow of the first type; and

sending said rules to the end systems and the switches.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said field making it possible to determine the type of each frame corresponds to a header of this field.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step for determining filtering rules imposing the application of a filtering operation to each frame of the second type received by a switch, each filtering operation being chosen from the group of operations consisting of:

identifying the identifier of the corresponding frame and rejecting this frame when its identifier is not expected by the corresponding switch; and

identifying the size of the corresponding frame and rejecting this frame when its size exceeds a predetermined threshold.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sending rules further require defining, for each flow of the second type, a bandwidth allocation gap corresponding to a minimum sending interval of two consecutive frames of this flow.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the bandwidth allocation gap and the bandwidth are defined for each flow of the second type independently of the bandwidths of the flows of the first type or as a function of the bandwidths of the flows of the first type.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sending rules require defining, by each sending end system, a total bandwidth for all of the flows of the second type coming from this sending end system independently of the other sending end systems, and from this overall bandwidth, the bandwidth for each flow coming from this sending end system.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sending rules require defining, by each sending end system, a total bandwidth for all of the flows of the second type coming from this sending end system as a function of the total bandwidths determined by the other sending end systems, and from this total bandwidth, the bandwidth for each flow coming from this sending end system.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the bandwidth for each flow of the second type coming from a sending end system is defined equitably between the set of flows of the second type coming from this sending end system or in a weighted manner as a function of the nature of this flow.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth of each flow of the second type is defined as a function of the nature of this flow.

10. The method according to claim 4 , further including a step for determining control rules imposing the control by each switch for each entering flow of the second type of at least one of the following values:

bandwidth of this flow;

jitter;

bandwidth allocation gap.

11. A computer program product comprising software instructions which, when implemented by a piece of computer equipment, carry out the method according to claim 1 .

12. A configuration module of a mixed avionic network comprising technical means configured to carry out the method according to claim 1 .