The new generation launchers require lower implementation costs inter-communication networks along with deterministic latency, and greater flexibility, to interconnect the terminals performing the Guide, Navigation and Control operations and producing/receiving telemetry traffic. Currently employed MIL-STD-1553B is no longer enough due to the demands for high bandwidth communications because it only provides a restricted bandwidth (1 Mbps) bus solution. Ethernet is an attractive high bandwidth alternative but needs additional functionality to meet avionics requirements. The well-established TTEthernet solution, which can provide determinism for individual message flows, is high cost, consequence of the use of a proprietary technology. The objective of the paper is to assess the effectiveness of a new low-cost Ethernet network design to use in launchers, through a comparison of the performance with TTEthernet. The following are the paper's main contributions: i) the definition of the Flexible Time Triggered Ethernet (FTTE), a low-cost Ethernet architecture capable of supporting services with deterministic latency needs; ii) Through the modeling of the optimization message scheduling for both solutions, a performance evaluation comparison of the proposed solution with TTEthernet is made (in a real network scenario characterized by the messages of VEGA, a small launcher defined by the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency). Performance approaches the one of TTEthernet when cut through switching technology is used.
Performance comparisons of flexible time triggered ethernet and TTEthernet technologies for space launcher networks
Lavacca F. G.;
2023-01-01
Abstract
The new generation launchers require lower implementation costs inter-communication networks along with deterministic latency, and greater flexibility, to interconnect the terminals performing the Guide, Navigation and Control operations and producing/receiving telemetry traffic. Currently employed MIL-STD-1553B is no longer enough due to the demands for high bandwidth communications because it only provides a restricted bandwidth (1 Mbps) bus solution. Ethernet is an attractive high bandwidth alternative but needs additional functionality to meet avionics requirements. The well-established TTEthernet solution, which can provide determinism for individual message flows, is high cost, consequence of the use of a proprietary technology. The objective of the paper is to assess the effectiveness of a new low-cost Ethernet network design to use in launchers, through a comparison of the performance with TTEthernet. The following are the paper's main contributions: i) the definition of the Flexible Time Triggered Ethernet (FTTE), a low-cost Ethernet architecture capable of supporting services with deterministic latency needs; ii) Through the modeling of the optimization message scheduling for both solutions, a performance evaluation comparison of the proposed solution with TTEthernet is made (in a real network scenario characterized by the messages of VEGA, a small launcher defined by the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency). Performance approaches the one of TTEthernet when cut through switching technology is used.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
