A time-triggered ring network for fault tolerant message transmission, wherein said ring network comprises nodes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and connections (12, 23, 34, 45), wherein said nodes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are connected by the connections (12, 23, 34, 45) to form the ring network (100), the network comprising:
- two or more nodes (1, 2, 3, 4) in said ring network (100) form a summation group (200), wherein said summation group (200) includes one left edge node (1), one right edge node (4), and zero, one, or more nodes (2, 3) between said left and right edge nodes (1, 4),
- wherein for transmitting messages (SM1, SM2, SM3, SM4) from the nodes (1, 2, 3, 4) of the summation group (200) to a switch (7) in the ring network, the left edge node (1) of the summation group (200) is configured to generate a right direction summation frame (F14) and to send said right direction summation frame (F14) through its right side port (1r) towards the right edge node (4),
- wherein the right edge node (4) of the summation group (200) is configured to generate a left direction summation frame (F41) and to send said left direction frame (F41) through its left-side port (41) towards the right side port (1r) of the left edge node (1),
- wherein each of the nodes (1, 2, 3) in the summation group (200) is configured to insert, before sending the right direction summation frame to its right-side neighbor node (2, 3, 4) or the right edge node (4) to the switch (7), its message (SM1, SM2, SM3, SM4), which is intended by the respective node (1, 2, 3, 4) for being transmitted to the switch (7), into the right direction summation frame and to forward the right direction summation frame to its right-side neighbor node (2, 3, 4) or to the switch (7),
- wherein each of the nodes (4, 3, 2) in the summation group (200) is configured to insert, before sending the left direction summation frame to its left-side neighbor node (3, 2, 1) or the left edge node (1) to the switch (7), its message (SM4, SM3, SM2, SM1), which is intended by the respective node (1, 2, 3,4) for being transmitted to the switch (7), into the left direction summation frame and to forward the left direction summation frame to its left-side neighbor node (2, 3, 4) or to the switch (7), and wherein
- the nodes of the summation group are configured such that a node in the summation group (200) which detects a non-arrival of the right direction summation frame at a defined point in time or within a period of time from after the defined point in time from its left-side neighbor node, generates a first right direction recovery frame (RF41), inserts its message (SM4) into said right direction recovery frame (RF41), and sends the first right direction recovery frame (RF41) rightwards, and wherein the nodes of the summation group are configured such that only nodes of the summation group which would insert their message into a right direction summation frame insert their message into the right direction recovery frame (RF41) moving rightwards, and/or
- the nodes of the summation group are configured such that a node in the summation group (200) which determines the non-arrival of the left direction summation frame at the defined point in time or within a period of time after the defined point in time from its right-side neighbor node, generates a first left direction recovery frame (RF21), inserts its message (SM2) into said first left direction recovery frame, and sends this first left direction recovery frame (RF21) leftwards, wherein the nodes of the summation group are configured such that only nodes which would insert their message (SM1) into the left direction summation frame insert their message (SM1) into the first left-direction recovery frame (RF21) moving leftwards, and wherein the nodes of the summation group are configured such that
- 1) in the case that only one node of the nodes has detected the non-arrival of a summation frame, wherein the summation frame is the right direction summation frame, said one node, after sending the first right direction recovery frame and receiving and consuming the first left direction recovery frame, generates a second right direction recovery frame, inserts its messages and all messages included in the first left direction recovery frame into said second right direction recovery frame, and sends said second right direction recovery frame to the switch (7),
- 2) in the case that only one node of the nodes has detected the non-arrival of a summation frame, wherein the summation frame is the left direction summation frame, said one node, after sending the first left direction recovery frame and receiving and consuming the first right direction recovery frame, generates a second left direction recovery frame, inserts its messages and all messages included in the first right direction recovery frame into said second left direction recovery frame, and sends said second left direction recovery frame to the switch (7), and/or
- 3) in the case that a node has detected the non-arrival of the right direction summation frame and a node has detected the non-arrival of the left direction summation frame, the first right direction recovery frame (RF41) is received by the node which has determined the non-arrival of the left direction summation frame, and the first left direction recovery frame (RF21) is received by the node which has determined the non-arrival of the right direction summation frame, wherein the node (2) which has detected the non-arrival of the left direction summation frame consumes the first right direction recovery frame (RF41), generates the second left direction recovery frame (RF22), inserts its message (SM2) and all messages (SM4) included in said first right direction recovery frame (RF41) into said second left direction recovery frame (RF22), and transmits said second left direction recovery frame (RF22) to the switch (7), and wherein the node (4) which has detected the non-arrival of the right direction summation frame consumes the first left direction recovery frame (RF21), generates the second right direction recovery frame (RF42), inserts its message (SM4) and all messages included in said first left direction recovery frame (RF21) into said second right direction recovery frame (RF42), and transmits said second right direction recovery frame (RF42) to the switch (7).