Tsn operation management system with time capture location protocol
AssigneeSchneider Electric USA, Inc.
InventorAlen MEHMEDAGIC
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for monitoring and verifying latency on TSN-configured networks. The disclosure describes a novel and inventive time capture location protocol that supplements existing TSN protocols. This supplemental TSN protocol details a way to capture the time at which a message arrives at various points in a TSN-configured network. The captured times allow for monitoring and verification of TSN based features and their underlying systems, including run-time diagnostics to detect problems and delays.
Claims20
A system for monitoring a network configured for Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), the system comprising:
- an end station configured to transmit and receive TSN messages;
- a Centralized User Configurator (CUC) configured to connect to the end station, the CUC further configured to instruct the end station to initiate time data capture;
- wherein the end station is further configured to generate, in response to being instructed by the CUC to initiate time data capture, a predetermined number of frames at a preselected interconnection layer and transmit the frames to the CUC, the end station further configured to insert current network time data in each frame;
- and
- wherein the CUC is further configured to determine how much jitter and/or latency is present using the current network time data in the frames.
A method of monitoring a network configured for Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), the method comprising:
- providing a talker device configured to a generate a frame with an initial timestamp at a preselected layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, the initial timestamp reflecting then-current network time, the talker device further configured to add additional timestamps to the frame as the frame traverses OSI model layers towards a network port of the talker device, each additional timestamp reflecting then-current network time;
- providing at least one infrastructure device configured to connect to the talker device, the talker device further configured to transmit the frame via the at least one infrastructure device, wherein at a preconfigured one of the at least one infrastructure device, the frame is timestamped at an ingress and an egress of the infrastructure device;
- and
- providing a listener device configured to receive the frame from the infrastructure device, the listener device configured to collect the at least one additional timestamp as the frame traverses the OSI model layers of the listener device, the at least one timestamp taken at a preselected OSI model layer of the listener device;
- wherein jitter and/or latency in the network is calculated based on the collected timestamps, including the initial timestamp and the at least one timestamp.
A computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
- instruct an end station to initiate time data capture, the end station generating, in response to being instructed by the processor, a predetermined number of frames at a preselected interconnection layer and transmitting the frames to the processor, the end station inserting current network time data in each frame;
- and
- determine an amount of jitter and/or latency using the current network time data in the frames.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.