Modeling of Ethernet AVB Networks for Worst-Case Timing Analysis

Ethernet is currently explored as the upcoming network standard for distributed control applications in many different industries such as automotive, avionics and industrial automation. It offers higher performance and flexibility over traditional control bus systems such as CAN and ProfiBus. For distributed control applications, predictable communication timing is highly important which can be problematic using standard Ethernet. The new Ethernet AVB standard aims to improve this by a new scheduling algorithm based on traffic shaping. However, the current AVB standard lacks a formal timing guarantee which is important for safety-critical control applications. As a solution to this, we present a model for Ethernet AVB networks and a transformation into a timing analysis model. Based on the timing model, we apply a compositional performance analysis approach known from the analysis of distributed real-time systems to derive worst-case timing properties and hence timing guarantees of the original Ethernet AVB network. For this, we provide the required formalism for the analysis of the scheduling of Ethernet AVB.