Distributed Implementation of Deterministic Networking in Existing Non-TSN Ethernet Switches

Deterministic networking is quickly gaining importance, as several domains previously dominated by bus systems are now switching to Ethernet. While standardization efforts, especially from the Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) group, are ongoing, practical deployments are still far off until configuration guidelines and resource management are able to use these tools to their full potential. As an alternative, this work presents a working implementation of bounded latency with an off-the-shelf non-TSN Ethernet switch. The solution is based on a distributed reservation protocol and admission control. It proves that bounded latency is already possible with simple priority-based transmission, and it provides valuable insights for the development and operation of future real-time networking solutions.