TTEthernet Mixed-Critical Communication: Overview and Impact of Faulty Switches

Modern transportation vehicles (e.g., cars and airplanes) represent a seamless fusion of safety-critical and consumer electronics systems. In order to save space inside a vehicle, implemented network infrastructure should be compact, and thus all data (critical and noncritical) should be ideally transmitted through a single physical network. The TTEthernet represents a great candidate to support aforementioned coexistence of mixed-critical traffic. Furthermore, a prerequisite for deterministic communication is properly established and maintained synchronization between components in the network. Within this article, we give an overview of the TTEthernet mixed-critical communication capabilities and brief details of required synchronization mechanisms. Furthermore, we provide analysis of the impact that one faulty switch makes to an End System. We discuss repercussions of the faults to the consumer grade communications, offer potential solutions, and highlight main takeaways. Finally, all observations are supported by a brief simulations results.