CBL - Campus del Baix Llobregat

Projecte llegit

Títol: A Microservices-based Control Plane for Time Sensitive Networks

Estudiants que han llegit aquest projecte:

Director/a: AGUSTÍ TORRA, ANNA

Departament: ENTEL

Títol: A Microservices-based Control Plane for Time Sensitive Networks

Data inici oferta: 22-07-2022     Data finalització oferta: 22-03-2023


Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
    MU MASTEAM 2015
Tipus: Individual
 
Lloc de realització: EETAC
 
Paraules clau:
Deterministic Networks, Time Sensitive Networks, Software Defined Networking, Industry 4.0
 
Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats:
Ethernet TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) is a group of IEEE
802.1 standards that aim to provide deterministic
communications over Ethernet. The main characteristics of TSN
are low latency and reliability, ideal for the strict
requirements of industry and automotive applications. Since
there are numerous restrictions to be respected in the
allocation of resources to time-critical data streams, the
configuration of paths and GCLs (Gate Control Lists) is often
a laborious task. Software-Defined Networking and the
principles of the IEEE 802.1Qcc standard provide the basis to
design a TSN control plane to face these issues. However,
current SDN/TSN control plane solutions are monolithic
applications designed to run on dedicated servers and require
specific protocols for synchronization among them. These SDN
controllers do not provide the required flexibility to scale
out in case of an increasing number of connectivity service
requests. In this project, we present µTSN-CP, a
microservices-based control plane architecture for TSN that
aims to provide scalability in dynamic resource allocation
scenarios. We evaluate our µTSN-CP regarding CPU usage, RAM
usage, latency, and percentage of successfully allocated TSN
streams.
 
Overview (resum en anglès):

Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a group of IEEE 802.1 standards that aim at providing deterministic communications over IEEE Ethernet. The main characteristics of TSN are low bounded latency and very high reliability, which complies with the strict requirements of industry and automotive applications. In this context, allocating time slots, configuration paths, and Gate Control Lists (GCLs) to contending TSN streams is often laborious. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and the IEEE 802.1 Qcc standard provide the basis to design a TSN control plane to face these challenges. However, current SDN/TSN control plane solutions are monolithic applications designed to run on dedicated servers. None of them explores Microservice as a design pattern; these SDN controllers do not provide the required flexibility to escalate when facing increasing service requests. This work presents $\mu$TSN-CP, a microservices-based Control Plane (CP) architecture for TSN/SDN that provides superior scalability in situations with highly dynamic service demands. Using a qualitative approach, we evaluate our $\mu$TSN-CP solution compared to a monolithic solution in terms of CPU usage, RAM usage, latency, and percentage of successfully allocated TSN Streams. Our $\mu$TSN-CP architecture leverages the advantages of microservices, enabling the control plane to scale up or down in response to varying workloads dynamically. We achieve enhanced flexibility and resilience by breaking down the control plane into smaller, independent microservices. The experimental evaluation demonstrates that our TSN-CP outperforms the monolithic solution, with significantly lower CPU and RAM usage, reduced latency, and a higher percentage of successfully allocated TSN Streams. This advancement in TSN/SDN control plane design opens up new possibilities for highly scalable and adaptable networks, catering to the ever-increasing demands of time-sensitive applications in various industries.

© CBLTIC Campus del Baix Llobregat - UPC