Real-time Ethernet systems are becoming increasingly popular for avionics and embedded applications. By regulating network traffic according to predefined configurations, these protocols enable highly deterministic communication, while still conforming to the Ethernet standard. However, the strengths of a statically configured system become weaknesses when the system requirements are changed. In the worst case, the entire network may need to be reloaded with new configurations, resulting in significant downtime. As a result, there is significant growing interest in reconfiguring real-time Ethernet networks online, without loss of connectivity. Several recent works focus on minimizing frame loss and configuration conflicts during online reconfiguration. Unfortunately, in doing so, they also sacrifice the system's ability to tolerate faulty components.In this paper, Gatekeeper, the first reconfiguration protocol for real-time Ethernet systems that minimizes downtime in both the presence and absence of faults, is described.Gatekeeper consists of two main sub-protocols: 1) a reliable distribution protocol that ensures consistent configurations are deployed on all non-faulty devices (i.e., switches and network cards), and 2) a dependable test-and-migrate reconfiguration protocol that allows the system to gain confidence that the configurations are correct as they are rolled out to an increasing number of devices. We evaluated Gatekeeper's scalability to different system sizes, its timing and communication overheads, and it's correctness in the presence of different faulty configurations. Our results show that Gatekeeper can tolerate a faulty device with as little as 3% communication overhead, and while running faster than naive non-fault-tolerant solutions in large networks.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.