10 Things You Need to Know About TSN

TSN is able to solve this problem by guaranteeing data is delivered at a precise time. This blog will take a look at the key highlights about TSN – everything to know about this exciting technology and its real world applications.

1. TSN is Ethernet Plus

 

As described above, Ethernet lacks the ability to deliver data at a specific point due to the potential of delay. TSN changes all of that by adding the timely delivery guarantees that were lacking in traditional Ethernet.

 

2. TSN is Backward Compatible with Existing Ethernet 

 

TSN continues the Ethernet tradition of remaining backward compatible with older technologies, which is good news for organizations that want to implement TSN on existing Ethernet networks. There is no need to install special gateways or protocol translators to make it work in an existing environment.

 

3. Timing is Everything 

 

TSN is all about tightly synchronizing activities across a network, so timing is crucial, as is reflected in the two most important TSN requirements, time synchronization and real-time scheduling. 

 

4. TSN is Modular

 

TSN isn’t a single standard, it’s a collection of standards. This modularity enable network engineers to choose and implement standards in ways that are most suitable for the network’s intended application.

 

However, a TSN-capable device doesn’t have to support all TSN standards. Device manufacturers can implement the standards selectively, depending on the use case of the device, but they must declare which standards each device supports.

 

5. Configuration is Key 

 

Although Ethernet is designed to be plug-and-play, TSN is not. To reap the benefits of real-time communications, you must configure TSN devices to carefully coordinate their send and receive operations.

 

On smaller, static networks manual configuration may be an option. On larger, more complex or more dynamic networks, a mechanism is usually required to automate the configuration process.

 

6. TSN is Ideal for Automation Applications 

 

TSN is like the central nervous system in the human body, which enables the brain to carefully coordinate all bodily functions and movement often without the need for conscious thought. In a similar fashion, TSN enables timely communication among all sensors, actuators and machinery, so they can coordinate their activities among one another or by way of a central control mechanism.

 

TSN’s guaranteed timely delivery makes it ideal for automation applications, especially industrial automation and in-vehicle automation (as in self-driving cars). However, its use is not only restricted to automation.  It can be beneficial in any application that requires reliable transmission of different priorities of traffic on a single network.

 

7. Guaranteed Latency Trumps Low Latency 

 

TSN is often described as “low-latency” network communications, but latency is less of an issue than jitter. What’s important in TSN is that specific latencies can be guaranteed to ensure that data is delivered precisely when it’s scheduled to arrive — no sooner and no later. How long it takes for data to travel from point of departure to destination is less of a concern. As long as the latency is predictable and planned for (and not excessive), it’s not a huge issue.

 

8. TSN Can Help Even if Some Devices Don’t Support It 

 

TSN can improve the overall performance of any Ethernet network even if one or more end devices don’t support it. Any network connection between two TSN-compatible devices on a portion of the network may be configured to synchronize the devices and use real-time scheduling and other TSN standards to guarantee latencies between the devices. Although the entire Ethernet network won’t be TSN optimized, it will benefit from more efficient communications over those optimized sections of the network.

 

9. TSN Introduces New Security Concerns 

 

Because TSN relies so heavily on time synchronization and scheduling, it introduces unique security concerns. For example, malicious participants on the network might introduce additional data frames or change frame priorities to disruptor delay mission-critical traffic. In fact, security measures themselves might throw off timing by consuming extra CPU cycles necessary for ensuring timely processing of data frames.

 

10. Existing Vendor-Specific Technologies May Benefit

 

Through minor changes in vendor-specific systems, such as in master controllers, TSN can directly interact with vendor-specific, real-time Ethernet solutions. This flexibility enables the use of TSN to improve these systems without having to completely replace them.