A MAC protocol for real-time manufacturing traffic in client-server-based high speed broadcast networks

Abstract

Advances in network technology and the emergence of applications for manufacturing demanding stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements have made the design of high-speed broadcast networks feasible and indispensable. Unlike traditional broadcast networks, such as Ethernet, high-speed broadcast networks exhibit high bandwidth-delay product. Moreover, forthcoming networks are required to support diverse virtual manufacturing devices demanding different amounts of bandwidth. Examples are networks with client-server configurations. These facts render traditional Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols unviable. The paper proposes a new MAC protocol, called Prioritized Adaptive Cycle Cell Insertion (PACCI), especially advantageous to client-server-based high-speed broadcast networks. PACCI achieves bounded delay and high utilization regardless of the network size and load. In addition to providing fair access for clients through c_cycles, PACCI offers prioritized access to servers through s_cycles. The bandwidth allocation of the c_cycles and s_cycles is then based on an analytic model in an effort to provide QoS guarantees in terms of throughput under diverse traffic loads. The paper also presents simulation results that demonstrate the accuracy of the analysis and the superior performance of PACCI.