Evaluating the Integration of Wireless Time-Sensitive Networking with Software-Defined Networking for Dynamic Network Configuration

The introduction of Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is revolutionising real-time networks and time-critical applications. Recent advancements in this field extended the TSN capabilities to wireless technologies, giving rise to the concept of wireless TSN (WTSN). This paper focuses on the integration of wireless TSN with Software-Defined Networking (SDN) to enable dynamic network configuration and improve the performance of time-sensitive applications. We present a practical test environment that uses a hybrid network configuration consisting of wireless and wired TSN links. The primary objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of combining a TSN-capable network with an SDN controller. This setup enables dynamic configuration and routing within the system, allowing for prompt actions to address network issues, such as seamlessly re-routing data paths between the two links due to an increase in latency or packet loss. A measurement setup using OpenVSwitch in the wireless TSN domain is presented, along with the evaluation of time synchronization and dynamic route selection capabilities.