A configuration method for system-level application message communication in an FC network

Abstract

This application provides a communication configuration method for system-level application messages in an FC network. The method includes: determining the unique location of a system-level application message in a data frame within a Fibre Channel network, wherein the location is located in a 4-byte ASM message ID field; configuring the function of each byte in the 4-byte ASM message ID to generate a configuration file; and transmitting and forwarding system-level application messages through switches in the FC network according to the configuration file. The configuration method provided in this application is based on static generation on the ground, which is beneficial for design verification, and the generated configuration has high determinism and reliability. Online data frame monitoring can intuitively obtain the message sending and receiving node information and data ID, which is very helpful for fault location and troubleshooting during equipment communication function debugging and testing.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the field of airborne communication system technology, and specifically relates to a configuration method for system-level application message communication in an FC network. Background Technology

[0002] With the development of avionics technology, the communication requirements of aircraft systems have surged, and the scale of aircraft systems has become increasingly large. Constructing large-scale aircraft systems presents numerous challenges, the most prominent of which include:

[0003] 1) How to solve data communication between heterogeneous platforms, heterogeneous network devices, or subsystems;

[0004] 2) How to ensure backward compatibility and improve the capabilities of existing platforms; at the same time, consider future expansion needs and maintain the system's advanced nature. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this application is to provide a configuration method for system-level application message communication in an FC network to solve or mitigate at least one of the problems in the background art.

[0006] The technical solution of this application is: a configuration method for system-level application message communication in an FC network, the method comprising:

[0007] The location of a system-level application message in a data frame is uniquely identified within a Fibre Channel network, and this location is located in the 4-byte ASM message ID field.

[0008] Configure the function of each byte in the 4-byte ASM message ID and generate the configuration file;

[0009] In an FC network, node devices transmit and forward system-level application messages through switches according to configuration files.

[0010] Furthermore, in the 4-byte ASM message ID field, the highest byte 3 represents the source node ID of the system-level application message, which indicates the switch domain and the switch port number to which the source node device of the system-level application message is connected.

[0011] Byte 2 represents the destination node ID of the system-level application message, which indicates the switch domain and the switch port number to which the destination node device of the system-level application message is connected.

[0012] Byte 1 and Byte 0 represent the message's data ID, which corresponds one-to-one with the structure of system-level application messages.

[0013] Furthermore, in byte 3, bits 7 and 6 together represent the switch domain SRC_Domain to which the message source node device is connected, and bits 5 to 0 together represent the switch port number SRC_Port to which the message source node device is connected.

[0014] Furthermore, in byte 2, bits 7 and 6 together form the switch domain DST_Domain to which the message destination node device is connected, and bits 5 to 0 together form the switch port DST_Port to which the message destination node device is connected.

[0015] The configuration method provided in this application is based on ground-based static generation, which is beneficial for design verification, and the generated configuration has high determinism and reliability. Online data frame monitoring allows for intuitive identification of message sending and receiving node information and data IDs, which is highly beneficial for fault location and troubleshooting during equipment communication function debugging and testing. Attached Figure Description

[0016] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions provided in this application, the accompanying drawings will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this application.

[0017] Figure 1 This is a diagram of a Fibre Channel network data frame format according to an embodiment of this application.

[0018] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of node device communication according to an embodiment of this application.

[0019] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a fault communication of a node device according to an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0020] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0021] To address the problems identified in the background section, resolving heterogeneous platform and network communication through a complex middleware platform, or building a communication system based on a unified network, becomes crucial. When devices or subsystems communicate, the differences in data transmission platforms and bus network types no longer need to be considered. Through a global approach, the same data, previously transmitted with different data structures across different bus networks, can be transmitted in a unified format. (The same data content, due to transmission limitations across different bus network types, is transmitted with different data structures and lengths on low-speed and high-speed networks. In a global design, two different data structures need to be defined for the same content, and the software processing differs between low-speed and high-speed devices.) This simplifies and facilitates system design and promotes standardized modularization of application software.

[0022] To address this issue, this application proposes a configuration method for configuring system application messages in FC (Fibre Channel) networks. This method is designed to solve the problem of configuring large-scale systems in complex communication scenarios. It is applicable to Fibre Channel networks used simultaneously with other switched networks and can be adapted to support different configuration methods for configuring system-level application messages under different configurations and system scales.

[0023] The communication configuration method for system-level application messages in an FC network provided in this application includes the following steps:

[0024] 1) Determine the unique location of a system-level application message in a Fibre Channel network within a data frame, where the location is located in a 4-byte ASM message ID.

[0025] like Figure 1 The diagram illustrates the Fibre Channel network data frame format provided in this embodiment of the application. The Fibre Channel network data frame includes an SOF field (4 bytes), an FC-2 field (24 bytes), an ASM header field (16 bytes), a payload field (0-2096 bytes), a CRC field (4 bytes), and an EOF field (4 bytes). The ASM header field further includes an ASM message ID field (4 bytes), a security reserved field (8 bytes), a reserved field (4 bytes), a priority field (1 byte), and a message payload length field (3 bytes). In this application, the field representing system-level application messages in the FC network is set in the ASM message ID field.

[0026] 2) Define the function of each byte in the 4-byte ASM message ID.

[0027] The ASM message ID is used to represent the matching relationship between messages and switches and their inbound and outbound ports in the FC network, that is, to indicate which port of which switch the message enters, which port of which switch the message exits, and what kind of message it is.

[0028] Table 1 shows the specific composition format of the ASM message ID in this application:

[0029] Table 1 ASM Message ID Format

[0030]

[0031] 2.1) The highest byte 3 represents the source node ID of the message, which represents the switch domain and the port number of the switch to which the source node device is connected.

[0032] The SRC_Domain is composed of bits 7 and 6, which represent the switch domain to which the message source node device is connected. It can represent up to 4 switch domains (when SRC_Domain takes the values ​​0b00, 0b01, 0b10, and 0b11, it represents 4 switch domains respectively).

[0033] SRC_Port consists of bits 5 to 0, representing the switch port number to which the message source node device is connected, and can represent up to 2^6 = 64 ports;

[0034] 2.2) Byte 2 represents the destination node ID of the message. This destination node ID represents the switch domain and the switch port number to which the destination node device is connected.

[0035] The DST_Domain is composed of bits 7 and 6, which represent the switch domain to which the message destination node device is connected. It can represent up to 4 switch domains (when DST_Domain takes the values ​​0b00, 0b01, 0b10, and 0b11, it represents 4 switch domains respectively).

[0036] The DST_Port consists of bits 5 through 0, indicating which port of the switch the message destination node device is connected to, and can represent up to 2. 6 =64 ports;

[0037] 2.3) Bytes 1 and 0 represent the message's data ID, which corresponds one-to-one with the message's structure. This design facilitates system reconfiguration; source nodes that act as backups can use the same data ID when sending unified message content; it also supports the sending of variable-length messages.

[0038] Table 2 shows an example of message composition structure. When the number of targets is 1, the data length is 12 bytes, and when the number of targets is 3, the data length is 28 bytes.

[0039] Table 2 Example of message composition structure

[0040]

[0041] Based on the above configuration method, it can support communication configurations for up to 4 switch functional domains, approximately 240 interconnected nodes, and up to 16,777,216 messages with different source nodes, destination nodes, and data contents.

[0042] Based on the above process, different configuration methods can be developed to support communication configurations for system-level application messages under different configurations and system scales. For example, changing the number of bits in the field representing the switch domain in the source or destination node ID can expand or shrink the number of switch domains that can be represented. It should be noted that changes in the number of bits in the switch domain field will affect the number of switch ports that can be represented. When the system configuration becomes complex and the scale increases, and the source or destination node ID is insufficient to be represented by one byte, its number of bytes or bits can even be expanded.

[0043] by Figure 2 Taking the device communication shown as an example, the application (FUNC4) on device 3 needs to send two messages to device 1 and device 2. The content of the messages is the same, that is, the same data is transmitted (the data ID value is 0x0011).

[0044] The ASM message ID for message 1 is configured as 0x82130011, as shown in Table 3;

[0045] Table 3 shows the ASM message ID values ​​for message 1.

[0046]

[0047] The ASM message ID for message 2 is configured as 0x82410011, as shown in Table 4;

[0048] Table 4 shows the ASM message ID values ​​for message 2.

[0049]

[0050] Under normal circumstances, device 3 communicates with devices 1 and 2 based on messages 1 and 2. When device 2 malfunctions and cannot send or receive messages, the system function is reconfigured. FUNC1, which is pre-deployed in device 4, is activated, and device 4 takes over the function of running FUNC1. At this time, device 3 communicates with FUNC1 in device 4 based on message 3. Figure 3 As shown in Table 5, the ASM message ID for message 3 is 0x82440011.

[0051] Table 5 shows the ASM message ID values ​​for message 1.

[0052]

[0053]

[0054] During configuration generation, considering system reconfiguration requirements, the configuration is statically generated, along with the communication configurations for messages 1, 2, and 3. Based on this configuration design method, application software in devices 1, 2, and 3 can be modularized (e.g., FUNC1), greatly improving software portability; simultaneously, the software can be pre-deployed on device 4 to facilitate system reconfiguration. Furthermore, since the FUNC1 function is identical in devices 1, 2, and 3, and the required message content is also the same, the same data ID can be used when sending messages with the same data structure (e.g., messages 1, 2, and 3 use the same data ID because the message content is the same).

[0055] The configuration method provided in this application is based on ground-based static generation, which is beneficial for design verification, and the generated configuration has high determinism and reliability. Online data frame monitoring allows for intuitive identification of message sending and receiving node information and data IDs, which is highly beneficial for fault location and troubleshooting during equipment communication function debugging and testing.

[0056] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A configuration method for system-level application message communication in an FC network, characterized in that, The method includes: The location of a system-level application message in a data frame is uniquely identified within a Fibre Channel network, and this location is located in the 4-byte ASM message ID field. Configure the function of each byte in the 4-byte ASM message ID to generate a configuration file. In the 4-byte ASM message ID field, the highest byte 3 represents the source node ID of the system-level application message, which indicates the switch domain and port number to which the source node device of the system-level application message is connected; byte 2 represents the destination node ID of the system-level application message, which indicates the switch domain and port number to which the destination node device of the system-level application message is connected; bytes 1 and 0 represent the data ID of the message, and the data ID corresponds one-to-one with the composition structure of the system-level application message. In an FC network, node devices transmit and forward system-level application messages through switches according to configuration files.

2. The configuration method for system-level application message communication in an FC network as described in claim 1, characterized in that, In byte 3, bits 7 and 6 together represent the switch domain SRC_Domain to which the message source node device is connected, and bits 5 to 0 together represent the switch port number SRC_Port to which the message source node device is connected.

3. The configuration method for system-level application message communication in an FC network as described in claim 1, characterized in that, In byte 2, bits 7 and 6 together represent the switch domain DST_Domain to which the message destination node device is connected, and bits 5 to 0 together represent the switch port DST_Port to which the message destination node device is connected.

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