Industrial Network Configuration Agent for Scalable TSN Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Centralized configuration models for Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) in industrial networks face challenges such as high costs, scalability limitations, flexibility, and complexity, making them unsuitable for simpler deployments.
Innovation Solution
A decentralized approach using a network configuration agent (NCA) that discovers network topology and communication intent data, commissions a remote network engine, and calculates network configurations based on these data, distributing them to network devices without the need for a centralized network controller.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a centralized configuration model is used for TSN networks, then network control and configuration management are improved, but device complexity and deployment costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a TSN configuration agent as an intermediary component that mediates between network devices and the centralized configuration system. This agent discovers network topology locally, collects communication intent data, and interacts with a remote network engine for configuration calculation, thereby reducing the complexity burden on individual devices while maintaining centralized control benefits
Solution Approach 2:
The configuration system is segmented into multiple functional components: local configuration agents deployed on network devices, a central configuration server, and remote network engines. This segmentation distributes the configuration workload and complexity across multiple entities, allowing each component to handle specific tasks independently while contributing to the overall network configuration
2Reliability
If a centralized configuration model is used for TSN networks, then network configuration management is improved, but scalability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The TSN configuration agent is designed with multi-functionality to handle various network discovery protocols (LLDP, CDP), multiple communication intent data formats, and different configuration calculation methods. This universal design allows the system to scale to diverse network topologies and deployment scenarios without requiring fundamental changes to the configuration management approach
3Manufacturing precision
If direct interaction between network devices and configuration engine is implemented, then configuration accuracy is improved, but deployment effort and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The TSN configuration agent performs preliminary actions by automatically discovering network topology and collecting communication intent data from network devices before configuration calculation is required. This preliminary data collection eliminates the need for manual configuration input and reduces deployment time while maintaining configuration accuracy through automated data gathering
Data Source
AI summary
A method for providing a network configuration for an industrial network includes discovering network topology data by a network configuration agent (NCA); receiving communication intent data from a network device; commissioning and identifying a remote network engine; forwarding the discovered network topology data and the received communication intent data to the remote network engine and requesting by the NCA the remote network engine for calculating network configuration data indicating network configurations; calculating the network configuration data on the provided network topology data and the received communication intent data; providing the calculated network configuration data to the NCA and distributing the calculated network configuration data to the network device, and initiating a network configuration in the industrial network.