Telegram Timestamp Validation for Secure Data Exchange
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current fail-safe communication methods, such as PROFIsafe, rely on point-to-point connections and require acknowledgment telegrams, which limit their flexibility and increase complexity, especially when using publisher/subscriber or broadcast mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A method that checks the timestamp of incoming telegrams in the sink data service to ensure validity, eliminating the need for acknowledgment telegrams by using a unique identifier and time synchronization, allowing for flexible communication without feedback channels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If point-to-point connection with acknowledgment telegram is used, then data exchange reliability is ensured, but communication flexibility and adaptability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The telegram itself carries all necessary information for validation (timestamps, sequence numbers, source/sink identifiers) enabling the receiving end to autonomously verify data integrity without requiring acknowledgment telegrams or feedback channels
Solution Approach 2:
The acknowledgment mechanism is extracted and removed from the communication protocol, replacing it with embedded validation data within the telegram structure that enables unidirectional communication while maintaining reliability
2Reliability
If acknowledgment telegram mechanism is implemented, then data integrity is monitored, but software complexity and overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
Validation functionality is merged into the telegram data structure itself through embedded timestamps and sequence numbers, eliminating the need for separate acknowledgment protocols and reducing software complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The telegram structure is designed to be self-validating with embedded metadata (timestamps, sequence numbers) that enable automatic integrity checking without complex external verification mechanisms
3Reliability
If point-to-point connection is used, then bidirectional monitoring is achieved, but unidirectional communication concepts like publisher/subscriber cannot be supported
Solution Approach 1:
The telegram contains embedded source and sink identifiers along with sequence numbers, enabling unidirectional communication paths to be self-identified and validated without requiring bidirectional feedback mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The communication protocol is designed to support multiple communication patterns (point-to-point, publisher/subscriber, broadcast) through a universal telegram structure that carries all necessary validation information regardless of communication direction or topology
Data Source
AI summary
A method for functionally secure connection identification for data exchange via a telegram between a source data service and a sink data service, wherein whether the time stamp of an incoming telegram is older than the time stamp of a predecessor telegram is determined, upon receipt of the predecessor telegram a monitoring counter being started and whether the currently incoming telegram has arrived within a monitoring time is additionally determined, where a local time stamp of a local time basis is compared with the associated time stamp of the incoming telegram and whether a comparison difference does not exceed a period of time is determined, a telegram arriving only being accepted as valid if the time stamp of the arriving telegram is greater than the time stamp of the telegram most recently accepted as valid, and data is valid if the checks are positive, otherwise a fail-safe reaction is triggered.