A Robust Scheduling of Cyclic Traffic for Integrated Wired and Wireless Time-Sensitive Networks

2025-09-19

AI Summary

To address end-to-end latency uncertainty of periodic traffic in wired-wireless converged Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), caused by wireless link jitter, this paper proposes a robust time-aware scheduling method. The approach models wireless performance uncertainty within a linear programming framework using an adjustable robustness parameter Γ. It further introduces a polynomial-time heuristic algorithm supporting multi-frame transmission and serialized batch processing, balancing deterministic latency guarantees with computational efficiency. Integrating Time-Aware Shaping (TAS) with robust optimization theory, the method is evaluated across diverse topologies and dynamic wireless conditions. Experimental results demonstrate a 90% successful scheduling rate under large-scale scenarios involving 6,500 flows—significantly improving both scheduling robustness and scalability compared to existing approaches.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Scheduling under Uncertainty
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization
• Reasoning under Uncertainty: Stochastic Optimization

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Data management and stream processing for Web, mobile and wireless applications
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web

Abstract

Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a toolbox of technologies that enable deterministic communication over Ethernet. A key area has been TSN's time-aware traffic shaping (TAS), which supports stringent end-to-end latency and reliability requirements. Configuration of TAS requires the computation of a network-wide traffic schedule, which is particularly challenging with integrated wireless networks (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi) due to the stochastic nature of wireless links. This paper introduces a novel method for configuring TAS, focusing on cyclic traffic patterns and jitter of wireless links. We formulate a linear program that computes a network-wide time-aware schedule, robust to wireless performance uncertainties. The given method enables robust scheduling of multiple TSN frames per transmission window using a tunable robustness parameter (Γ). To reduce computational complexity, we also propose a sequential batch-scheduling heuristic that runs in polynomial time. Our approach is evaluated by using different network topologies and wireless link characteristics, demonstrating that the heuristic can schedule 90% of 6500 requested TSN streams in a large topology.

Problem

• Robust scheduling for cyclic traffic in wired-wireless TSN networks
• Addressing wireless link jitter and performance uncertainties
• Computing network-wide time-aware schedules with tunable robustness

Innovation

• Linear program for robust TAS scheduling
• Tunable robustness parameter for wireless uncertainties
• Polynomial-time heuristic for computational efficiency