V-TSN: A Software-Defined TSN Overlay for General-Purpose Networks

2026-06-26

AI Summary

This work addresses the challenges of real-time performance and cost in deploying Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) over general-purpose nondeterministic networks. The authors propose V-TSN, a software-defined virtual TSN overlay that, for the first time, enables purely software-based support for both TSN emulation during development and lightweight TSN functionality during deployment on commodity infrastructure. V-TSN integrates generalized Precision Time Protocol (gPTP) clock synchronization, a virtual Time-Aware Shaper (TAS), and a Credit-Based Shaper (CBS), ensuring isolation and bandwidth reservation for time-critical traffic without requiring specialized hardware. Experimental results in cloud environments demonstrate an average clock synchronization error below 200 microseconds, achieving a practical balance among flexibility, real-time guarantees, and cost efficiency.

Abstract

Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) extends Ethernet with deterministic communication for time-critical applications such as industrial automation, in-vehicle networks, and cyber-physical systems. However, realizing TSN behavior without dedicated hardware is difficult. During design and validation, offline simulation cannot run application software at real-time speed when costly specialized TSN hardware is not (yet) available. At deployment time, many systems run on general-purpose and cloud networks with no native TSN support, where provisioning full TSN hardware is unnecessary or impractical for applications that tolerate relaxed timing. In this paper, we introduce Virtual Time-Sensitive Networking (V-TSN), a software-defined overlay that realizes gPTP-based synchronization and TSN traffic shaping over general-purpose, non-deterministic networks without specialized hardware. V-TSN runs in real time alongside the unmodified application stack, serving both as a development-time emulation tool and as a cost-efficient deployment option where relaxed timing is acceptable. In a cloud-based deployment, V-TSN achieves an average clock offset below 200 microseconds, it isolates time-critical traffic through a virtual Time-Aware Shaper (TAS), and it enforces per-class bandwidth reservations through a virtual Credit-Based Shaper (CBS).

Problem

• Time-Sensitive Networking
• deterministic communication
• general-purpose networks
• hardware-free TSN
• real-time emulation

Innovation

• Virtual Time-Sensitive Networking
• Software-Defined Overlay
• gPTP Synchronization
• Time-Aware Shaper
• Credit-Based Shaper