Guaranteeing the timely transmission of periodic messages with arbitrary deadline constraints using the timed token media access control protocol

Synchronous bandwidth, defined as the maximum time a node is allowed to send its synchronous messages while holding the token, is a sensitive parameter for deadline guarantees of synchronous messages in a timed token network. In order to offer such guarantees, synchronous bandwidth has to be allocated carefully. The allocation of synchronous bandwidths to a general synchronous message set with the minimum message deadline (Dmin) larger than the target token rotation time is studied. A new approach for allocating synchronous bandwidth, which can be easily implemented in practice, is proposed. It is demonstrated, through simulations and numerical examples, that the proposed approach performs better than any of previously proposed local synchronous bandwidth allocation schemes, in terms of its ability in guaranteeing hard real-time traffic.