A Multiservice Switch for Advanced Avionics Data Networks

With knowledge of persistent data communication traffic patterns offered to an avionics data network, modifications to the routing through the network can be made to improve total throughput and bound the latency of packets. The Multiservice Switch MSS is such a route-optimizing switch for streaming sensor data. The MSS has two switching fabrics packet switching and circuit switching. The packet-switching fabric routes small control and data packets between switch ports. The circuit-switching fabric uses a crossbar to physically connect ringlets, which reduces the workload on the packet-switching fabric for long data streams between the ports. An implementation of the MSS is described which uses commercial-off-the-shelf COTS components. A simulation model was developed to show the benefits of the MSS under standard avionics workloads. The results of the MSS indicate distinct advantages in terms of performance, price, and power consumption over other conventional switch and network topology designs.