Support for Emulated 5G-System Bridge in a Time-Sensitive Bridged Network

Abstract: Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) defined in the IEEE 802.1 working group, is an important enabler for industrial Internet of things, specifically industry 4.0. 3GPP release 16 specifications includes the 5G system as a logical TSN bridge, thus promoting the integration of 5G technology with TSN. This combination provides wireless deterministic communication thus ensuring low, bounded delay and near-zero packet loss. In this thesis, we implement a 5G system in- tegration with TSN using a discrete event network simulator (NS-3). Further, we propose a simplified per egress port scheduling algorithm based on IEEE 802.1Q (scheduled traffic standard) running in the Centralized Network Con- troller (CNC). Average packet delay, average jitter, average throughput and the packet loss is measured for comparing the performance difference when our TSN scheduler is used versus when it is not. The designed system is tested by measuring it’s network impact in terms of average delay and packet loss. The 5GS logical bridge behavior is simulated by varying the 5G bridge de- lay dynamically. For every frame transmission in the queue, the processing delay of a particular bridge is varied with pre-defined set of values. Two sets of 5GS bridge delay variations are considered, i.e. between 1-10ms and 5- 10ms respectively. On calculating the network impact, we conclude that the overall impact on the network decreases as the variation range for the delay gets smaller. This proves that higher delay variations have a significant impact whereas smaller delay variations have a negligible impact on the network. For the latter case, the system delay is considerably stable and thus can be used for industrial applications in real-life TSN scenarios.