Subject: [Detnet] new proposed charter

From: "Pascal Thubert (pthubert)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2015 21:59:57 +0000

Dear all:

After discussion with some of the ADs (huge, huge thanks there!) and among yourselves, you have shortened the proposed charter to be more scoped and focused to achievable deliverables. 
We now have a clear line of work in front of us. The only thing that can really block this work at this point is the lack of visible activity. Please remember, participation to the IETF work is free and personal.
We do need you guys to chime in, whether it is to comment and improve the text, or simply express support that the work needs to happen and that you are willing to contribute. 

The proposed new text reads as follows:

"

detnet: "deterministic networking" 

Background on deterministic networking  
--------------------------------------

Operational Technology (OT) refers to industrial networks that are typically used for monitoring systems and supporting control loops, as well as movement detection systems for use in process control (i.e., process manufacturing) and factory automation (i.e., discrete manufacturing). Due to its different goals, OT has evolved in parallel but in a manner that is radically different from Information Technology/Information and Communications Technology (IT/ICT), focusing on highly secure, reliable and deterministic networks, with limited scalability over a bounded area. Deterministic networks are characterized as having a bounded latency, very low loss, and a very narrow jitter.

In parallel, the need for determinism in professional and home audio/video markets drove the formation of the Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) standards efforts in IEEE 802.1. With the demand for connectivity and multimedia in transportation, AVB is being evaluated for application in vehicle head units, rear seat entertainment modules, amplifiers, camera modules, and engine control systems. Automotive AVB networks share the OT requirements for extremely low packet loss rates, guaranteed finite latency, and low jitter.

This wider application scope for deterministic networks has led to the IEEE 802.1 AVB Task Group becoming the Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) Task Group (TG), covering industrial and vehicular applications. The networks in consideration are extending beyond the LAN boundaries and require deterministic forwarding and connectivity over a Layer 2/Layer 3 network. The properties of deterministic networks will have specific requirements for the use of  routed networks to support these applications.

WG description
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The deterministic networking Working Group (detnet) will focus on the establishment and maintenance of deterministic paths over Layer-2 Bridged and Layer-3 routed segments. The Working Group will focus on Layer 3 aspects in support of deterministic applications.  The group will collaborate with IEEE802.1TSN, which is responsible for Layer-2 operations, to define a common architecture to support IEEE802.1TSN applications. For the common architecture, a number of elements such as the IEEE802.1TSN host operation should be agnostic to the choice of network used for the connectivity. 

The Working Group will specify an overall architecture that encompasses the data plane, OAM, management, control, and security aspects that are required to enable a multi-hop path, and forwarding along that path, with the deterministic properties of controlled latency, low packet loss, ultra-low jitter, and high reliability. The work will apply to flows that can be characterized in a manner that allows the network to 1) reserve the appropriate resources for the flows in advance, and 2) release/reuse the resources when they are no more required. The work will cover the characterization of flows, the encapsulation of frames, the required forwarding behaviors, as well as the state that may need to be established in intermediate nodes; it will not include end-to-end considerations such as transport protocols. Candidate Layer 3 data plane technologies include: IPv4, IPv6, MPLS. This work focuses on the data plane and does not depend on the path setup protocol that will be used. The data plane will be compatible with the work done in IEEE801.1TSN.

The WG will coordinate with other relevant IETF Working Groups, including CCAMP, PCE, PALS, TEAS, TSVWG, and 6TisSCH. As the work progresses, requirements may be provided to the responsible Working Group, e.g. PCE, TEAS, and CCAMP, with detnet acting as a focal point to maintain the consistency of the overall architecture. The WG will liaise with appropriate groups in IEEE and other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs).

Work Items     
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- Deliverables:

  * Problem statement: This document will identify the deployment environment and deterministic network requirements which need to be supported.

  * Overall architecture: This document encompasses the data plane, OAM, management, control, and security aspects.

  * Data plane specification: Document a data plane method of flow identification and packet forwarding over Layer 3. 
  
  * Data flow information model: This document will be for use by a flow reservation protocol or by YANG data models. The model should be independent from the protocol(s) used to control the flows (e.g. PCEP or GMPLS).
  
  * Identification of additional YANG augmentations: This document will cover device and link capabilities (feature support) and resources (e.g. buffers, bandwidth) for use in device configuration and status reporting. Such information may also be used when advertising the deterministic network elements to a control plane. The model should be independent from the protocol(s) that may be used to advertise this information (e.g. ISIS or GMPLS extensions).This deliverable will be coordinated with the working groups that define the base models.
"

Cheers,

Pascal and Jouni