Advancing TSN flow scheduling: An efficient framework without flow isolation constraint

In the domain of Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), the quest for ultra-reliable low-latency communication is paramount. Current scheduling strategies, which hinge on strict isolation to ensure low latency and jitter, confront the challenges of high overhead in worst-case latency evaluation and consequent limitations in network flow capacity. This paper introduces an innovative framework that transcends traditional isolation constraints, thereby expanding the solution space and augmenting network schedulability. At the heart of this framework lies a novel latency jitter analysis method that assesses the viability of non-isolation scenarios with constant time complexity. This method underpins a heuristic scheduling algorithm that not only boasts the smallest time complexity among existing heuristics but also significantly increases the number of scheduled flows. Complementing this, we integrate a discrete time reference approach to hasten time-intensive scheduling operations, achieving an optimal balance between schedulability and runtime efficiency. The framework further incorporates a workload-shifting technique to enhance online scheduling responsiveness. It adeptly manages the variability in scheduling times caused by disharmonious flow periods, further bolstering the framework’s robustness. Experimental validations demonstrate that our framework can increase the scheduled flows up to 269%. It reduces scheduling runtime by up to 98.44% for medium-scale networks while maintaining a flat runtime growth curve, ensuring predictable performance in online scheduling scenarios.