Towards preventing error propagation in a real-time Ethernet switch

Flexible Time-Triggered communication (FTT) allows a distributed embedded system (DES) to adapt to changing real-time requirements at runtime. This facilitates the continuous operation of the DES under dynamic environments that change over time. However, for continuous operation, high reliability in the nodes of the DES is also crucial. This can be achieved using node replication, as long as failure independence between replicas is ensured, which calls for preventing the propagation of errors. Our goal is to prevent the propagation of Byzantine node behaviours and to ensure that local errors in the channel cannot disturb the global communication. For this, we construct the HaRTES/PG switch, a new switch based on the HaRTES implementation of FTT for Ethernet. This paper presents as a first step a study of the possible errors that may lead to Byzantine node behaviours and a global communication disturbance in HaRTES, as well as some ideas on how to prevent the propagation of these errors in HaRTES/PG.