Reliability Analysis of TSN Networks Under SEU Induced Soft Error Using Model Checking

The fault-tolerance under Single Event Upset (SEU) is a crucial requirement for space and avionics applications due to the harsh radiation environment. The communication network is one of the components that can be affected by SEUs. Therefore, we are interested in the transmission reliability of Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) under SEUs. TSN network allows deterministic Time-Triggered (TT) communication by introducing a new traffic shaper, namely, Time Aware Shaper (TAS). The TAS is configured to control the traffic flow based on the time and traffic class. Specifically, we inject the SEUs in the TAS. These configurations are stored in a list of entries, namely, Gate Control List (GCL). In this paper, we introduce a new framework to investigate the vulnerability of the TSN network to SEUs. This analysis allows the identification of SEU-induced communication failures in critical time-triggered traffic. The proposed framework introduces a Priced Timed Automata (PTA) model for TSN networks based on the network topology and traffic. The proposed model allows the injection of SEU propagation in Time Aware Shaper (TAS) configuration list. In particular, we investigate the impact of SEUs on the flow of TT traffic using model checking. The proposed analysis framework is carried out on two synthetic test cases in addition to a realistic case study from the space area based on the switched network in Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). The main finding of this study is revealing a corner case in which multiple path redundancy fails to resile an SEU.