A new real-time ethernet MAC protocol for time-critical applications

The authors propose a new persistent transmission-based real-time Ethernet MAC protocol that provides a predictable upper bound for the delivery delay of real-time frames. Moreover, it is compatible with the protocol used by the existing Ethernet controllers for conventional datagram traffic and thus standard Ethernet stations can be used in the system without any modification. The paper describes the protocol in detail and analyses the maximum delivery delay for real-time traffic and the efficiency of the channel.