V-TSN: A Software-Defined TSN Overlay for General-Purpose Networks
2026-06-26 • Networking and Internet Architecture
Networking and Internet Architecture
AI summaryⓘ
The authors present Virtual Time-Sensitive Networking (V-TSN), a software solution that mimics specialized TSN hardware to enable precise timing for critical applications without needing special devices. V-TSN works on regular networks and computers, making it useful during development when real hardware is unavailable and for deployments where perfect timing isn't essential. Their system synchronizes clocks closely and manages network traffic to keep time-sensitive data flowing smoothly. This approach provides a cheaper and flexible alternative to hardware-based TSN, especially in cloud or general-purpose environments.
Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN)EthernetgPTP synchronizationTime-Aware Shaper (TAS)Credit-Based Shaper (CBS)real-time systemssoftware-defined networkingindustrial automationtraffic shaping
Authors
Mohammadparsa Karimi, Majid Nabi, Ahmed Khalaf, Andrew Nelson, Kees Goossens, Twan Basten
Abstract
Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) extends Ethernet with deterministic communication for time-critical applications such as industrial automation, in-vehicle networks, and cyber-physical systems. However, realizing TSN behavior without dedicated hardware is difficult. During design and validation, offline simulation cannot run application software at real-time speed when costly specialized TSN hardware is not (yet) available. At deployment time, many systems run on general-purpose and cloud networks with no native TSN support, where provisioning full TSN hardware is unnecessary or impractical for applications that tolerate relaxed timing. In this paper, we introduce Virtual Time-Sensitive Networking (V-TSN), a software-defined overlay that realizes gPTP-based synchronization and TSN traffic shaping over general-purpose, non-deterministic networks without specialized hardware. V-TSN runs in real time alongside the unmodified application stack, serving both as a development-time emulation tool and as a cost-efficient deployment option where relaxed timing is acceptable. In a cloud-based deployment, V-TSN achieves an average clock offset below 200 microseconds, it isolates time-critical traffic through a virtual Time-Aware Shaper (TAS), and it enforces per-class bandwidth reservations through a virtual Credit-Based Shaper (CBS).