Frame Filtering Device for Improving Security and Maintaining Low Latency of Control Network with Coexistence of Real-time and Non-real-time Data

Abstract

It is expected that relatively large amount of data relating to new applications, e.g. visual sensing, AI and collaboration between systems, are handled in control system networks as well as conventional real-time control data. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) can be one of the solutions for such coexistence of real-time and non-real-time data. On the other hand, such control system networks may be exposed to larger threats to cybersecurity under the “System of systems” architecture concepts. We propose “Real-time firewall (RT-FW) for TSN”, which can examine TSN protocol frames with filtering rule, maintaining low latency communication. It is necessary for “RT-FW for TSN” that the TSN's low-latency feature, e.g. frame priorities and preemption of high priority frame, are properly handled in frame examination functionality. We have implemented the RT-FW for TSN using FPGA and confirmed that 1) the mentioned requirements are fulfilled with frame filtering and 2) the filtering latency is almost constant at maximum of 2.12µs regardless of frame length.