Latency Analysis of Switchless ARINC 664 Using Network Calculus

The Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) concept in next generation avionics systems provides significant advantages in terms of size, weight, and power consumption. Ethernet-based ARINC 664 deterministic network technology has been widely used to meet the high-speed data communication requirements in IMA systems. In this paper, the delay performance of the ARINC 664 network topology in which the end system and switch elements are separated and the switchless network topology in which the network switch functions are integrated into the end system are compared. The results of the worst case delay analysis calculated with the Network Calculus approach show that the average and maximum delay values are always smaller in the switchless network topology. Furthermore, the average and maximum delay values decrease as the number of ports in the end system increases.