An extended token bus protocol for embedded networks

The network environment considered in this paper exists in commercial and military products such as Autonomous Aircraft and Vehicles. In these products sensors and processors are utilized for control, diagnosis, repair and communication. We refer to such networks as embedded networks and present a bus protocol suitable for these networks. Two modes of operation have been defined for the proposed protocol (IMAP). Normal mode is defined as that in which token passing is done in a random order and the token remains within a cluster of active stations. The other mode of operation is called the interrupt mode. In this mode, token bus operation is carried out and the token is passed through every station. Performance in terms of channel utilization and delay characteristics of IMAP is compared to the token bus and CSMA/CD performance. The performance models are developed by obtaining time-distance diagrams of token bus and IMAP. It is observed that IMAP has better performance characteristics than the conventional token bus and CSMA/CD.