Bridging Time-Sensitive Networking and Containerization Challenges

This technical report investigates the integration of Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) with containerized environments, addressing the challenges and strategies for running latency-sensitive applications. The report outlines the growing adoption of containerization and the increasing demand for applications requiring strict latency and jitter management, such as those in autonomous vehicles and immersive AR/VR. It examines how TSN can facilitate the coexistence of high-priority and best-effort traffic, leveraging hardware-based techniques to achieve precise transmission timing. The findings indicate that while TSN mechanisms can maintain accurate scheduling and bandwidth, hardware solutions like Launchtime are essential for optimal performance. The report also discusses the implications of container isolation on transmission schedules and proposes mitigation strategies to overcome these challenges. It emphasizes the need for precise time synchronization and effective management of transmission schedules to ensure reliable communication in containerized TSN environments, ultimately enhancing the performance of real-time applications.