Performance Analysis of Industrial Ethernet Networks by Means of Timed Model-Checking

Ethernet networks are promising for the harmonization of the communication technologies in manufacturing automation but they have not been specifically intended for industrial control applications. Thus, investigations have become necessary to evaluate their performance. Most analysis approaches use probabilistic models to validate the system's behavior. This chapter presents common modeling techniques for the timed model-checker Uppaal that can be used in order to cope with the state-space-explosion problem. A new modeling technique was introduced and validated by means of different benchmarks. These modeling techniques were applied within a case-study, where the real-time capability of an industrial Ethernet network (OpenModbus) with client-server communication (IO-Scanning) was analyzed. The chapter presents Uppaal automata of model components and discusses their implemented real-time behavior. © 2006