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Formal modeling of the gPTP clock synchronization algorithm in automotive ethernet

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Abstract

Major manufacturers in the automotive industry are now adopting automotive Ethernet as the In-Vehicle Network standard. The increased bandwidth and lower cost have been the motivating factors to use automotive Ethernet as the backbone for interconnecting various components within the vehicle. The components that control the critical functions in the vehicle should have a synchronized time base. IEEE 802.1 AS-Rev, the specification for timing and synchronization employs generalized Precision Time Protocol (gPTP) for clock synchronization in automotive Ethernet. In a network of time-aware systems, gPTP imposes that, the clocks of all the nodes in the network have to be synchronized to the clock of the Grand Master for flawless communication in the network. The paper proposes a formal model of the gPTP protocol using UPPAAL model checker. This enables us to formally verify the protocol for its properties. The communication between the master and the slave nodes were modeled and it is verified that the divergence between the master clock and the slave clock is always within the precision.

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Author notes

  1. Shimmi Asokan and G. Santhosh Kumar are contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cyber Physical Systems Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, Kerala, 682022, India

    Shimmi Asokan & G. Santhosh Kumar

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Rajagiri School of Engineering & Technology, Kochi, Kerala, 682039, India

    Shimmi Asokan

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  1. Shimmi Asokan
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  2. G. Santhosh Kumar
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Correspondence to Shimmi Asokan.

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Asokan, S., Kumar, G.S. Formal modeling of the gPTP clock synchronization algorithm in automotive ethernet. Innovations Syst Softw Eng 19, 265–281 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11334-022-00483-1

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