Avnu Alliance announced a new initiative to align TSN interoperability in the network ecosystem. In the Silicon Validation Task Group, silicon and IP companies— including Analog Devices, Intel, Keysight Technologies, Microchip, NXP Semiconductors, Texas Instruments and TTTech — will work together to ensure that the TSN features various profiles interoperate. 

This task group will allow competitors to work together to develop a testing ecosystem for silicon and IP products’ TSN capabilities at the component and supporting software level. Group members will collaborate on activities such as developing test plans, creating validation tools and hosting plugfests.

The members of the Silicon Validation Task Group have come together in recognition of the fact that interoperability is required at the silicon level to enable specialization further up the stack. Interoperability at this level gives TSN the flexibility for technological advancements from one market to cross-pollinate to others. This has been key to Ethernet’s expansion beyond its original applications. As TSN becomes simply another capability of the standard network ecosystem, silicon components should support capabilities coming online across industries. TSN applications span markets including ProAV, automotive, industrial manufacturing and aerospace. Base interoperability at the component level facilitates device interoperability across various applications and profiles, including IEEE/IEC 60802 for industrial and IEEE 802.1BA for ProAV as well as future profiles that are in development.

The Silicon Validation Task Group’s efforts will allow silicon vendors to achieve better economies of scale for TSN products. By providing a roadmap to verify base TSN capabilities independently from profile or application, the Silicon Validation Task Group will enable silicon providers to develop products for a broad customer base.

“Software, applications and profiles can all be tailored to specific use cases, but they need a stable network foundation to build on top of,” says Greg Schlechter, president of the Avnu Alliance. “The Silicon Validation Task Group includes key market players who can identify what TSN interoperability means for basic network components, and how we can get interoperable products to market.”