Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate methods to guarantee the network performance of industrial Ethernet networks by an optimized topology design. The proposed approach differs from former works on network design by taking into account the specific requirements of industrial applications, the Quality of Service (QoS) related features of industrial Ethernet protocols, and the increasing network complexity in the industrial field. A multi-objective variable neighbourhood search algorithm (MOVNS) is presented offering a co-design method of physical topology and logical topology to satisfy the requirements of real-time capability, high reliability, and fast recovery time. The result analysis on simulation test cases shows the proposed algorithm can greatly improve the performance of industrial Ethernet networks at a moderate computational complexity.