TSN for Spacecraft
Christopher Besch • 20th May 2026
 

TSN for Spacecraft

Networking inside Spacecraft

  • Real-time: worst-case latency, delay
  • Previously: proprietary point-to-point connections
    → heavy, costly
  • Can we use Ethernet & IP?

Transport Layer

UDP

  • Unreliable service
    (e.g., packets might be dropped)
  • Simple (3 pages in RFC 768)

TCP

  • Reliable service using
    Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ)
  • Complex (98 pages in RFC 9293)

Time Sensitive Networking (TSN)

  • Reliability at link layer: never drop a packet → no need for TCP
  • Accurate time-stamps based on PTP (Precision Time Protocol)
  • Hard timing guarantees