FastReact: In-Network Control and Caching for Industrial Control Networks using Programmable Data Planes

TL;DR

FastReact leverages programmable data planes to enable in-network monitoring, control, and caching for industrial networks, reducing latency and increasing resilience against failures.

Contribution

FastReact introduces a novel in-network system using P4 programmable data planes for monitoring, control, and caching in industrial networks, enhancing latency and fault tolerance.

Findings

Reduces sensor/actuator delay significantly.

Provides fast local link repair for resilience.

Demonstrates effectiveness on a testbed.

Abstract

Providing network reliability as well as low and predictable latency is important especially for Industrial Automation and Control Networks. However, diagnosing link status from the control plane has high latency and overhead. In addition, the communication with the industrial controller may impose additional network latency. We present FastReact - a system enabling In-Network monitoring, control and caching for Industrial Automation and Control Networks. FastReact outsources simple monitoring and control actions to evolving programmable data planes using the P4 language. As instructed by the Industrial Controller through a Northbound API, the SDN controller composes control actions using Boolean Logic which are then installed in the data plane. The data plane parses and caches sensor values and performs simple calculations on them which are connected to fast control actions that are executed locally. For resiliency, FastReact monitors liveness and response of sensors/actuators and performs a fast local link repair in the data plane if a link failure is detected. Our testbed measurement show that FastReact can reduce the sensor/actuator delay while being resilient against several failure events.