MAC Services in support of Frame Pre-emption

The following request for agenda time for a "Call for Interest" has been received from Mike Grimwood. It will be discussed at the IEEE 802 LMSC March 2012 Plenary meeting in Waikoloa, HI, USA.

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Precision time synchronization for Ethernet has been standardized by the combination of "IEEE 802.3bf Ethernet Support for the IEEE P802.1AS Time Synchronization Protocol" and "IEEE 802.1 AVB". These standards have already helped to converge several dozen proprietary A/V protocols to mainstream Ethernet LANs and have been adopted by major A/V streaming and time-sensitive networking systems. These standards have also expanded the overall Ethernet market to include automotive multi-media and industrial automation systems.

There is a need for lower end-to-end latency for scheduled traffic in time-sensitive LANs (i.e. industrial automation and automotive backbone) in order to address remaining requirements and further expand their markets. Link-by-link, packet pre-emption provides much lower latency for selected Class of Service (CoS) traffic and would help to meet these controlled and lower-latency requirements in time-sensitive LANs.

IEEE 802.1 submitted IEEE P802.1Qbu PAR and 5 Criteria to the IEEE 802 EC for consideration in March 2012 in order to address the IEEE 802.1 aspect of this need. This PAR refers to coordination with an IEEE 802.3 project in order to provide optimized and coordinated standards. This Call For Interest will assess the interest within IEEE 802.3 to form a study group to explore the companion IEEE 802.3 PAR and 5 Criteria.

The 'call for interest' will take place during the IEEE 802.3 Opening Plenary on the afternoon of Monday 12th March. A call for interest meeting will be scheduled to occur during the plenary week. The vote to determine if a Study Group will be formed will take place at the IEEE 802.3 Closing Plenary on the afternoon of Thursday 15th March.