<?xml version="1.0" encoding="US-ASCII"?>
<!-- This is built from a template for a generic Internet Draft. Suggestions for
     improvement welcome - write to Brian Carpenter, brian.e.carpenter @ gmail.com 
     This can be converted using the Web service at http://xml.resource.org/ -->
<!--
<!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM "rfc2629.dtd">
-->
<!-- You want a table of contents -->
<!-- Use symbolic labels for references -->
<!-- This sorts the references -->
<!-- Change to "yes" if someone has disclosed IPR for the draft -->
<!-- This defines the specific filename and version number of your draft (and inserts the appropriate IETF boilerplate -->
<?rfc sortrefs="yes"?>
<?rfc toc="yes"?>
<?rfc symrefs="yes"?>
<?rfc compact="yes"?>
<?rfc subcompact="no"?>
<?rfc topblock="yes"?>
<?rfc comments="no"?>
<rfc category="info" docName="draft-ietf-detnet-scaling-requirements-10"
     ipr="trust200902" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
     submissionType="IETF">
  <front>
    <title abbrev="Deterministic Networking">Requirements for Scaling
    Deterministic Networks</title>

    <author fullname="Peng Liu" initials="P." surname="Liu">
      <organization>China Mobile</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street/>

          <city>Beijing</city>

          <code>100053</code>

          <country>China</country>
        </postal>

        <email>liupengyjy@chinamobile.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Yizhou Li" initials="Y." surname="Li">
      <organization>Huawei</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street/>

          <city>Nanjing</city>

          <code>210012</code>

          <country>China</country>
        </postal>

        <email>liyizhou@huawei.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Toerless Eckert" initials="T." surname="Eckert">
      <organization>Futurewei Technologies USA</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street/>

          <city>Santa Clara</city>

          <code>95014</code>

          <country>United States of America</country>
        </postal>

        <email>tte@cs.fau.de</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Quan Xiong" initials="Q." surname="Xiong">
      <organization>ZTE Corporation</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street/>

          <city>Wuhan</city>

          <code>430223</code>

          <country>China</country>
        </postal>

        <email>xiong.quan@zte.com.cn</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Jeong-dong Ryoo" initials="J." surname="Ryoo">
      <organization>ETRI</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street/>

          <city>Daejeon</city>

          <code>34129</code>

          <country>South Korea</country>
        </postal>

        <email>ryoo@etri.re.kr</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Shiyin Zhu" initials="S." surname="Zhu">
      <organization>New H3C Technologies</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street/>

          <city>Beijing</city>

          <code>100094</code>

          <country>China</country>
        </postal>

        <email>zhushiyin@h3c.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Xuesong Geng" initials="X." surname="Geng">
      <organization>Huawei</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street/>

          <city>Beijing</city>

          <code>100095</code>

          <country>China</country>
        </postal>

        <email>gengxuesong@huawei.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <date day="14" month="March" year="2026"/>

    <area>Networking</area>

    <workgroup>Deterministic Networking Working Group</workgroup>

    <keyword>Scaling; Deterministic; Requirement</keyword>

    <abstract>
      <t>
      To support the scaling of deterministic networks, this document describes the
      technical and operational requirements for networks that exhibit 
      large hop-to-hop latency variation, a large number of flows, 
      and/or multiple domains that do not share a common time source. 
      Applications with varying levels of determinism 
      coexist and are transported in such a network. 
      This document also describes the corresponding Deterministic Networking
      (DetNet) data plane enhancement requirements.
     </t>
    </abstract>
  </front>

  <middle>
    <section anchor="secIntro" title="Introduction">
      <t>Packet networks are evolving from bandwidth-guaranteed Quality of
      Service (QoS) to latency-guaranteed QoS, which ensures both bounded 
      and definite latency. Bounded latency and definite latency can be
      interpreted as in-time delivery 
      (a packet arrives within a predetermined time) and 
      and on-time delivery (a packet arrives exactly at a predetermined time). 
      In addition, network survivability, which has traditionally guaranteed 
      traffic recovery within 50 ms in the event of a network failure, 
      is evolving toward lossless recovery. To support this evolution of 
      QoS and network survivability, Time-Sensitive
      Networking (TSN) and Deterministic Networking (DetNet)
      technologies are considered essential.</t>

      <t>TSN, a set of standards developed by the IEEE 802.1 TSN Task Group
      (TG) <xref target="IEEE802.1TSN"/>, specifies mechanisms and
      protocols necessary to realize highly available IEEE 802.1 networks with
      bounded latency to carry time-sensitive, real-time application
      traffic.</t>

      <t>DetNet, whose architecture is defined in RFC 8655 <xref
      target="RFC8655"/>, supports the transport of specified unicast or
      multicast data flows for real-time applications with extremely low data
      loss rates and bounded latency, operating under a single administrative control or
      within a closed group of administrative control. The overall framework
      for the DetNet data plane is described in <xref target="RFC8938"/>, and
      several documents have been standardized for various data plane technologies 
      and their interworking, extending TSN's service capabilities to 
      IP (Internet Protocol) and MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) networks. </t>

      <t>As deterministic networks scale or span multiple interconnected domains, 
      DetNet solutions must consider one or more of the following aspects:</t>

      <ul>
      <li>
      Clock synchronization across different domains may be relaxed or entirely absent.
      (Section 3.1)
      </li>
      <li> 
      The end-to-end path may comprise both low- and high-latency hops.
      (Section 3.2)
      </li>
      <li> 
      Various transmission rates may be supported across different ports and 
      network nodes. (Section 3.3)
      </li>
      <li> 
      A large number of flows may make per-flow state identification difficult 
      and lead to high bandwidth utilization. (Section 3.4)
      </li>
      <li> 
      Topology changes and link or node failures may occur more frequently.
      (Section 3.5)
      </li>
      <li> 
      Flow fluctuations caused by the large number of flows may occur 
      frequently. (Section 3.6)
      </li>
      <li> 
      The end-to-end path may include a large number of hops 
      and involve complex topologies. (Section 3.7)
      </li>
      <li> 
      Mechanisms used to ensure bounded latency (e.g., queuing methods) may vary 
      or be differently configured across multiple domains. (Section 3.8)
      </li>
      </ul>

      <t>Such domains are typically under a single administrative control
      or consist of multiple cooperating administrative networks within a closed group 
      <xref target="RFC8655"/>.
      However, they may belong to different Autonomous System (AS) domains and 
      be controlled by multiple peering or cascaded controllers, 
      and they may not share the same time source. 
      Maintaining per-flow status becomes impractical in a large-scale network. 
      Aggregation and disaggregation of flows occur both at the boundaries 
      and within DetNet domains, governed by various rules.  
      Flow identification and packet treatment should address individual 
      or combined changes introduced by the scaling of deterministic networks. 
      </t>

      <t>Based on the considerations above, this document describes
      the requirements for scaling deterministic networks.
      Scaling deterministic networks demands enhancements 
      to the existing bounded latency mechanisms and the
      corresponding data plane in order to ensure DetNet service across a single
      administrative network or multiple cooperating administrative networks,
      as defined in the DetNet charter. 
      Deterministic networking for the open Internet is outside the current 
      scope.</t>
    </section>

    <section title="Conventions Used in This Document">
      <t>The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
      "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
      "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14
      <xref target="RFC2119"> </xref><xref target="RFC8174"/> when, and only
      when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.</t>

      <t>While <xref target="RFC2119"/> and <xref target="RFC8174"/> describe
      interpretations of these key words in terms of protocol specifications
      and implementations, they are used in this document to describe
      technical and operational requirements to support the scaling of 
      deterministic networks.</t>
    </section>

    <section title="Technical Requirements in Scaling Deterministic Networks">
      <t>Given the attributes described in <xref target="secIntro"/>, the
      corresponding technical requirements should be taken into account.</t>

      <section title="Tolerate Time Asynchrony">
        <t>A deterministic network may span multiple networks with one or
        more cooperating administrative domains.
        The presence of diverse network nodes in these domains can result in 
        disparate local time variations, 
        which require tolerance for time asynchrony. </t>

        <section title="Support Asynchronous Clocks Across Domains">
          <t>One of DetNet's objectives is to stitch TSN islands together. All
          devices within a TSN domain are time-synchronized, and most TSN
          technologies rely on precise time synchronization <xref
          target="IEEE802.1Qbv"> </xref><xref target="IEEE802.1Qch"/><xref
          target="IEEE802.1Qav"/>. 
          However, different TSN islands may operate with unsynchronized clocks, 
          as shown in Figure 1,
          where the time difference between two TSN domains is denoted as D. 
          DetNet needs to connect these two TSN domains and provide end-to-end
          deterministic latency services. The mechanism adopted by a
          deterministic network MUST be prepared to traverse multiple 
          unsynchronized TSN domains. This can be achieved, for example, 
          by adding extra buffer space at the ingress of a
          new domain, increasing the dead time as a guard band <xref
          target="IEEE802.1Qdv"/>, or using some timing compensation
          mechanisms. 
          This document does not intend to provide an exhaustive list of 
          such methods.</t>

          <figure align="center"
                  title="Clock asynchrony between two TSN islands">
            <artwork>
            <![CDATA[
+--------------+                             +--------------+
|              |      DetNet Connection      |              |
| TSN Domain I +-----------------------------+ TSN Domain II|
|              |                             |              |
+--------------+                             +--------------+
                 |        |        |        |        |
 Clock of TSN    +--------+--------+--------+--------+
 Domain I        :
                 :
                 :     |        |        |        |        |
 Clock of TSN    :     +--------+--------+--------+--------+
 Domain II       :     :
                 :<-D->:
               ]]>
             </artwork>
          </figure>
        </section>

        <section title="Tolerate Clock Jitter and Wander 
                        within a Synchronous Clock Domain">
          <t>Within a single time synchronization domain, 
          varying levels of clock accuracy are expected.
          For example, the crystal oscillator used in Ethernet 
          is specified at 100 ppm <xref target="Fast-Ethernet-MII-clock"/>,
          Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) can achieve 50 ppb 
          <xref target="G.8262"/>, 
          and even higher timing accuracy is expected in 5G mobile backhaul
          <xref target="G.8273"/>.
          These clocks experience different levels of jitter and wander, 
          which may result in different levels of path asymmetry. 
          Deterministic networks SHOULD be capable of compensating for 
          or absorbing such time variations within a domain.</t>
        </section>

        <section title="Provide Mechanisms not Requiring Strict Time Synchronization">
          <t>It is usually difficult to achieve full time
          synchronization as the scale of the networks increases.
          Some networks, such as mobile backhaul, use 
          frequency synchronization (e.g., SyncE) instead of strict time
          synchronization. 
          The same deterministic performance in terms of bounded latency and 
          jitter SHOULD be achieved even when full time synchronization is 
          not available, i.e., when only partial synchronization is in use, 
          with SyncE being one example.</t>
        </section>

        <section title="Provide Mechanisms not Requiring Synchronization">
          <t>A deterministic network can contain a large number of traffic 
          flows, some of which are non-periodic.
          Asynchronous methods can meet the requirements of such traffic flows.
          Moreover, mechanisms that do not require time and/or frequency 
          synchronization can reduce hardware cost and complexity 
          at network nodes.
          <xref target="IEEE802.1Qcr"/> conceptually introduces 
          per-flow-based asynchronous shaper to achieve bounded latency. 
          The effectiveness of the per-flow-based asynchronous shaper can be 
          demonstrated through mathematical analysis. 
          It naturally tolerates time variation,
          but raises concerns about per-flow state buffer management.
          When it is in use, the requirement in Section 3.3 
          SHOULD be carefully considered.</t>
        </section>
      </section>

      <section title="Support Large Single-hop Propagation Latency">
        <t>In some deterministic networks, a single hop can introduce 
        significant latency. 
        Optical transmission in fiber travels at approximately 200 km/ms.
        Thus, the propagation delay of a single hop can be on the
        order of a few milliseconds. 
        This is much greater than the single hop propagation delays 
        found in typical Local Area Networks (LANs),
        and can have a substantial impact on queuing mechanisms, 
        such as cyclic or time-aware scheduling methods. 
        Therefore, propagation delay must be taken into account in 
        end-to-end computations. 
        For example, it should be considered when setting the period in 
        both time- and frequency-synchronized methods, 
        or when setting the extra buffer in the asynchronous methods, 
        to meet the requirements of
        deterministic forwarding between the network nodes.</t>

        <t>Here, we use an example to illustrate the impact of large
        single-hop propagation delay on cycle-based methods, 
        without proposing any specific solution. 
        In a cycle-based method, suppose a deterministic network 
        aims to maintain a simple cycle mapping relationship, 
        but the link distance between two nodes is relatively long. 
        Moreover, a downstream node may have multiple upstream nodes with
        different link propagation delays (e.g., 9 us, 10 us, 11 us, 15 us and
        20 us). In order to absorb the longest link propagation delay, the
        length of the cycle must be set to more than 20 us. In <xref
        target="IEEE802.1Qch"/>, propagation delay is part of the dead time
        imposed within a cycle, which negatively affects bandwidth utilization. 
        However, since packet arrival times can vary 
        within the receiving cycle, 
        a longer cycle leads to greater delay variation.</t>

        <figure align="center"
                title="The influence of link propagation delay 
                       on a cyclic method">
            <artwork>
            <![CDATA[
  Upstream Node X |sending cycle  |               |                      
                  +--"------------+---------------+                       
                  :  "\           :               :                      
                  :  " \          :               :                     
                  :  "  \         :               :                     
                  :  "   \        :               :                  
                  :  "    V       :               :                      
Downstream Node Y |receiving cycle|               |                     
                  +--"----"-------+----\----------+                    
                  :  "    "       :     \         :                     
                  :  "    "       :      V        : 
                  :  "    "       :               :                   
       Time Line -|--|----|-------|---------------|-->
       (in us)    0  |<-->|      10              20
                      link propagation delay 
             ]]>
             </artwork>
        </figure>

        <t>Note that Figure 2 is provided solely as an example to illustrate
        latency caused by large single-hop propagation. 
        CQF is not limited to two queues. 
        Instead, using more than two queues can be an option to address
        latency-related concerns associated with long links.
        <xref target="Multiple-CQF"/> provides a more detailed discussion 
        of this problem and proposes a mechanism to address it.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Accommodate Higher Link Speeds">
        <t>A deterministic network can use higher-speed links, especially for
        its backbone. At the time of publication, deterministic mechanisms
        in local networks typically operate at link speeds of 
        10 Mbps, 1 Gbps, or possibly 10 Gbps. 
        In contrast, data rates of 10Gbps, 100Gbps, 400Gbps, and
        even higher are commonly used in wide area networks. 
        With increasing data rates, the network scheduling cycle can be
        shortened if the same amount of data is required to be sent in each
        cycle for each application. 
        Alternatively, more data can be sent 
        if the cycle time remains the same. 
        The former case requires more precise time control, 
        such as cycles on the order of a few microseconds or
        even sub-microseconds, for the input stream gate and 
        the timed output buffer. 
        The latter requires more buffer space, which imposes
        more complex buffer and queue management and greater memory
        consumption.</t>

        <t>Another aspect to consider is the aggregation of flows. In a
        deterministic network, the number of flows can reach hundreds or 
        even tens of thousands. 
        These flows can be aggregated into a small number of deterministic
        paths or tunnels. It is practical to maintain a small amount of 
        flow-based or aggregated-flow-based state in local networks. 
        However, in higher-speed and larger-scale networks, 
        this becomes much less feasible. 
        If <xref target="IEEE802.1Qcr"/> is in use, 
        it requires more buffers compared to other mechanisms 
        that are fully or partially time-synchronized. 
        Therefore, further optimization is needed 
        to support higher link speeds.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Be Scalable to a Large Number of Flows and 
                      Tolerate High Utilization of Bandwidth">
        <t>A deterministic network may carry a large number of traffic
        flows. According to <xref target="RFC2475"/>, per-flow state
        identification in the network becomes infeasible as flow count scales
        up. 
        As a result, identifying individual IP flows in the DetNet data plane 
        or configuring per-flow state at each node becomes nearly impossible 
        at scale.
        DetNet supports flow aggregation. However, in large-scale networks, 
        individual flows may dynamically join or leave aggregated flows, 
        which causes instability in the identification of these aggregated 
        DetNet flows. 
        Wildcards and value ranges used for flow identification may need to 
        be adjusted to ensure that aggregated flows maintain consistent 
        deterministic characteristics. </t>        

        <t>For scaling networks, proper provisioning at the control plane is 
        required to accommodate higher levels of aggregation. 
        Provisioning on aggregated flows normally improves scalability, 
        but at the cost of coarse-grained filtering and protection of 
        incoming traffic.
        It is desirable that adding a flow to the network does not affect the
        latency of existing flows or require complex recalculations,
        and instead requires as little work as possible. 
        For instance, filtering and policing configurations are applied 
        only at ingress nodes, not at intermediate ones. 
        <xref target="IEEE802.1Qbv"/> uses traffic classes 
        to divide flows, typically limited to eight.
        As a result, the forwarding mechanism itself remains relatively simple
        even with a large number of flows or a higher degree of aggregation. 
        However, when new flows are added, the Gate Control List may need 
        to be updated, and the associated recalculation can be complex. 
        There may be methods to simplify the calculation or configuration,
        but additional work is needed to enhance them.</t>

        <t>Meanwhile, traffic requiring deterministic networking can
        significantly utilize the capacity of a link, or the portion of the
        link that is dedicated to such traffic, for example, exceeding 75%
        or even approaching full (near 100%) utilization. 
        Typically, resources required for DetNet are reserved. 
        However, over-provisioning of link capacity may not work in such cases.
        To guarantee deterministic latency and jitter in such environments, 
        it is preferable to provide scalable queuing solutions 
        that improve bandwidth utilization, based on existing methods, 
        including TSN and other published standards. 
        For instance, when the bandwidth utilization is high, 
        the guard band in each cycle in <xref target="IEEE802.1Qch"/> 
        is a type of over-provisioning 
        and can be optimized through more scalable queuing enhancements.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Tolerate Failures of Links or Nodes and Topology Changes">
        <t>Deterministic networks may involve a greater number of 
        network devices, and the addition or removal of such devices
        tends to occur more frequently than in LANs. 
        A representative use case is ultra-low-latency public 5G transport 
        networks, which would require DetNet to extend to every 5G base 
        station. For some network operators,
        their networks may need to connect approximately 100,000 
        base stations, serving multiple mobile network operators. 
        This number is expected to increase further as 5G deployment continues.
        </t>

        <t>On the one hand, a large number of network devices may increase 
        the likelihood of network link failures.
        Path switching or routing reconvergence can result in 
        significant packet loss and retransmission delays, 
        often lasting several seconds before the network stabilizes.  
        As the delays involved are too large to be mitigated by 
        jitter compensation techniques, 
        it is necessary to support mechanisms that can
        adapt to link or node failures and topology changes.</t>

        <t>On the other hand, changes in the number of devices may affect
        the implementation and adjustment of deterministic networking 
        mechanisms,
        such as topology discovery, queuing mechanisms, and packet
        replication and elimination. 
        For instance, having multiple fully disjoint paths
        when implementing the Packet Replication, Elimination, and Ordering
        Functions (PREOF) increases survivability 
        in the event of a node or link failure on any path. 
        However, this also introduces challenges in finding paths 
        with similar lengths and/or hop counts, 
        ensuring sufficient buffer space to absorb latency differences 
        between paths at scale. 
        Therefore, a method is needed to support flexible multi-path 
        planning and provide a reliable foundation for implementing PREOF.
        </t>
      </section>

      <section title="Prevent Flow Fluctuations">
        <t>A wider variety of DetNet traffic flows described in Section 3.4 
        will lead to more frequent dynamic joining and leaving of flows. 
        This, in turn, increases flow fluctuations and 
        the overall unpredictability of DetNet traffic. 
        Examples include the following: </t>

        <ul>
        <li>
        Various high-volume traffic flows of different applications in
        scaling networks easily cause more bursty traffic.
        </li>
        <li>
        An increasing number of aggregation nodes receive flows from more 
        upstream nodes, introducing additional nondeterministic delay in 
        packet handling.
        </li>
        <li>
        Bursts of flows accumulate as the flows traverse,
        merge, and diverge across multiple hops. 
        Even a minor error in packet treatment at one node 
        can have a cascading effect on downstream nodes.
        </li>
        <li>
        Loops formed in the network topology increase the maximum bursts of
        flows exponentially <xref target="ANDREWS"/><xref
        target="BOUILLARD"/><xref target="THOMAS"/>.
        </li>
        <li>
        Node and link failures, which are more common in large-scale networks
        (Section 3.5), require dynamic traffic steering to alternate
        paths. This can further contribute to flow fluctuations.
        </li>
        </ul>

        <t>It should be noted that non-DetNet flows can also be high 
        in volume and may impact the scalability of DetNet flows. 
         For example, they may lead to high bandwidth utilization, 
         limiting the ability to reserve resources or to perform effective 
         traffic steering for DetNet flows. 
         However, it is assumed that appropriate strategies will be deployed 
         at the ingress to manage non-DetNet traffic and prevent real-time 
         interference with DetNet traffic.
         </t>

        <t>Support for bursty traffic is essential, along with mechanisms 
        to mitigate micro-bursts. 
        To accommodate flow fluctuations, 
        pre-planned configurations, ingress traffic conditioning, 
        scalable queuing, and enhanced buffer capacity are necessary. 
        In addition, the time required for network reconfiguration 
        to respond to such changes should be strictly controlled.
        For example, it may need to be limited to a specified threshold.
        </t>
      </section>

      <section title="Be Scalable to a Large Number of Hops with Complex Topology">
        <t>Scaling networks often results in situations where an end-to-end
        flow traverses a large number of hops, for example, 15 or more. 
        The network topology can also be complex, 
        including star, ring, mesh, and their combinations, 
        and may be hierarchical. It is required to
        support networks with such diverse topologies and large hop
        counts.</t>

        <t>Delivering DetNet QoS in large and complex
        networks requires end-to-end bounds on both latency and jitter, as
        discussed in Section 3.1 of <xref target="RFC8655"/>. Achievable
        end-to-end latency bounds necessarily depend on the number of hops for
        a flow. 
        In the best case, the additional latency introduced by queuing 
        mechanisms for DetNet QoS is bounded by a fixed per-hop maximum value,
        making the resulting end-to-end latency bounds 
        a linear function of the number of hops in addition to 
        the inherent forwarding latency of the nodes involved.
        In contrast, it is possible to achieve fixed end-to-end jitter bounds 
        that are independent of the number of hops. 
        Such fixed jitter bounds are strongly preferable to
        those that increase with hop count.</t>

        <t>DetNet QoS requires resource allocation in advance (e.g., link
        bandwidth and node buffer resources), as discussed in Section 3.2.1 of
        <xref target="RFC8655"/>. The complexity of resource allocation
        can range from linear (e.g., allocating resources for each
        hop via a path-based resource reservation protocol such as RSVP <xref
        target="RFC2205"/>) to potentially exponential (e.g., if solving a
        complex graph optimization problem is required). 
        Although this complexity does not directly affect the achievable 
        end-to-end latency and jitter bounds, 
        it does influence other aspects such as the computational effort 
        and the time required to admit a new flow without disrupting the QoS 
        of existing DetNet flows. </t>

        <t>Different queuing mechanisms exhibit different properties 
        in terms of achievable end-to-end jitter bounds, 
        achievable end-to-end latency bounds, 
        and the complexity of resource allocation.
        All three factors should be considered in the evaluation and selection 
        of scalable DetNet queuing mechanisms. </t> 
      </section>

      <section title="Support Multiple Mechanisms in Single and Multiple Domains">
        <t>As described in Section 3.4, there will be a large number of flows,
        each potentially having a different level of demand for DetNet services.
        <xref target="RFC8578"/> provides various use cases and their 
        requirements in the areas of industry, electricity, buildings, etc. 
        Some of these use cases clearly specify requirements for both latency 
        and jitter, while others omit jitter requirements. 
        Different types of users have different demands, 
        just as a network provider offers different network services 
        for personal or enterprise business.</t>

        <t>Some applications have critical Service Level Agreement (SLA) 
        requirements, such as remote control in manufacturing, 
        cloud-based Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) for 
        industrial automation, and  manufacturing and
        differential protection in power systems. 
        For these services, exceeding latency or jitter bounds can result in 
        property loss or security risks. 
        Therefore, users of these services cannot tolerate 
        any non-deterministic behavior and are typically willing to pay more 
        for higher-quality network services. 
        Other applications have more relaxed SLA requirements, 
        such as cloud gaming, cloud-based virtual reality (VR), 
        and online meetings in "consumer" networks. 
        While users of these services seek a good quality of experience, 
        they can tolerate some level of performance variation. 
        For example, occasional violations of latency bounds may be 
        acceptable if they occur infrequently. 
        Those different applications expect different types of 
        solutions, often corresponding to varying cost levels.  </t>

        <t>Different SLA requirements and the presence of multiple domains 
        in scaling networks necessitate the use of diverse DetNet technologies
        and queuing mechanisms. 
        For services that demand strict determinism, 
        highly deterministic queuing technologies need to be deployed, 
        which may require upgrading all network devices. 
        In contrast, for less stringent services, it may be sufficient 
        to upgrade only certain devices, such as edge nodes, 
        or to share existing network resources.
        As more queuing mechanisms are developed, 
        it becomes increasingly desirable to provide queuing solutions 
        that support multiple levels of deterministic performance and 
        to allocate resources appropriately to optimize overall network 
        resource utilization.
        These different queuing technologies may be used in the following
        scenarios:</t>
       
        <ul>
        <li>
        Within the same network, where some devices are equipped with 
        multiple queuing technologies. This allows the operator to select 
        the appropriate service type or level as needed.
        </li>
        <li>
        Across multiple network domains, where different domains support 
        different queuing technologies and coordination between them 
        is required.
        </li>
        <li>
        In separate network implementations tailored for distinct application 
        domains, where no additional coordination is necessary.
        </li>
        </ul>

        <figure align="center"
                title="Different levels of application requirements">
            <artwork>
            <![CDATA[
           Critical latency requirements:

|   |<->| Industrial, tight jitter, strict latency limit
|
|<----->| Industrial, strict latency limit
|
|<---.....--->| non-periodic, relatively loose latency requirements
|
|<-------............------->| Best effort
|
+---------------------------------------------------------->
0                                                    latency
             ]]>
           </artwork>
        </figure>

        <section title="Support Provisioning of Multiple Mechanisms">
          <t>A deterministic network should support a variety of deterministic 
          services to meet the diverse requirements of various applications. 
          This includes supporting corresponding queuing mechanisms 
          at multiple DetNet QoS levels, if necessary. 
          For example, different queuing mechanisms can offer varying levels 
          of latency, jitter, and other guarantees, 
          and a single network device may implement multiple mechanisms 
          concurrently.
          An aggregation device, for instance, may employ mechanisms defined in
          <xref target="IEEE802.1Qbv"/> and <xref target="IEEE802.1Qcr"/>,
          and other mechanisms to forward traffic along different paths 
          simultaneously. 
          The need to support multiple queuing mechanisms becomes especially 
          prominent in large-scale networks, 
          compared to small-scale environments. 
          In such cases, more than eight queues or sub-queues may be required 
          to support complex queuing strategies, exceeding the typical eight 
          traffic classes available in TSN-enabled networks. </t>

          <t>Accordingly, configuring multiple queuing mechanisms 
          in deterministic networks can be complex. 
          Such configurations MUST support unified or simplified approaches 
          to scheduling and managing multiple queuing mechanisms.
          For example, in distributed scenarios without a controller, 
          information about the queuing mechanisms, including types and 
          associated algorithms, and queue forwarding capabilities with 
          different levels of latency and jitter guarantees, 
          can be advertised within the domain. 
          In centralized scenarios, this information can be reported to 
          the controller, allowing it to build a deterministic network 
          resource topology pool for path computation.
          In addition, to enable fine-grained resource management and 
          ensure resource guarantees during session setup and teardown, 
          it is necessary to establish standardized methods for quantifying 
          and measuring resources associated with interfaces and queues.</t>
        </section>

        <section title="Support Switchover Between Mechanisms 
                        Across Multiple Domains">
          <t>In deterministic networks, the end-to-end service may span 
          multiple network domains. 
          Each domain may adopt different queuing mechanisms or may operate 
          at different link speeds (see Section 3.3) 
          for the same queuing mechanism. </t>

          <t>Both cases may generate additional end-to-end latency, jitter, 
          and packet loss, as different queuing mechanisms and link speeds 
          may result in varying scheduling granularities or phases 
          between domains. 
          In the case of a queuing mechanism switchover, 
          such as from a time-synchronized mechanism 
          like <xref target="IEEE802.1Qbv"/> to an asynchronous mechanism 
          like <xref target="IEEE802.1Qcr"/>, 
          a collaboration mechanism across multiple domains MUST be considered.
          Similarly, when switching between different link speeds, 
          such as from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps (or vice versa), 
          the quantification of deterministic forwarding resources 
          (such as time slots) of the queuing mechanism MUST be aligned with 
          the link speed.</t>

          <t>A device that connects multiple domains requires a flexible queue 
          stitching function. 
          This may include increasing buffer capacity at inter-domain devices 
          to provide sufficient adjustment space 
          when flows are forwarded across different queuing mechanisms, 
          applying jitter compression to decouple queuing behaviors 
          between domains,  
          or using additional traffic shaping solutions to smooth traffic.
          These techniques help ensure that the same scale of service flows
          can be forwarded successfully across domains that use different 
          queuing mechanisms and/or operate at different link speeds.</t>
         
        </section>
      </section>
    </section>

    <section title="Data Plane Enhancement Requirements">
      <t>According to <xref target="RFC8938"/>, the DetNet data plane can
      provide or carry two metadata items in MPLS and IP data planes: 
      Flow-ID and sequence number. 
      The Flow-ID is used to identify individual DetNet flows or aggregated 
      flows, while the sequence number is used by PREOF for each DetNet flow. 
      The Flow-ID is used by both the service and forwarding sub-layers, 
      whereas the sequence number is only used by the service layer. 
      Metadata can also be used for OAM indications and
      instrumentation related to DetNet data plane operation.</t>

      <t>In general, support for additional data plane metadata and 
      related processing SHOULD be provided in deterministic networks. 
      With the introduction of IPv6 Extension Headers <xref target="RFC8200"/> 
      and Segment Routing over IPv6 <xref target="RFC8986"/>, 
      native IPv6 data plane SHOULD be supported along with the IPv6-specific 
      enhancements. 
      This section lists the data plane enhancement requirements 
      that are based on, but not limited to, the technical requirements 
      in Section 3. 
      It describes how IP and/or MPLS, along with related OAM, 
      can be used to support flow identification and packet treatment 
      over Layer 3. 
      Some enhancements to the control plane may also be required to meet 
      the requirements in Section 3. 
      However, these are out of scope for this document 
      and are expected to be addressed in 
      <xref target="I-D.ietf-detnet-controller-plane-framework"/> 
      or other documents.</t>

      <section title="Support Aggregated Flow Identification  ">
        <t>Current IPv6 aggregated flow identification is generally based on 
        5 or 6 tuples, IP prefixes, or wildcards as indicated in 
        <xref target="RFC8938"/>. 
        However, in deterministic networks, the number of individual flows 
        can be huge, and these flows may dynamically join or leave 
        an aggregated flow at each hop, as described in Section 3. 
        Such behaviors lead to the difficulty in identifying aggregated 
        flows by relying on prefixes or wildcards.</t>

        <t>In addition, deterministic services may demand different
        deterministic QoS requirements according to different levels of
        application requirements. 
        To address this, flow identification with service-level aggregation
        should be supported.
        Flow identification also enables packets to be quickly directed 
        to the appropriate queue.
        In scaling networks, a large number of flows may require either 
        deterministic latency or normal forwarding services. 
        Explicit flow identification makes it easier to quickly distinguish 
        the DetNet flows without relying on the longest-match rule across 
        multiple header fields in IP data plane. 
        Therefore,
        explicit aggregated flow identification SHOULD be supported.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Support Information Required by Functions 
                      Ensuring Deterministic Latency">
        <t>According to Section 3.1, deterministic networks should support
        synchronized or asynchronous queuing mechanisms. 
        Different queuing mechanisms require different types of DetNet-specific
        metadata to support functions, 
        such as traffic regulation and queue management,
        which are used to ensure deterministic latency.
        For instance, the data plane needs to support the identification of 
        the cycle for cyclic queuing and forwarding, 
        or latency-related information for time-based queuing, 
        in order to enable the use of corresponding queuing and/or 
        scheduling mechanisms in a large-scale network.</t>

        <t>When different queuing mechanisms are deployed at the same network 
        node, the corresponding metadata for each queuing mechanism 
        should be provided simultaneously. 
        When multiple types of metadata are carried in a single packet, 
        the metadata format should be self-descriptive and extensible to support
        a variable number of metadata fields. 
        However, carrying additional metadata increases processing overhead, 
        such as requiring fixed- or variable-length lookups, 
        and increasing the number of read/write operations on packet headers.
        Therefore, data plane processing efficiency
        also needs to be considered when ensuring deterministic latency. 
        The specific methods or solutions are out of scope of this document.</t>

        <t>This document does not specify what metadata and formats should be
        carried in the data plane. 
        Solution documents should clearly explain why and how the metadata
        carried as the data plane interacts with queuing or other functions,
        and how it contributes to deterministic network deployment.</t>
      </section>
    </section>

    <section title="Conclusion">
      <t>This document specifies the technical requirements for scaling
      deterministic networks and enhancing the corresponding data plane. 
      Some of the proposed queuing mechanisms and trials are cited, 
      as they provide useful insights for improving existing queuing 
      mechanisms to meet the requirements of scaling deterministic networks.</t>
    </section>

    <section anchor="Security" title="Security Considerations">
      <t>When DetNet flows span multiple domains and require multi-domain
      collaboration, security guarantees need to be strengthened.</t>
    </section>

    <section anchor="IANA" title="IANA Considerations">
      <t>No IANA actions are requested.</t>
    </section>

    <section anchor="Acknowledgements" title="Acknowledgements">
      <t>The authors would like to thank David Black, Jinoo Joung, Lou Berger,
      Balazs Varga, Fan Yang, Tianran Zhou, and Yaakov Stein for their helpful
      suggestions. The authors also would like to thank Liang Geng, Peter
      Willis, Shunsuke Homma, and Li Qiang for their previous works.</t>
    </section>

    <section title="Contributors">
      <t>The following people have contributed substantially to this
      document:</t>

      <t><figure>
          <artwork>
	Zongpeng Du
	China Mobile
	Email: duzongpeng@chinamobile.com

	Lei Zhou
	New H3C Technologies
	Email: zhou.leih@h3c.com
</artwork>
        </figure></t>
    </section>
  </middle>

  <back>
    <references title="Normative References">
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.2119.xml" />
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8174.xml" />
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8655.xml" />
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8938.xml" />
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8964.xml" />
    </references>

    <references title="Informative References">
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.2205.xml" />
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.2475.xml" />
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8200.xml" />
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8578.xml" />
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8986.xml" />
<!--
      <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.I-D.ietf-detnet-controller-plane-framework.xml" />
-->
     <xi:include href="https://bib.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml3/reference.I-D.ietf-detnet-controller-plane-framework.xml"/>



<!--
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.2119"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.2205"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.2475"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.8200"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.8174"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.8578"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.8655"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.8938"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.8986"?>
      <?rfc include="reference.I-D.ietf-detnet-controller-plane-framework"?>
-->
      <reference anchor="Fast-Ethernet-MII-clock">

        <front>
          <title>Fast Ethernet MII clock</title>

          <author surname="">
            <organization/>

            <address/>
          </author>

          <date/>
        </front>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="Multiple-CQF">
        <front>
          <title>Multiple Cyclic Queuing and Forwarding.
          https://www.ieee802.org/1/files/public/docs2021/new-finn-multiple-CQF-0921-v02.pdf</title>

          <author surname="">
            <organization>IEEE</organization>

            <address/>
          </author>

          <date/>
        </front>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="G.8262">
        <front>
          <title>Timing characteristics of a synchronous equipment slave
          clock</title>

          <author>
            <organization>International Telecommunication Union</organization>
          </author>

          <date month="November" year="2018"/>
        </front>

        <seriesInfo name="ITU-T" value="Recommendation G.8262"/>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="G.8273">
        <front>
          <title>Framework of phase and time clocks</title>

          <author>
            <organization>International Telecommunication Union</organization>
          </author>

          <date month="March" year="2018"/>
        </front>

        <seriesInfo name="ITU-T" value="Recommendation G.8273"/>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="IEEE802.1Qav">
        <front>
          <title>IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks --
          Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks - Amendment 12: Forwarding and
          Queuing Enhancements for Time-Sensitive Streams</title>

          <author>
            <organization>IEEE</organization>
          </author>

          <date day="5" month="January" year="2010"/>
        </front>

        <seriesInfo name="IEEE" value="802.1Qav-2009"/>

        <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.1109/IEEESTD.2010.8684664"/>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="IEEE802.1Qbv">
        <front>
          <title>IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks --
          Bridges and Bridged Networks - Amendment 25: Enhancements for
          Scheduled Traffic</title>

          <author>
            <organization>IEEE</organization>
          </author>

          <date day="18" month="March" year="2016"/>
        </front>

        <seriesInfo name="IEEE" value="802.1Qbv-2015"/>

        <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.1109/IEEESTD.2016.8613095"/>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="IEEE802.1Qch">
        <front>
          <title>IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks --
          Bridges and Bridged Networks - Amendment 29: Cyclic Queuing and
          Forwarding</title>

          <author>
            <organization>IEEE</organization>
          </author>

          <date day="28" month="June" year="2017"/>
        </front>

        <seriesInfo name="IEEE" value="802.1Qch-2017"/>

        <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.1109/IEEESTD.2017.7961303"/>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="IEEE802.1Qdv">
        <front>
          <title>IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks --
          Enhancements to Cyclic Queuing and Forwarding</title>

          <author>
            <organization>IEEE</organization>
          </author>

          <date day="12" month="July" year="2023"/>
        </front>

        <seriesInfo name="IEEE" value="802.1Qdv-2023"/>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="IEEE802.1Qcr">
        <front>
          <title>IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks --
          Bridges and Bridged Networks - Amendment 34: Asynchronous Traffic
          Shaping</title>

          <author>
            <organization>IEEE</organization>
          </author>

          <date day="6" month="November" year="2020"/>
        </front>

        <seriesInfo name="IEEE" value="802.1Qcr-2020"/>

        <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.1109/IEEESTD.2020.9253013"/>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="IEEE802.1TSN"
                 target="https://www.ieee802.org/1/pages/tsn.html">
        <front>
          <title>IEEE 802.1 Time-Sensitive Networking Task Group</title>

          <author>
            <organization>IEEE Standards Association</organization>
          </author>

          <date month="" year=""/>
        </front>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="ANDREWS">
        <front>
          <title>Instability of FIFO in the permanent sessions model at
          arbitrarily small network loads. ACM Trans. Algorithms, vol. 5, no.
          3, pp. 1-29, doi:10.1145/1541885.1541894.</title>

          <author fullname=" Andrews, M">
            <organization/>
          </author>

          <date month="July" year="2009"/>
        </front>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="BOUILLARD">
        <front>
          <title>Deterministic network calculus: From theory to practical
          implementation. in Networks and Telecommunications. Hoboken, NJ,
          USA: Wiley, doi: 10.1002/9781119440284.</title>

          <author fullname=" Bouillard, A., Boyer, M., and E. Le Corronc">
            <organization/>
          </author>

          <date month="January" year="2018"/>
        </front>
      </reference>

      <reference anchor="THOMAS">
        <front>
          <title>On cyclic dependencies and regulators in time-sensitive
          networks. IEEE Real-Time Syst. Symp. (RTSS), York, U.K., pp.
          299-311.</title>

          <author fullname="Thomas, L., Le Boudec, J., and A. Mifdaoui">
            <organization/>
          </author>

          <date month="December" year="2019"/>
        </front>
      </reference>
    </references>

    <section title="Examples of Scaling Deterministic Network Trials">
      <t>Some trials have been conducted to validate the concept of
      large-scale deterministic networks.</t>

      <t>To validate deterministic networking technology in large-scale
      networks, a trial of Deterministic IP on China Environment for Network
      Innovations (CENI), which is a network built for new network technology
      trials, was conducted. 
      The trial covered a distance of 3,000 km over 13 hops,
      and jitter was controlled within 100 us.</t>

      <t>To validate remote control over Deterministic IP with strict 
      performance requirements, a trial was conducted in cooperation with 
      Baosteel, a Chinese steel company that proposed 
      latency requirements of less than 4 ms and 
      jitter under 20 us. The trial network spanned 600 km.
      Both the first and second trials were based on a frequency 
      synchronization solution.
      </t> 

      <t>To realize synchronization of multiple flows 
      across an inter-provincial network during an exhibition, 
      Emergen proposed a requirement in which two flows, 
      one carrying video and the other carrying VR content,
      would be transmitted from Province A and would arrive at Province B 
      at the same time.
      This was intended to enable synchronized playback of camera-captured 
      video alongside the corresponding VR model.
      This requirement was proposed to support the deployment of virtual 
      industry products.
      Due to time constraints and other limitations, the requirement was 
      fulfilled using edge network devices and was delivered 
      with a lower level of SLA. </t>

      <t>ETRI, in collaboration with a smart factory operator, 
      network operators, equipment vendors, and universities, 
      demonstrated an ultra-low-latency, high-reliability 5G wired and wireless
      network-based remote Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) service. 
      The demonstration connected a control center and a smart factory 
      across the networks of three different operators 
      over a distance of 280 km.
      In this trial, it was shown that real-time remote smart manufacturing 
      is feasible, with round-trip delay maintained 
      below 3 ms within the smart factory and 
      below 10 ms between remote 5G industrial devices.
      In the future, the team plans to examine the feasibility of large-scale 
      deterministic networking by interconnecting smart factories 
      in Gyeongsan, South Korea, and Oulu, Finland. </t>

      <t>These trials indicate that both operators and enterprise users 
      increasingly demand deterministic performance in large-scale networks.
      However, the implementation technologies used to achieve this are not 
      the same across deployments. </t>
    </section>
  </back>
</rfc>
