Experimentation on A Wireless Multi-Domain Deterministic Network: The SLICES-Madrid Approach

The advent of the Fifth Generation Mobile Network (5G) deployments and the anticipation of the Sixth Generation Mobile Network (6G) have spurred a concerted effort towards defining new network and application services that harness the potential of these technologies. One of these key technologies is deterministic networking, which has emerged as a focal point, offering reliability, time sensitivity, and predictability, crucial for supporting critical services and applications. In this article, we present our tailored extensions to the Experimental Studies (SLICES)-Madrid testbed to support multi-domain deterministic communications research, enabling the union of different technology-specific deterministic networking solutions, namely Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, IEEE 802.1 Time Sensitive Networking (TSN), and Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G domains, over an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Deterministic Networking (DetNet) overlay data plane. Our endeavor aims to provide a realistic infrastructure for developing the next generation of deterministic services. Key contributions include the design, deployment, and performance characterization of the multi-domain data plane, along with its integration into the SLICES-Madrid site. This article offers insights into the design, implementation, and implications of a multi-domain deterministic data plane, providing valuable contributions to the research community and laying the ground-work for future community experimentation in the field of deterministic networking.