RTL-210 · Real-Time Systems
Industrial Fieldbus & TSN
Deterministic networking for industrial systems: EtherCAT, PROFINET and Time-Sensitive Networking.
Who this course is for
Engineers designing deterministic networking for industrial systems — choosing between fieldbus protocols and TSN, and responsible for proving the end-to-end timing.
Prerequisites
Course outline
Day 1 — The fieldbus landscape
- The fieldbus landscape: EtherCAT, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, Modbus and the CAN-based family
- What each protocol guarantees: cycle time, jitter, synchronisation
- Selection criteria: topology, device availability, master licensing, Linux support
- How a fieldbus cycle interacts with the host scheduler
- Mapping application timing requirements onto a protocol choice
Day 2 — EtherCAT in depth
- EtherCAT mechanics: processing on the fly, frame structure, working counter
- Distributed clocks and what they actually synchronise
- The IgH EtherCAT master on Linux: kernel module vs userspace operation
- The application interface: process data, PDO mapping and cycle configuration
- Diagnosing a degraded bus: wire faults, lost frames, clock drift
Day 3 — TSN and clock synchronisation
- The TSN standards that matter: 802.1AS time sync, Qbv time-aware shaper, Qbu frame preemption
- What is usable on Linux today and what remains vendor-specific
- PTP with linuxptp: ptp4l, phc2sys and hardware timestamping
- Configuring Qbv schedules with tc taprio on supported hardware
- Measuring and validating end-to-end determinism across the network
Hands-on labs
Labs follow the academy model — 35% principles, 20% guided investigation, 45% engineering studio. Every claim you make in a lab is backed by a trace, a counter or a measurement you captured yourself. How we teach
- Lab: Bring up an EtherCAT master against a slave set; map process data and run a 1 ms cycle
- Lab: Measure EtherCAT cycle jitter from the master and from the wire, and explain the difference
- Lab: Synchronise clocks across machines with ptp4l and phc2sys; measure the offset distribution
- Lab: Configure a Qbv schedule with tc taprio and verify time-gated behaviour with a traffic capture
- Lab: Inject interference traffic and measure its effect on a protected RT stream with and without TSN scheduling
Capstone project
Design and validate the networking for a small production cell: select and justify a fieldbus for the device tier, stand up an EtherCAT master running a cyclic application, synchronise the cell's clocks with PTP, and configure TSN scheduling on the inter-cell link — then produce an end-to-end determinism report with measured cycle jitter, clock offset distributions and the residual failure modes your design does not cover.
What you leave with
- A working EtherCAT master setup you configured yourself
- Fieldbus selection reasoning tied to timing guarantees
- PTP deployment skills with measured clock accuracy
- A realistic map of which TSN features are deployable on Linux today
- An end-to-end determinism validation method
How it runs
Every course follows the same model: 35% principles, 20% guided investigation, 45% engineering studio. You leave with working code, raw measurements and an evidence-based report — not a certificate of attendance. Read the methodology or see a full sample lesson.
Material is adapted to your kernel version, hardware and workload before a private delivery. For public cohorts, the environment is provided and configured.
Questions
Who is this course for?
Engineers designing deterministic networking for industrial systems — choosing between fieldbus protocols and TSN, and responsible for proving the end-to-end timing. It sits at advanced level within the Real-Time Systems track.
What do I need to know already?
Specific prerequisites for this course: Networking fundamentals: Ethernet, switching, IP; Real-time Linux basics at the RTL-101/110 level; C programming for the master-stack exercises. We confirm levels before the cohort starts and adapt if a group is stronger or weaker than expected.
Can this run privately for my team?
Yes. Any course runs on-site at your offices anywhere, or live online for a distributed team, with labs adapted to your hardware and codebase.
What is the difference between in-person and online?
In person is 3 full days with hardware on your desk, capped at 14. Online is 6 half-day sessions across about two weeks so you can keep working, capped at 20, with remote lab access.
Do you invoice companies?
Yes. Purchase orders are accepted and invoicing is available in USD, EUR, GBP, SAR and CAD.
Upcoming dates
| Dates | Where | Seats | Early bird | Regular | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Nov – 10 Nov 20263 full days | RiyadhIn person · KAFD Conference Centre | 5 of 14 | SAR 8,100until 9 Oct | ||
| 15 Nov – 17 Nov 20263 full days | Kuwait CityIn person · Al Hamra Tower | 10 of 14 | KWD 670until 16 Oct | ||
| 15 Nov – 17 Nov 20263 full days | MuscatIn person · Knowledge Oasis Muscat | 5 of 14 | OMR 830until 16 Oct | ||
| 22 Nov – 29 Nov 20266 half-days | Gulf bandLive online · 09:00–13:00 GMT+3 | 17 of 20 | US$1,580until 23 Oct | ||
| 23 Nov – 25 Nov 20263 full days | OttawaIn person · Kanata North Tech Park | 10 of 14 | CAD 2,930until 24 Oct | ||
| 30 Nov – 2 Dec 20263 full days | TorontoIn person · MaRS Discovery District | 5 of 14 | CAD 2,930until 31 Oct | ||
| 30 Nov – 2 Dec 20263 full days | LondonIn person · Shoreditch Works | 10 of 14 | GBP 1,680until 31 Oct | ||
| 30 Nov – 7 Dec 20266 half-days | Europe bandLive online · 09:00–13:00 CET | 6 of 20 | US$1,580until 31 Oct | ||
| 30 Nov – 7 Dec 20266 half-days | Americas bandLive online · 13:00–17:00 ET | 11 of 20 | US$1,580until 31 Oct | ||
| 7 Dec – 9 Dec 20263 full days | BerlinIn person · Factory Görlitzer Park | 5 of 14 | EUR 1,990until 7 Nov |
Dates shown for the next few months. If nothing fits, tell us where and when — cohorts are added on demand, and private delivery can be scheduled any week.
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