Design and Optimization of a Bandwidth-Aware Scheduling Algorithm for Mixed-Traffic Time-Sensitive Networks

Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) has emerged as a key enabler in enhancing deterministic transmission capabilities within industrial control and vehicular communication systems. Despite its growing adoption, the commonly used Time-Aware Shaper (TAS) mechanism in TSN often leads to underutilization of bandwidth allocated to Best-Effort (BE) traffic during scheduling cycles, particularly due to rigid slot partitioning and static guard bands. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a bandwidth-aware scheduling optimization algorithm tailored for mixed-traffic TSN environments. The proposed approach preserves the timing guarantees required by Time-Triggered (TT) traffic while dynamically identifying residual bandwidth within each scheduling cycle to opportunistically schedule BE frames. By incorporating a hybrid weight model based on traffic priority and frame length, the algorithm significantly improves scheduling flexibility and bandwidth efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves approximately 12.3% improvement in bandwidth utilization over the conventional DWRR algorithm across various typical traffic scenarios. This study contributes an enhanced scheduling framework for TSN, particularly suitable for deployment in systems with mixed traffic patterns and high demands on bandwidth efficiency.