Arbitration Patterns: Resolving conflicts one network at a time

Economic aspects of modern engineering lead to more frequent inclusion of mixed-effort networks in system architecture. Which pose the challenge of allowing for a degree of guaranteed delivery while keeping the network schedule dynamic. Introducing an Arbiter as role or component can prevent bus contention, through prioritizing specific categories of telegrams. This publication examines different approaches to arbitration of shared resources. Most commonly bus systems and networks. We propose a pattern called Registration Arbiter for controlling access to the shared medium by passively monitoring the medium, as well as further candidate patterns. The target audience are Embedded System Architects. We examine this pattern in the context of Industrial Control Systems.