Using RTI Connext over Low Bandwidth, Unreliable and Constrained Networks

When your network has low or limited bandwidth, high latencies, or all three, an additional requirement on the connectivity framework is to place the minimum strain upon the communication links. This is usually expressed in terms of even more efficient messaging mechanisms, minimized packet overheads, and maximized data to packet size ratio.

The Real-Time Publish-Subscribe (RTPS) protocol, the interoperable wire protocol used by Connext, was designed to maximize data to packet ratio for distributed real-time applications. Data type information is exchanged once at discovery time, not continuously at run-time. In addition, RTPS uses Common Data Representation (CDR), a very compact and efficient binary wire data representation.

However, some communication links have limitations that require further optimization. The Professional Services team can draw on their experience to provide you guidance on strategies for tuning RTPS. Or, for more challenging use cases, we can help your team take advantage of the RTI Limited-Bandwidth Plugins, an add-on product to address challenges of constrained network communication. These plugins are designed to overcome situations where the network is constrained by low or limited bandwidth, intermittent connections or other network-related issues.

What's Involved

An expert will work with your team to understand your system requirements and the capabilities of your constrained communication links. Using this information, the expert will create a customized approach that incorporates:

  • Reducing participant discovery time with the Limited Bandwidth Participant Discovery Plugin
  • Reducing endpoint discovery time with the Limited Bandwidth Endpoint Discovery Plugin
  • Reducing the size of message headers in RTPS packets with the Limited Bandwidth RTPS Transport Plugin
  • Compressing RTPS packet with the Compression Real-Time Publish Subscribe Transport Plugin

Prerequisites

The following criteria must be met before you can schedule this service:

  • You must have previous Connext experience and/or training. You must be familiar with the fundamental DDS concepts such as DDS entities, publish/subscribe APIs, Quality of Service configuration, discovery, transports, and configuration files.

Expected Duration

This service typically is delivered in 8-16 hours.

Remote or Onsite

This activity can be delivered remote or onsite.

***Please note that RTI has restrictions for onsite services. If you are interested in onsite services, contact your Customer Success Manager to determine if your onsite request can be satisfied.***