9 Frame Replication and Elimination for Reliability (FRER)

Frame Replication and Elimination for Reliability (FRER), as specified in the IEEE 802.1CB-2017 standard, provides increased reliability (reduced packet loss rates) for a stream.

This is achieved by the following measures:

  • Sequence numbering and replicating packets in the talker (source) end system and/or in relay systems in the network is called generation.
  • Eliminating those replicates in the listener (destination) end system and/or in other relay systems is called recovery.
Figure 9-1. Network Topology with Multiple Paths with FRER Mechanism
A diagram of a path Description automatically generated

FRER is supported by Microchip’s SparX-5i and LAN9668 switch chips running IStaX software. There are differences between the two, which are explained in the subsequent sections.