  We propose a novel framework that reduces the management and integration
overheads for real-time network flows by leveraging the capabilities
(especially global visibility and management) of software-defined networking
(SDN) architectures. Given the specifications of flows that must meet hard
real-time requirements, our framework synthesizes paths through the network and
associated switch configurations - to guarantee that these flows meet their
end-to-end timing requirements. In doing so, our framework makes SDN
architectures "delay-aware" - remember that SDN is otherwise not able to reason
about delays. Hence, it is easier to use such architectures in safety-critical
and other latency-sensitive applications. We demonstrate our principles as well
as the feasibility of our approach using both - exhaustive simulations as well
as experiments using real hardware switches.
