Our research address the problem of network resource allocation for real-time communications in mesh networks. We are studying the combination of online flow admission control and pathfinding algorithms in an SDN-like controller.We propose a Software-Defined Real-time Networking protocol that allows a dynamic and incremental allocation of network resource in a mixed-critical real-time m esh network context. We also propose a method to ensure the dependability of the network, considering that transmission errors and node failures can happen. Finally, our research includes the study of a new way of experimenting on embedded networks, by making use of both an in-silicon platform and a simulator. We designed an original framework to ease conducting such experiments.