Method and device for establishing communication links and for estimating overall quality of a directional link and reporting to OLSR in a communication system

• US 20040032847A1
• Filed: 03/27/2003
• Published: 02/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stingray IP Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cain, Joseph Bibb
• Granted Patent: US 7,027,409 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2643 using time-division multiple access [TDMA] H04B7/2615, H04B7/2618 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0061 Error detection codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/203 Details of error rate determination, e.g. BER, FER or WER
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0092 Error control systems characterised by the topology of the transmission link
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/06 based on characteristics of available antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A wireless communication network includes a plurality of mobile nodes each including a transceiver, a phased array antenna connected to the transceiver, and a controller connected to the transceiver. The controller discovers routes and routes communications to neighboring nodes with a routing protocol, e.g. an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol. The controller schedules time slots to establish a communication link with each neighboring mobile node, and the phased array antenna is aimed by the controller towards each neighboring mobile node during communication therewith. Also, the controller estimates link quality based upon the quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link and reports estimated link quality to the routing protocol.

Claims

1. A wireless communication network comprising:

a plurality of mobile nodes each comprising a transceiver, a directional antenna connected to said transceiver, and a controller connected to said transceiver and comprising

a communications router to discover routes and route communications to neighboring nodes with a routing protocol,

a time slot scheduling unit to schedule time slots to establish a communication link with each neighboring mobile node,

an antenna aiming unit to aim said directional antenna toward each neighboring mobile node during communication therewith, and

a link quality estimator to estimate link quality based upon the quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link and to report estimated link quality to the communications router.

2. A wireless communication network according to claim 1, wherein the estimated link quality is defined as the maximum quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link.

3. A wireless communication network according to claim 2, wherein the router routes communications to neighboring nodes based upon the estimated link quality.

4. A wireless communication network according to claim 3, wherein the communication link is maintained by the router as long as the maximum quality of at least one time slot for the link is above a predetermined threshold.

5. A wireless communication network according to claim 4, wherein the router initiates new route discovery when the estimated link quality for the link is below the predetermined threshold.

6. A wireless communication network according to claim 1, wherein the router performs a hysteresis function to the estimated link quality reported from the link quality estimator.

7. A wireless communication network according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of communication links are established within a scheduled time slot, with each communication link including a different pair of neighboring mobile nodes.

8. A wireless communication network according to claim 1, wherein said directional antenna comprises a phased array antenna.

9. A wireless communication network comprising:

a plurality of mobile nodes each comprising a transceiver, a directional antenna connected to said transceiver, and a controller connected to said transceiver to discover routes and route communications to neighboring nodes with an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol, to schedule time slots to establish a communication link with each neighboring mobile node, to aim said directional antenna toward each neighboring mobile node during communication therewith, and to estimate link quality based upon the quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link and to report estimated link quality to the OLSR protocol.

10. A wireless communication network according to claim 9, wherein the estimated link quality is defined as the maximum quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link.

11. A wireless communication network according to claim 10, wherein the controller routes communications to neighboring nodes based upon the estimated link quality.

12. A wireless communication network according to claim 11, wherein the communication link is maintained by the controller as long as the maximum quality of at least one time slot for the link is above a predetermined threshold.

13. A wireless communication network according to claim 12, wherein the controller initiates new route discovery when the estimated link quality for the link is below the predetermined threshold.

14. A wireless communication network according to claim 9, wherein the controller performs a hysteresis function to the estimated link quality reported from the link quality estimator.

15. A wireless communication network according to claim 9, wherein a plurality of communication links are established within a scheduled time slot, with each communication link including a different pair of neighboring mobile nodes.

16. A wireless communication network according to claim 9, wherein said directional antenna comprises a phased array antenna.

17. A mobile node for a wireless communication network, the mobile node comprising:

a transceiver;

a directional antenna connected to said transceiver; and

a controller connected to said transceiver and comprising

a communications router to discover routes and route communications to neighboring nodes with an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) algorithm,

a time slot scheduling unit to schedule time slots to establish a communication link with neighboring mobile nodes,

an antenna aiming unit to aim said directional antenna toward each neighboring mobile node during communication therewith, and

a link quality estimator to estimate link quality based upon the quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link and to report estimated link quality to the communications router.

18. A mobile node according to claim 17, wherein the estimated link quality is defined as the maximum quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link.

19. A mobile node according to claim 18, wherein the router routes communications to neighboring nodes based upon the estimated link quality.

20. A mobile node according to claim 19, wherein the communication link is maintained by the router as long as the maximum quality of at least one time slot for the link is above a predetermined threshold.

21. A mobile node according to claim 20, wherein the router initiates new route discovery when the estimated link quality for the link is below the predetermined threshold.

22. A mobile node according to claim 17, wherein the router performs a hysteresis function to the estimated link quality reported from the link quality estimator.

23. A mobile node according to claim 17, wherein a plurality of communication links are established within a scheduled time slot, with each communication link including a different pair of neighboring mobile nodes.

24. A mobile node according to claim 17, wherein said directional antenna comprises a phased array antenna.

25. A method for establishing communication links for a plurality of mobile nodes, each mobile node comprising a transceiver, a directional antenna connected to the transceiver, and a controller connected to the transceiver, the method comprising for each mobile node:

scheduling time slots to establish a communication link with each neighboring mobile node;

aiming the directional antenna toward each neighboring mobile node during communication therewith;

estimating link quality based upon the quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link; and

reporting estimated link quality to an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol.

26. A method according to claim 25, wherein the estimated link quality is defined as the maximum quality of each time slot scheduled for the communication link.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein OLSR routes communications to neighboring nodes based upon the estimated link quality.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein the communication link is maintained by OLSR as long as the maximum quality of at least one time slot for the link is above a predetermined threshold.

29. A method according to claim 28, wherein OLSR initiates new route discovery when the estimated link quality for the link is below the predetermined threshold.

30. A method according to claim 25, wherein OLSR performs a hysteresis function to the reported estimated link quality.

31. A method according to claim 25, wherein a plurality of communication links are established within a scheduled time slot, with each communication link including a different pair of neighboring mobile nodes.

32. A method according to claim 25, wherein said directional antenna comprises a phased array antenna.