Systems and methods for providing adaptive wireless connectivity

• US 20050143013A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Jha, Uma S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,925,206 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/69
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0001 Systems modifying transmission characteristics according to link quality, e.g. power backoff adaptive data allocation for multicarrier modulation H04L5/0044; controlling transmission power for radio systems H04W52/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0015 characterised by the adaptation strategy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/06 using space diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/20 using signal quality detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/20 Manipulation of established connections

Abstract

A new approach to adaptive wireless communications suitable for use in military environments and for other purposes is provided. One technique for reliably communicating between a first node and a second node includes the broad steps of establishing a wireless connection between the first node and the second node at a level of communication, monitoring a quality of the wireless connection, adjusting the level of communication if the quality of the wireless connection crosses a threshold, and repeating the monitoring and adjusting steps throughout the duration of the wireless communication cooperatively using the in-band or out-of-band signaling schemes and negotiating the appropriate level of communication link avoiding excessive link outages and signaling overheads. By communicating at a level appropriate for the quality of signals received and adjusting the level as the quality changes, the overall reliability of the wireless communication is improved.

Claims

1. A method of reliably communicating between a first node and a second node, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a wireless connection between the first node and the second node at a state of communication;

monitoring a quality of the wireless connection;

adjusting the state of communication if the quality of the wireless connection crosses a threshold; and

repeating the monitoring and adjusting steps throughout the duration of the wireless communication.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the monitoring step comprises determining a strength of a signal received at one of the first and second nodes.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the adjusting step comprises changing a communications rate to adjust the state of communication.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the adjusting step comprises changing the data communications rate to a lower communications rate as the strength of the signal decreases.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the adjusting step comprises changing the data communications rate to a higher communications rate as the strength of the signal increases.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the adjusting step comprises changing the data communications rate to a higher communications rate as the strength of the signal increases.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting step comprises adjusting the state of communication if the quality of the wireless connection crosses any of a plurality of thresholds defining a plurality of levels of communication, wherein each of the plurality of levels corresponds to a distinct state of communication.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the adjusting step comprises adjusting the state of communication if the quality of the wireless connection crosses any of a plurality of thresholds defining a plurality of levels of communication, wherein each of the plurality of levels corresponds to a distinct state of communication.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the repeating step comprises repeating the monitoring and adjusting steps at a predefined temporal interval.

10. A method of communicating between a first node and a second node, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a wireless connection from the first node to the second node at a state corresponding to a pre-determined first level of communication;

monitoring a signal strength of the wireless connection at the first node;

adjusting the state of the wireless connection if the signal strength crosses any of a plurality of quality thresholds, wherein the plurality of quality thresholds defines a plurality of distinct levels of communication, and wherein each of the plurality of levels corresponds to a distinct state of communication; and

repeating the monitoring and adjusting steps at predetermined temporal intervals throughout the duration of the wireless communication.

11. A method of communicating between a first node and a second node, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a wireless connection from the first node to the second node at a level of communication;

monitoring a signal quality of the wireless connection at the first node;

adjusting the level of the wireless connection in response to the monitoring step, wherein the adjusting step comprises adaptively modifying a link parameter; and

repeating the monitoring and adjusting steps throughout the duration of the wireless communication.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the link parameter comprises a data rate.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the link parameter comprises a coding scheme.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the link parameter comprises a diversity technique.

15. A method of negotiating communications parameters between a first node and a second node, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a wireless connection from the first node to the second node at a level of communication;

monitoring a signal quality of the wireless connection;

adjusting the level of the wireless connection in response to changes in the signal quality, wherein the adjusting step comprises adaptively modifying a link parameter to match the monitored signal quality; and

repeating the monitoring and adjusting steps throughout the duration of the wireless communication.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the link parameter comprises a data rate.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the link parameter comprises a coding scheme.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the link parameter comprises a diversity technique.

19. A device for communicating with a remote node across a wireless communication link having a signal quality, the device comprising:

means for establishing the wireless connection with the remote node at a state of communication;

means for monitoring the signal quality of the wireless connection throughout the duration of the wireless communication;

means for determining if the signal quality crosses any of a plurality of thresholds, wherein the plurality of thresholds define a plurality of distinct levels of communication, each level having a distinct communication state associated therewith; and

means for adjusting the state of communication when the signal quality crosses any of the plurality of thresholds to thereby maintain the wireless connection at an optimal distinct communication state for the determined level of communication.

20. The device of claim 19 wherein the signal quality corresponds to a strength of a received signal.

21. The device of claim 19 wherein the distinct communication states correspond to data transfer rates.

22. A device for communicating with a remote node via a wireless communication link, the device comprising:

means for establishing a wireless connection from the first node to the second node at a level of communication;

means for monitoring the wireless connection at the first node; and

means for adjusting the level of the wireless connection in response to the monitoring step, wherein the adjusting means comprises mans for adaptively modifying a link parameter.

23. A device for communicating between with a remote node, the device comprising:

means for establishing a wireless connection with the remote node at a level of communication;

means for monitoring a signal quality of the wireless connection; and

means for adjusting the level of the wireless connection in response to changes in the signal quality, wherein the adjusting means comprises means for adaptively modifying a link parameter to match the monitored signal quality.

24. A device for communicating with a remote node via a wireless communication link, the device comprising:

an antenna tuned to a frequency corresponding to the wireless communication link;

a wireless transceiver coupled to the antenna to thereby transmit and receive signals via the wireless communications link at a level of communication; and

a processor configured to monitor the quality of signals received from the remote node via the wireless transceiver and to determine if the signal quality crosses any of a plurality of quality thresholds, wherein the processor is further configured to adjust the level of communication at the wireless transceiver when the signal quality crosses any of the plurality of thresholds to thereby maintain the level of communication at an optimal level for the quality of signals received.

25. A device for communicating with a remote node via a wireless communication link, the device comprising:

an antenna tuned to a frequency corresponding to the wireless communication link;

a wireless transceiver coupled to the antenna to thereby transmit and receive signals via the wireless communications link at a level of communication; and

a processor configured to monitor communications with the remote node via the wireless transceiver and to adaptively modify the level of communication to thereby maintain the level of communication at an optimal level for the quality of signals received.

26. A device for communicating with a remote node via a wireless communication link, the device comprising:

an antenna tuned to a frequency corresponding to the wireless communication link;

a wireless transceiver coupled to the antenna to thereby transmit and receive signals via the wireless communications link at a level of communication; and

a processor configured to monitor the quality of signals received from the remote node via the wireless transceiver and to negotiate an appropriate level of communication for the wireless communication link as a function of the quality of signals received.