TDMA COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM WITH CONFIGURATION BEACON AND ASSOCIATED METHOD

• US 20080310390A1
• Filed: 06/14/2007
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stingray IP Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Datz, Charles, PUN, Ngan-Cheung
• Granted Patent: US 8,885,630 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/347
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2656 for structure of frame, burst
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel

Abstract

A communications system includes a plurality of nodes forming a time division multiple access (TDMA) communications network. Each node within the TDMA communications network includes a controller and wireless communications device allowing the nodes to communicate with each other using respective timeslots in a TDMA frame, also sometimes referred to as an epoch. Each node is operative for transmitting and receiving a beacon positioned in time at the front of a frame to carry configuration information about the nodes in the TDMA communications network.

Claims

1. A communications system, comprising:

a plurality of nodes forming a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communications network;

each node within the TDMA communications network comprising a controller and wireless communications device cooperating therewith to allow nodes to communicate to each other using respective time slots in a TDMA frame, wherein each node is operative for transmitting and receiving a beacon positioned in time at the front of a frame to carry configuration information about the nodes in the TDMA communications network.

2. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said beacon comprises a text message.

3. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said beacon comprises a short message service (SMS) message.

4. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said beacon has a duration of about 1 ms or less.

5. The communications system according to claim 1, and further comprising a node external to said TDMA communications network that transmits a beacon for probing the TDMA communications network for configuration information.

6. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said configuration information comprises the number of nodes within the TDMA communications network.

7. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said configuration information comprises the length of a time slot used by nodes within the TDMA communications network.

8. The communications system according to claim 1, and further comprising a second TDMA communications network having a plurality of nodes, wherein at least one node in a TDMA communications network is operative for transmitting a beacon as a probe to determine configuration information for merging TDMA communications networks.

9. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said TDMA communications network comprises a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET).

10. A communications system, comprising:

a plurality of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communications networks, each comprising a plurality of nodes;

each plurality of nodes within a TDMA communications network comprising a controller and wireless communications device cooperating therewith to allow nodes within a respective TDMA communications network to communicate with other nodes in the same TDMA communications network using respective time slots in a TDMA frame, wherein each node is operative for transmitting and receiving a beacon positioned in time at the front of a frame to carry configuration information to determine which nodes within a respective TDMA communications network can communicate with respective nodes within another TDMA communications network.

11. The communications system according to claim 10, wherein said beacon comprises a text message.

12. The communications system according to claim 10, wherein said beacon comprises a short message service (SMS) message.

13. The communications system according to claim 10, wherein said beacon has a duration of about 1 ms or less.

14. The communications system according to claim 10, and further comprising a node external to at least one of said TDMA communications network that transmits a beacon for probing the respective TDMA communications network for configuration information.

15. The communications system according to claim 10, wherein said configuration information comprises the number of nodes within a respective TDMA communications network.

16. The communications system according to claim 10, wherein said configuration information comprises the length of a time slot used by nodes within a respective TDMA communications network.

17. The communications system according to claim 10, wherein at least one TDMA communications network comprises a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET).

18. A method for communicating, comprising:

interconnecting a plurality of nodes to form a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communications network, each node comprising a controller and wireless communications device that communicate within respective time slots using a TDMA frame; and

transmitting or receiving within at least one node within the TDMA communications network a beacon positioned in time at the front of a frame used to carry communication between nodes, wherein the beacon contains configuration information about the nodes within the TDMA communications network.

19. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises forming the beacon as a text message.

20. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises forming the beacon as a short messaging service (SMS) message.

21. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises forming the beacon to have a duration of about 1 ms or less.

22. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises transmitting a beacon from a node external to the TDMA communications network for probing the TDMA communications network for configuration information.

24. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises transmitting a beacon from a node within a second TDMA communications network to determine if the configuration information for merging TDMA communications networks.

25. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises forming the TDMA communications network as mobile ad-hoc network (MANET).

23. The method according to claim 23, which further comprises determining the number of nodes within a TDMA communications network using the TDMA beacon.