SYSTEM AND METHOD TO DETERMINISTICALLY AND DYNAMICALLY PREVENT INTERFERENCE TO THE OPERATION OF SAFETY-OF-LIFE RADIO EQUIPMENT

• US 20090325495A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: LaBerge, E.F. Charles
• Granted Patent: US 8,472,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/63.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A system to deterministically and dynamically prevent interference to the operation of safety-of-life radio equipment in a vehicle is provided. The system includes a radio management system and a wireless network frequency controller communicatively coupled to the radio management system. The wireless network frequency controller is operable to restrict the operational frequency of any one or more of internal wireless communication devices and any one or more of wireless sensors that are communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller. The restriction of the operational frequency is based on input from the radio management system. The restriction of the operational frequency ensures that all the safety-of-life radio equipment has interference-free operation with the internal wireless communication devices and the wireless sensors that are communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller.

Claims

1. A system to deterministically and dynamically prevent interference to the operation of safety-of-life radio equipment in a vehicle, the system comprising:

a radio management system; and

a wireless network frequency controller communicatively coupled to the radio management system, wherein the wireless network frequency controller is operable to restrict the operational frequency of any one or more of internal wireless communication devices and any one or more of wireless sensors that are communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller based on input from the radio management system, so that all the safety-of-life radio equipment has interference-free operation with the internal wireless communication devices and the wireless sensors that are communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the radio management system comprises:

a table manager to manage a table-of-selected-frequencies and a table-of-frequencies-to-be-avoided; and

a processor communicatively coupled with the table manager and the wireless network frequency controller.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the radio management system further comprises a user input communicatively coupled to the table manager.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the user input is communicatively coupled to the safety-of-life radio equipment via at least one dedicated communication link.

5. The system of claim 2, further comprising at least one dedicated communication link to communicatively couple the safety-of-life radio equipment to the radio management system.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the table-of-selected-frequencies comprises a list of operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation in the vehicle and the table-of-frequencies-to-be-avoided comprises the list of frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation and a list of the electromagnetic interference/electro-magnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC) threat frequencies generated from the list of operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation in the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the any one or more of wireless sensors communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller are positioned external to the vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the any one or more of internal wireless communication devices and the any one or more of wireless sensors communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller has interference-free operation with the safety-of-life radio equipment in the vehicle.

9. A radio management system to control operational frequencies of internal wireless communication devices and to control operational frequencies of wireless sensors in order to deterministically and dynamically prevent interference with safety-of-life radio equipment, the system comprising:

a table manager to manage a table-of-selected-frequencies and a table-of-frequencies-to-be-avoided; and

a processor communicatively coupled with the table manager and a wireless network frequency controller, wherein the table manager is communicatively coupled to at least one safety-of-life radio equipment via a dedicated communication link.

10. The radio management system of claim 9, further comprising a user input communicatively coupled to the table manager.

11. The radio management system of claim 10, further comprising a memory storing the table-of-selected-frequencies and the table-of-frequencies-to-be-avoided.

12. The radio management system of claim 10, wherein the processor executes software stored in a storage medium to calculate electromagnetic interference/electro-magnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC) threat frequencies based on the operational frequencies in the table-of-selected-frequencies.

13. A method to deterministically and dynamically prevent interference to the operation of safety-of-life radio equipment communicatively coupled to a wireless network frequency controller, the method comprising:

calculating EMI/EMC threat frequencies based on operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation;

sending information indicative of the calculated EMI/EMC threat frequencies to the table manager; and

sending the information indicative of the calculated EMI/EMC threat frequencies and information indicative of the operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation to the wireless network frequency controller.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

controlling the operational frequency of any one or more of the internal wireless communication devices communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller to prevent interference between operational safety-of-life radio equipment and the internal wireless communication devices.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

controlling the operational frequency of any one or more of the wireless sensors communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller to prevent interference between the operational safety-of-life radio equipment and the internal wireless communication devices and to prevent interference between the operational safety-of-life radio equipment and the wireless sensors.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

controlling the operational frequency of any one or more of the wireless sensors communicatively coupled to the wireless network frequency controller to prevent interference between the operational safety-of-life radio equipment and the wireless sensors.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing the operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation in the table-of-selected-frequencies and in the table-of-frequencies-to-be-avoided; and

storing the calculated EMI/EMC threat frequencies in the table-of-frequencies-to-be-avoided.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving information indicative of operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving information indicative of a change in the operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation;

re-calculating EMI/EMC threat frequencies based on the change in the operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation;

sending information indicative of the re-calculated EMI/EMC threat frequencies to the table manager; and

sending the information indicative of the re-calculated EMI/EMC threat frequencies and information indicative of the changed operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation to the wireless network frequency controller.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

storing the changed operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation in the table-of-selected-frequencies and in the table-of-frequencies-to-be-avoided based on the receiving information indicative of a change in the operational frequencies of the safety-of-life radio equipment currently in operation; and

storing the re-calculated EMI/EMC threat frequencies in the table-of-frequencies-to-be-avoided based on the sending information indicative of the re-calculated EMI/EMC threat frequencies to the table manager.