System and Method for Visually Creating, Editing, Manipulating, Verifying, and/or Animating Desired Topologies of a Mobile Ad Hoc Network and/or for Generating Mobility-Pattern Data

• US 20100074141A1
• Filed: 09/24/2008
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army
• Original Assignee: The United States of America As Represented By The Secretary of Agriculture
• Inventors: Nguyen, Binh Quang
• Granted Patent: US 8,027,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A method and apparatus for creating virtual topologies for a mobile ad hoc network comprising generating at least two nodes representing transmitters and/or receivers in the network; each of said at least two nodes having parameters (which may be for example, location, direction, velocity, receiving/transmitting capability); generating a bidirectional or unidirectional link between two nodes when appropriate; storing the specifications of the topology of the network in memory; whereby the stored topologies are adapted to be inputted into a test-bed system capable of emulating a mobile ad-hoc network. Optionally, the images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and/or may be stored on a programmable storage medium.

Claims

1. A method for creating topologies for a virtual mobile network comprising:

generating at least two nodes representing transmitters and/or receivers in the network;

each of said at least two nodes having parameters including a location, a receiving range if the node is capable of receiving; and

a transmission range if the node is capable of transmitting;

determining the distance between the nodes based upon the locations of each node;

generating a bidirectional link for connection between two nodes when the distance between the nodes is within the transmission and receiving ranges of both nodes;

generating a unidirectional link for connection between the nodes when the distance between the nodes is only within the transmission range of a first node and the receiving range of a second node but when there is no capability to communicate from the second node to the first;

storing the specifications of the topology of the network in memory;

generating at least a second topology by changing the transmitting ranges, receiving ranges, number of nodes and/or locations of the nodes within the network;

repeating the steps of generating bidirectional and unidirectional links for the at least one new topology;

storing the at least one new topology in memory;

whereby the stored topologies are adapted to be inputted into a system capable of emulating a mobile ad-hoc network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating at least two nodes comprises inputting an existing network topology comprising at least two nodes and at least one link.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising changing an existing topology by changing the

(a) locations of the nodes,

(b) transmission and or receiving capabilities of the nodes,

(c) speed and/or direction of travel of the nodes, and/or

(d) the number of nodes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating at least two nodes comprises arbitrarily selecting the number of nodes, the locations of the nodes and the links.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating at least two nodes comprises creating a node on the display by moving a computer cursor to a desired location on the display and activating the program to create a node at the location of the cursor.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating a bidirectional link comprises selecting a bidirectional link icon using a computer cursor and activating the program to create a bidirectional link on the display.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating a unidirectional link comprises selecting a unidirectional link icon using a computer cursor and activating the program to create a unidirectional link on the display.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating a bidirectional link comprises moving a computer cursor to a node and dragging the cursor to another node and then activating the computer program to create a bidirectional link between the two nodes.

9. A method for creating topologies for a mobile network comprising:

generating at least two nodes representing transmitters and/or receivers in the network;

each of said at least two nodes having parameters including a location, and whether or not the node is capable of receiving or transmitting;

generating a bidirectional link for connection between two nodes when both nodes are capable of receiving and transmitting;

generating a unidirectional link for connection between first and second nodes when there exists the capability for the first node to transmit and the second node to receive, but there is no capability to communicate from the second node to the first;

storing the topology of the network in memory;

generating at least a second topology by changing the number of nodes and/or locations of the nodes within the network;

repeating the steps of generating bidirectional and unidirectional links for the at least one new topology;

storing the at least one new topology in memory;

whereby the stored topologies are adapted to be inputted into a system capable of emulating a mobile ad-hoc network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating at least two nodes comprises arbitrarily selecting the number of nodes, the locations of the nodes and the links.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating at least two nodes comprises creating a node on the display by moving a computer cursor to a desired location on the display and activating the program to create a node at the location of the cursor.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating a bidirectional link comprises selecting a bidirectional link icon using a computer cursor and activating the program to create a bidirectional link on the display.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating a unidirectional link comprises selecting a unidirectional link icon using a computer cursor and activating the program to create a unidirectional link on the display.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein images of the nodes and links are displayed on a display and the step of generating a bidirectional link comprises moving a computer cursor to a node and dragging the cursor to another node and then activating the computer program to create a bidirectional link between the two nodes.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said nodes represent moving vehicles traveling along routes and the topology is dynamic as it changes to represent the moving vehicles.

17. The program storage device of claim 14, wherein said mobile ad-hoc network from which a desired mobility-pattern is derived comprises any of a TEAlab environment and a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) emulator environment.

18. The program storage device of claim 14, wherein said graphical design of said dynamic topology comprises generating links between two node components, wherein said links represent wireless transmission and connectivity between said two node components.

19. The program storage device of claim 14, wherein said node components represent moving vehicles traveling along routes, and wherein said links comprise said the transmission capabilities between said vehicles and wherein the graphical design of said dynamic topology is manually generated by inputting instructions through a graphical user interface.

20. The program storage device of claim 14 wherein the method further comprises storing the specifications of the network topologies;

whereby the stored network topologies are adapted to be inputted into a mobile ad-hoc network emulation program, and wherein the method further comprises storing the positional data of each node;

whereby the positional data of each node is adapted to be inputted into a mobile ad-hoc network emulation program.

16. A program storage device readable by computer comprising a program of instructions executable by said computer to perform a method of visually designing a desired topology of a mobile ad-hoc network from which a desired mobility-pattern is derived, said method comprising:

graphically designing a dynamic topology of said ad-hoc network comprising node components, wherein the graphical design of said dynamic topology comprises producing iconographic animation that is generated and displayed on a graphical user input (GUI) display upon creation, wherein said node components comprise positional data;

generating concurrent mobility-pattern data corresponding to the designed dynamic topology; and

manipulating said mobility-pattern data using said iconographic animation by interacting directly with said GUI display.

21. A method for creating topologies for a virtual mobile network comprising:

inputting location information for at least two nodes representing transmitters and/or receivers in the network;

each of said at least two nodes having parameters including a location, a receiving range if the node is capable of receiving; and

a transmission range if the node is capable of transmitting;

determining the distance between the nodes based upon the locations of each node;

generating a bidirectional link for connection between two nodes when the distance between the nodes is within the transmission and receiving ranges of both nodes;

generating a unidirectional link for connection between the nodes when the distance between the nodes is only within the transmission range of a first node and the receiving range of a second node but when there is no capability to communicate from the second node to the first;

storing the topology of the network in memory.