Data Relay for a Controller

• US 20110119773A1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hunter Industries Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Hunter Industries Incorporated
• Inventors: Woytowitz, Peter J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,275,309 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15 Active relay systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0282 Provision for current-mode coupling

Abstract

An irrigation system includes an irrigation controller, at least one environmental sensor and a vandal resistant data relay. The irrigation controller includes a two conductor hard wired communications link for accepting an actual value of at least one parameter of interest from an environmental sensor in the form of data encoded on the conductors via current modulation. The environmental sensor is mounted in a location remote from the irrigation controller. A circuit is connected to the environmental sensor for transmitting an RF signal representing an actual value of a parameter of interest detected by the environmental sensor. The vandal resistant data relay is connected to the two conductor hard wired communication link of the irrigation controller. The vandal resistant data relay includes a receiver that receives the RF signal, and circuitry configured to extract the actual value of the parameter of interest and emulate a predetermined set of physical and protocol properties of the two conductor hard wired communication link of the irrigation controller.

Claims

1. A data relay, comprising:

an RF receiver configured to receive an RF signal transmitted from a remote location representing data from a sensor;

a demodulator that retrieves a base band data signal from the received RF signal;

a microcontroller that receives the base band data signal and determines an actual value of at least one parameter of interest; and

a current modulator controlled by the microcontroller that transmits the actual value on a pair of conductors by emulating a predetermined set of physical and protocol properties of a predetermined two conductor hard wired communication link of a controller.

2. The data relay of claim 1 and further comprising a housing enclosing the receiver, demodulator, microcontroller and current modulator, and antenna connected to the receiver.

3. The data relay of claim 2 wherein the housing includes a threaded hollow cylindrical stub for screwing into a knock out in a metal box housing the controller or into an electrical conduit, the stub having a hollow bore for routing a pair of wires that form a part of the two conductor hard wired communication link of the controller.

4. The data relay of claim 1 wherein the receiver includes a low noise amplifier (LNA), phase locked loop (PPL), local oscillator (LO), and mixer circuitry.

5. The data relay of claim 2 wherein the antenna extends from the housing and a protective jacket surrounds the antenna.

6. An irrigation system, comprising:

an irrigation controller including a two conductor hard wired communications link for accepting an actual value of at least one parameter of interest from an environmental sensor in the form of data encoded on the conductors via current modulation;

at least one environmental sensor mounted in a location remote from the irrigation controller;

a circuit connected to the environmental sensor for transmitting an RF signal representing an actual value of a parameter of interest detected by the environmental sensor; and

a vandal resistant data relay connected to the two conductor hard wired communication link of the irrigation controller and including a receiver that receives the RF signal, and circuitry configured to extract the actual value of the parameter of interest and emulate a predetermined set of physical and protocol properties of the two conductor hard wired communication link of the irrigation controller.

7. The irrigation system of claim 6 and further comprising a housing enclosing the data relay and an antenna connected to the receiver.

8. The irrigation system of claim 7 wherein the housing includes a threaded hollow cylindrical stub for screwing into a knock out in the metal box housing the irrigation controller.

9. The irrigation system of claim 6 wherein the receiver includes a low noise amplifier (LNA), phase locked loop (PPL), local oscillator (LO), and mixer circuitry.

10. The data irrigation system of claim 7 wherein the antenna extends from the housing and a protective jacket surrounds the antenna.

11. A vandal resistant data relay, comprising:

a receiver that receives an RF signal encoded with at least one environmental parameter of interest;

circuitry that extracts an actual value of the parameter of interest from the RF signal and emulates a predetermined set of physical and protocol properties of a two conductor hard wired communication link of an irrigation controller;

a housing that encloses the receiver and the extraction and emulation circuitry and includes a threaded hollow cylindrical stub for screwing into a knock out in a metal box housing the irrigation controller or into an electrical conduit, the stub having a hollow bore for routing a pair of wires that form a part of the two conductor hard wired communication link of the controller; and

an antenna connected to the receiver.

12. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 11 wherein in the receiver includes a low noise amplifier (LNA), phase locked loop (PPL), local oscillator (LO), and mixer circuitry.

13. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 11 wherein the extraction and emulation circuitry includes a demodulator that retrieves a base band data signal from the received RF signals.

14. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 13 wherein the extraction and emulation circuitry further includes a microcontroller that receives the base band data signal and determines an actual value of at least one parameter of interest.

15. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 14 wherein the extraction and emulation circuitry further includes a current modulator controlled by the microcontroller that transmits the actual value on a pair of conductors by emulating the predetermined set of physical and protocol properties of the two conductor hard wired communication link of the irrigation controller.

16. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 11 wherein the antenna extends from the housing and a protective jacket surrounds the antenna.

17. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 11 and further comprising a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter coupled between the antenna and the receiver.

18. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 12 wherein the mixer circuitry mixes a signal from the LO with an amplified version of the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) signal.

19. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 18 and further comprising a filter that filters the IF signal.

20. The vandal resistant data relay of claim 11 and further comprising a voltage regulator which generates a power signal for the microcontroller from an unregulated voltage on the two conductor hard wired communication link.