Method and Apparatus for Reliable Communications in Underground and Hazardous Areas

• US 20120011365A1
• Filed: 03/20/2009
• Published: 01/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innovative Wireless Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Innovative Wireless Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Schmidt, Paul E., Koleszar, Luke, Silvertrim, James Edward
• Granted Patent: US 8,885,559 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 21/00 Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A method and apparatus for reliable wireless voice, data and location communication for deployment in underground, industrial and other hazardous environments using a wireless mesh network. The network includes protocol for dispatch operation, emergency operation, remote supervision, remote status, asset control, machine state of health and operational management. The architecture is based on localized clusters of autonomous nodes capable of ad hoc interconnection with nearby nodes and connection to gateway nodes. The resulting network is an ad hoc mesh topology comprised of fixed mesh nodes with approximately 50% coverage overlap between nodes. This provides a reliable communication network for mobile nodes carried by personnel and sensor nodes that are fixed or mobile that supports voice, data and tracking/situation awareness. Each cluster of nodes transfers digital voice and data to gateway nodes either directly or through multi-hop transactions.

Claims

1. An automatically self-configuring, scalable RF wireless data and voice communications system having multi-waveform nodes organized within at least one ad hoc wireless mesh network (WMN) comprising:

at least one operations center for each WMN incorporating a wide area network and network management and communication capabilities;

at least one gateway node operationally connected to said at least one operations center;

a plurality of wireless fixed mesh nodes operationally connected to said gateway node and to each other;

at least one mobile mesh radio carried by personnel operationally connected to at least one of said plurality of fixed mesh nodes; and

at least one wireless sensor mesh node operationally connected to at least one of said plurality of fixed mesh nodes.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said operations center is located remotely from the remaining elements of the system which are located in an underground or hazardous area having multiple pathways.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said fixed mesh nodes are located in multiple pathways so as to provide redundant RF signal coverage of approximately 50% of said nodes.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a wired backbone head end operationally connected to said at least one gateway node; and

a wired backbone connected to said wired backbone head end.

5. The system of claim 4 further optionally comprising a wired system for enabling said fixed mesh nodes to connect with said wired backbone.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said wired system is a leaky feeder system or a fiber optic system.

7. The system of claim 2 wherein at least one said gateway node is located remotely from the hazardous area.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said operations center enables communications with personnel carrying said mobile mesh radios, provides voice dispatch, displays information about the network and locations of said mobile mesh radios.

9. The system of claim 5 wherein said wired backbone is implemented as a radiating coaxial cable with multiple amplifiers placed periodically along its length.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one sensor mesh node is continuously charged during system operation and include a backup battery.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein each said mobile mesh radio is battery-powered.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein each at least one gateway node is powered by an AC power source and may optionally include battery backup power.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said fixed mesh nodes and each of said at least one gateway nodes has multiple mesh radio channels.

14. The system of claim 2 wherein said at least one gateway node is located at each entry point to the underground or hazardous area.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein each said at least one wireless gateway node is capable of dynamically reconfiguring network communications.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said at least one operations center incorporates local servers providing at least one management function selected from the group consisting of providing DHCP for IP address assignment, providing SNMP for device control and security through an EKMS, regulating network bandwidth and optimizing communications traffic within the system.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said fixed mesh nodes is capable of coordinating individual piconets and of routing data to at least one of said at least one gateway nodes with one of the at least one wireless mesh networks.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said fixed mesh nodes, each of said at least one gateway nodes and each of said sensor mesh nodes is capable of operating from any one of an AC, DC or battery power source.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said at least one gateway nodes may be either situated at a fixed location or be mobile.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said at least one sensor mesh nodes collects data from one or more sensors concerning one or more selected from the group consisting of temperature, pressure, gas, humidity, wind speed, voltage, current, lighting, chemical, biological, radiological, explosive, acoustic, magnetic, seismic, biometric, personnel state, personnel health monitoring, machine state, machine health monitoring and imaging and transmits that data to the at least one wireless mesh network.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said at least one sensor mesh node is capable of communicating with any one or more of said fixed mesh nodes, said at least one gateway node or said at least one mobile mesh radio.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said at least one mobile mesh radios is capable of communicating with any one or more of said at least one operations center and/or other personnel equipped with one of said mobile mesh radios.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said mobile mesh radios converts digital data received over an RF link to local analog voice output and local analog voice input to digital data output for transmission over an RF link.

24. The system of claim 2 further comprising information means for visually displaying information entrance and egress instructions to personnel located in the underground or hazardous area.

25. The system of claim 1 wherein all waveforms are downloadable both locally and via RF transmission and wherein further all such waveforms are authenticated and stored in non-volatile memory upon the successful completion of which confirmation is provided to an operator.

26. A gateway wireless node for use in an automatically self-configuring, scalable RF wireless data and voice communications system having multi-waveform nodes organized within at least one ad hoc wireless mesh network (WMN) and operationally interfaced with at least one wide area network and a wired backbone head end comprising:

a first general purpose digital processor;

a first location engine operationally connected to said first general purpose processor;

at least one first mesh radio transceiver operationally connected to said first general purpose processor;

a power source connected to said first general purpose digital processor;

an interface to the wide area network; and

Ethernet management means for managing packet transmission between said first general purpose digital processor and said interface.

27. The node of claim 26 wherein each said first mesh radio transceiver further comprises:

a transmitter;

a receiver operationally connected to said transmitter; and

an RF switch and antenna connection operationally connected to said transmitter and to said receiver.

28. The node of claim 26 further comprising an optional at least one first leaky feeder radio transceiver operationally connected to said first general purpose processor and to the wired backbone headend.

29. The node of claim 28 wherein each said first leaky feeder radio transceiver

further

comprises:

a transmitter;

a receiver operationally connected to said transmitter;

an RF switch and antenna connection operationally connected to said transmitter and to said receiver; and

an RF cable connection to the wired backbone head end.

30. The node of claim 26 wherein said power source further comprises:

a trickle charger having power management capability and connected to said first general purpose digital processor;

a wired power interface connected at its input to a DC power source and at its output to said trickle charger; and

a backup battery connected to said trickle charger.

31. The node of claim 26 wherein said interface further comprises at least one of:

a wired interface;

a fiber interface;

or

a wireless interface.

32. The node of claim 26 wherein the node is interfaced with at least two or more wide area networks for redundant operation and to increase reliability.

33. The node of claim 26 wherein the node is capable of simultaneous operation on the wide area network and the wireless mesh without degradation of the performance of any operating waveform and further simultaneously supports both a primary and a secondary wide area network waveform switching between the primary and secondary waveform as needed.

34. A fixed mesh node for use in an automatically self-configuring, scalable RF wireless data and voice communications system having multi-waveform nodes organized within at least one ad hoc wireless mesh network (WMN) and operationally interfaced with at least one gateway node comprising:

a second general purpose digital processor;

a second location engine operationally connected to said second general purpose processor;

at least one second mesh radio transceiver operationally connected to said second general purpose processor; and

a power source connected to said first general purpose digital processor.

35. The node of claim 34 wherein each said second mesh radio transceiver further comprises:

a transmitter;

a receiver operationally connected to said transmitter; and

an RF switch and antenna connection operationally connected to said transmitter and to said receiver.

36. The node of claim 34 further comprising an optional at least one second leaky feeder radio transceiver operationally connected to said second general purpose processor and to a wired backbone.

37. The node of claim 36 wherein each said second leaky feeder radio transceiver further comprises:

a transmitter;

a receiver operationally connected to said transmitter; and

an RF switch and antenna connection operationally connected to said transmitter, said receiver and said wired backbone.

38. The node of claim 34 wherein said power source further comprises:

a trickle charger having power management capability and connected to said first general purpose digital processor;

a wired power interface connected at its input to a DC power source and at its output to said trickle charger; and

a backup battery connected to said trickle charger.

39. A battery-powered mobile mesh radio for use in an automatically self-configuring,

scalable RF wireless data and voice communications system having multi-waveform nodes organized within at least one ad hoc wireless mesh network (WMN) and operationally interfaced with at least one wide area network comprising:

a third general purpose digital processor;

at least one third mesh radio transceiver operationally connected to said third general purpose digital processor;

an RF preselect filter operationally connected to said third mesh radio transceiver;

an audio processor operationally connected to said third general purpose digital processor;

a microphone operationally connected to said audio processor;

an amplifier operationally connected to said audio processor;

a speaker operationally connected to said amplifier;

a display device operationally connected to said third general purpose digital processor; and

a keyboard operationally connected to said third general purpose digital processor.

40. The mobile mesh radio of claim 39 wherein each said third mesh radio transceiver further comprises:

a transmitter;

a receiver operationally connected to said transmitter; and

an RF switch and antenna connection operationally connected to said transmitter and to said receiver.

41. A sensor mesh node for use in an automatically self-configuring, scalable RF wireless data and voice communications system having multi-waveform nodes organized within at least one ad hoc wireless mesh network (WMN) and operationally interfaced with at least one wide area network comprising:

a fourth general purpose digital processor;

a fourth mesh radio transceiver operationally connected to said fourth general purpose digital processor;

an RF preselect filter operationally connected to said third mesh radio transceiver; and

a power source connected to said fourth general purpose digital processor.

42. The node of claim 41 wherein each said fourth mesh radio transceiver further comprises:

a transmitter;

a receiver operationally connected to said transmitter; and

an RF switch and antenna connection operationally connected to said transmitter and to said receiver.

43. The node of claim 41 wherein said power source further comprises:

a trickle charger having power management capability and connected to said first general purpose digital processor;

a wired power interface connected at its input to a DC power source and at its output to said trickle charger; and

a backup battery connected to said trickle charger.

44. A method for managing a scalable communications system having multi-waveform nodes within at least one wireless mesh network (WMN) incorporating at least one fixed gateway node and a plurality of stationary and mobile nodes, all having an initially assumed uniform traffic pattern wherein all of the nodes communicate through RF links over a known RF spectrum and the combination of waveforms and features supported by the system are known comprising:

configuring each of the nodes to provide the combination of waveforms and features supported by the system;

determining the signal strength of the RF link and the traffic profile at the proposed locations of the at least one gateway node and at each of the plurality of stationary nodes;

optimizing first the location of each of the at least one gateway node and each of the plurality of stationary nodes by maximizing the signal strength of the RF link and the assumed traffic pattern for each such node;

optimizing second the location of each of the mobile nodes based on a geolocation algorithm;

after operation commences, supervising the functioning of each WMN to ensure both reliable operation of nodes located therein and to identify traffic pattern congestion within each WMN; and

reconfiguring any WMN in which either congestion is found or unreliable nodes are identified.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein reconfiguring is accomplished using a specified combination of identified waveforms.

46. The method of claim 45 wherein reconfiguring occurs using one or more selected from the group consisting of changing a channel waveform, changing channel operating parameters, turning a channel on/off without affecting the operation of other waveforms, over-the-air reprogramming and/or rekeying, changing the location of stationary nodes and/or gateway nodes and/or node RF link connections, changing one or more node waveforms and/or a node RF spectrum, and modifying power levels to minimize interference with other nodes.

47. The method of claim 44 wherein SNMP is used for record-keeping, fault reporting, diagnostics, application downloads, configuring and reconfiguring.

48. The method of claim 44 wherein Internet security standards are provided for authorization, authentication, encryption and key management.

49. The method of claim 48 wherein advanced encryption standard (AES) is used wherever possible.

50. The method of claim 48 wherein private key management and distribution are used for Internet security.

51. The method of claim 44 in which each WMN is managed through an Operations Center having a WMN manager, a voice dispatch station and a network manager.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein standard interfaces, such as XML, are provided in each operations center between the WMN manager and the voice dispatch station and the network manager.