CHANNEL MANAGEMENT IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20170195919A1
• Filed: 01/04/2016
• Published: 07/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Simmonds Precision Products, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Simmonds Precision Products, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Rittenhouse, Garret E., Wieman, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 9,838,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• 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 28/082 among bearers or channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

A channel management method includes determining utilization of a primary wireless channel, determining utilization of one or more secondary wireless channels, and comparing utilization of the primary wireless channel with utilization of the each of the one or more secondary wireless channels. If utilization of a secondary wireless channel of the one or more secondary wireless channels is lower than the utilization of the primary channel, data communication between a data concentrator and a remote wireless node is routed from the primary channel to the secondary channel.

Claims

1. A channel management method, comprising:

determining utilization of a primary wireless channel;

determining utilization of a secondary wireless channel;

comparing utilization of the primary wireless channel with utilization of the secondary wireless channel; and

routing wireless data communication between a remote data concentrator and a wireless node from the primary wireless channel to the secondary wireless channel if the utilization of the secondary wireless channel is lower than the utilization of the primary wireless channel.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining utilization of the primary wireless channel comprises determining a volume of data communication over the primary wireless channel using a transceiver transmitting and receiving over the primary wireless channel.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining utilization of the secondary wireless channel comprises determining a volume of data communication over the secondary wireless channel using a transceiver receiving only over the secondary wireless channel.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further including:

designating the secondary wireless channel a new primary wireless channel; and

designating the primary wireless channel a new secondary wireless channel.

5. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein designating the secondary wireless channel a new primary wireless channel includes switching a transceiver monitoring the secondary wireless channel into an active mode, wherein the transceiver transmits and receives data communication over the new primary wireless channel.

6. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein designating the primary wireless channel a new secondary wireless channel includes switching a transceiver transmitting and receiving data communication over the primary wireless channel into a passive mode, wherein the transceiver receives data communication over the new secondary wireless channel only.

7. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein designating the secondary wireless channel a new primary wireless channel is done asynchronously with designating the primary wireless channel a new secondary wireless channel.

8. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein designating the primary wireless channel a new secondary wireless channel occurs after a predetermined time interval tolls following designating the secondary wireless channel a new primary wireless channel.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further including:

designating the primary wireless channel a new secondary wireless channel;

monitoring the secondary wireless channel for wireless nodes attempting to communicate with the data concentrator for a predetermined time interval; and

directing wireless nodes to a new primary wireless channel during time interval.

10. A data concentrator for a wireless network, comprising:

a first transceiver;

a second transceiver configured for operation independent of the first transceiver; and

a control module operatively connected to the first transceiver and the second transceiver, wherein the control module is responsive to machine readable instructions to;

determine utilization of a primary wireless channel,

determine utilization of a secondary wireless channel,

compare utilization of the primary wireless channel with utilization of the secondary wireless channel, and

route wireless data communication between a data concentrator and a remote node from the primary wireless channel using the first transceiver to the secondary wireless channel using the second transceiver if the utilization of the secondary wireless channel is lower than the utilization of the primary wireless channel.

11. A data concentrator as recited in claim 10, wherein machine readable instructions further cause the control module to:

designate the secondary wireless channel a new primary wireless channel; and

switch the second transceiver from a passive mode to an active mode,

wherein the second transceiver transmits and receives data communication over the new primary wireless channel.

12. A data concentrator as recited in claim 10, wherein machine readable instructions further cause the control module to:

designate the primary wireless channel a new secondary wireless channel; and

switch the first transceiver from an active mode to a passive mode,

wherein the first transceiver receives data communication over the new secondary wireless channel subsequent to switching into the passive mode.

13. A data concentrator as recited in claim 12, wherein the machine readable instructions cause the control module to switch the first transceiver from an active mode to a passive asynchronously with the control module switching the second transceiver from the passive mode to the active mode.

14. A data concentrator as recited in claim 10, wherein the first transceiver is identical to the second transceiver.

15. A data concentrator as recited in claim 10, wherein the data concentrator is a remote data concentrator for an aircraft wireless data network.