Communications network having adaptive network link optimization using wireless terrain awareness and method for use therein
First Claim
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1. A communications network, comprising:
- a plurality of wireless communications nodes dispersed geographically within a first region, each of said plurality of said wireless communications nodes including a geolocation device configured to determine a current location;
a node location table operative to store said current location of each of said plurality of wireless communications nodes;
a terrain awareness table operative to store terrain information for said first region, said terrain information including elevation information of surface points within said first region;
a path selection unit configured to select a substantially optimal communications path through said plurality of wireless communications nodes, said substantially optimal communications path selected by said path selection unit based at least in part on said terrain information and said current location of each of said plurality of wireless communication nodes.
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Abstract
A communications network (10) having a plurality of wireless nodes (12-28) distributed within a region of interest makes routing decisions based on terrain information for the region of interest. A link quality determination unit (54) determines the quality of individual node-to-node links within the network (10), based on the location of the nodes (12-28) and the terrain about the nodes (12-28). A path selection unit 58 then determines an optimal path through the network 10 based on the link quality information. In one embodiment, communications corridors (102) are defined as preferred subpaths within a network for use in connecting remote nodes.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A communications network, comprising:
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a plurality of wireless communications nodes dispersed geographically within a first region, each of said plurality of said wireless communications nodes including a geolocation device configured to determine a current location; a node location table operative to store said current location of each of said plurality of wireless communications nodes; a terrain awareness table operative to store terrain information for said first region, said terrain information including elevation information of surface points within said first region; a path selection unit configured to select a substantially optimal communications path through said plurality of wireless communications nodes, said substantially optimal communications path selected by said path selection unit based at least in part on said terrain information and said current location of each of said plurality of wireless communication nodes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 32, 33)
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26. A wireless communications node for use in a communications network having a plurality of wireless communications nodes arranged within a first geographic region, at least some of said plurality of wireless communications nodes being mobile, said wireless communications node comprising:
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a wireless transceiver for communicating with at least one other of the plurality of wireless communications nodes; a geolocation device for determining a current location of said wireless communications node; a terrain awareness table for use in collecting terrain information for said first geographic region, said terrain information including at least elevation information for surface points within said first geographic region; a node location table for use in collecting current location information for nodes in said plurality of wireless communications nodes; and a communications corridor determination unit (CCDU) for use in establishing at least one communications corridor within said first geographic region based on said terrain information and said current location information, said at least one communications corridor including a subset of the plurality of wireless communications nodes and representing a preferred subpath through the network for use in providing a communications connection between nodes in the network. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 36)
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37. In a communications network having a plurality of wireless communications nodes arranged within a first geographic region, at least some of said plurality of wireless communications nodes being mobile, a method for determining an optimal communications path between a first wireless communications node and a second wireless communications node in said plurality of wireless communications nodes, said method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining terrain information for said first geographic region, said terrain information including at least elevation information for surface points within said first geographic region; acquiring location information for each of said plurality of wireless communications nodes; calculating pathloss information for selected pairs of wireless communications nodes in said plurality of wireless communications nodes using said terrain information and said location information, said pathloss information relating to an expected attenuation for a signal propagating between first and second nodes in each selected pair; defining a plurality of communications corridors in said first geographic region based on said pathloss information, wherein each of said plurality of communications corridors includes a subset of said plurality of wireless communications nodes; and selecting at least one of said plurality of communications corridors to provide the optimal communications path between the first wireless communications node and the second wireless communications node. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification