Predictive route maintenance in a mobile ad hoc network

• US 7,453,864 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2003
• Issued: 11/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stingray IP Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kennedy, Robert A., Cain, Joseph Bibb
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Choi, Eunsook
• Application Number:
  US10/426,731
• Publication Number:
  US 20040218582A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,029 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/235, 370/238, 370/251, 370/252, 370/254, 370/255, 370/328, 370/338, 370/351, 370/352, 370/400
• US Class Current: 370/351
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1685 the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/44 Distributed routing
• 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: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/06 based on characteristics of available antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/08 based on transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/10 based on available power or energy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/18 based on predicted events
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/28 for reactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/30 for proactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The mobile ad hoc network includes a plurality of wireless mobile nodes and a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the nodes together. A method for operating the network includes discovering and using routes in the network, predicting route failure in the network, and performing route maintenance in the network based upon the predicted route failure.

Claims

1. A method for operating a mobile ad hoc network comprising a plurality of mobile nodes and a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the mobile nodes together, the method comprising:

discovering and using routes in the network, a route comprising a set of wireless communication links and mobile nodes from a source to a destination;

predicting route failure in the network by generating route failure metrics including link failure metrics and node failure metrics for each route; and

performing route maintenance in the network based upon the predicted route failure.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein generating link failure metrics and node failure metrics comprises estimating at least one of node mobility and radio frequency (RF) propagation characteristics.

3. A method according to claim 1 further comprising broadcasting route failure metrics to other nodes in the network.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein predicting route failure further includes determining a mean time to failure (MTF) for a route from a source to a destination based upon the route failure metrics.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein performing route maintenance comprises discovering alternative routes to replace routes predicted to fail.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein discovering alternative routes comprises discovering a plurality of alternative routes for each route predicted to fail.

7. A method according to claim 5 wherein discovering alternative routes comprises predicting and storing available routes for each route predicted to fail.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein performing route maintenance comprises increasing transmission power on a link to reduce route failure.

9. A method according to claim 1 wherein performing route maintenance comprises allocating additional channels on a link to reduce route failure.

10. A method according to claim 1 wherein discovering and using routes in the network includes storing routes in a route cache;

and wherein performing route maintenance comprises determining whether alternate routes are stored in the route cache to replace routes predicted to fail.

11. A method for operating a mobile ad hoc network comprising a plurality of mobile nodes and a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the mobile nodes together, the method comprising:

predicting future-needed routes in the network, a route comprising a set of wireless communication links and mobile nodes from a source to a destination;

discovering routes, including at least one of partial routes and complete routes, based upon the predicted need for future communications;

storing the discovered routes;

predicting route failure in the network for stored routes by generating route failure metrics including link failure metrics and node failure metrics for each route; and

performing route maintenance in the network based upon the predicted route failure.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein generating link failure metrics and node failure metrics comprises estimating at least one of node mobility and radio frequency (RF) propagation characteristics.

13. A method according to claim 11 further comprising broadcasting route failure metrics to other nodes in the network.

14. A method according to claim 11 wherein predicting route failure further includes determining a mean time to failure (MTF) for a route from a source to a destination based upon the route failure metrics.

15. A method according to claim 11 wherein performing route maintenance comprises discovering alternative routes to replace routes predicted to fail.

16. A method according to claim 15 wherein discovering alternative routes comprises discovering a plurality of alternative routes for each route predicted to fail.

17. A method according to claim 15 wherein discovering alternative routes comprises predicting and storing available routes for each route predicted to fail.

18. A method according to claim 11 wherein performing route maintenance comprises increasing transmission power on a link to reduce route failure.

19. A method according to claim 11 wherein performing route maintenance comprises allocating additional channels on a link to reduce route failure.

20. A method according to claim 11 wherein performing route maintenance comprises determining whether alternate routes are stored to replace routes predicted to fail.

21. A mobile ad hoc network comprising:

a plurality of mobile nodes;

a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the mobile nodes together;

each mobile node comprising

a communications device to wirelessly communicate with other nodes of the plurality of nodes via the wireless communication links, and

a controller to route communications via the communications device, and comprising

a route cache to define partial and complete routes in the network, a route comprising a sat of wireless communication links and mobile nodes from a source node to a destination node,

a route discovery module to discover routes, including at least one of partial and complete routes, and to update the route cache,

a route failure predictor to predict failure of routes defined in the route cache by generating route failure metrics including link failure metrics and node failure metrics for each route, and

a route maintenance module to perform route maintenance in the network based upon predicted route failure.

22. The network according to claim 21 wherein the route failure predictor estimates at least one of node mobility and radio frequency (RF) propagation characteristics to generate the route failure metrics.

23. The network according to claim 21 wherein the route failure predictor determines a mean time to failure (MTF) for a route from a source to a destination based upon the route failure metrics.

24. The network according to claim 21 wherein the route maintenance module directs the route discovery module to discover alternative routes to replace routes predicted to fail.

25. The network according to claim 21 wherein the route maintenance module increases transmission power on a link to reduce route failure.

26. The network according to claim 21 wherein the route maintenance module allocates additional channels on a link to reduce route failure.

27. The network according to claim 21 wherein the route maintenance module determines whether alternate routes are defined in the route cache to replace routes predicted to fail.

28. A wireless mobile node for use in a mobile ad hoc network comprising a plurality of mobile nodes, and a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the mobile nodes together, the wireless mobile node comprising:

a communications device to wirelessly communicate with other nodes of the plurality of nodes via the wireless communication links; and

a controller to route communications via the communications device, and comprising

a route cache to define partial and complete routes in the network, a route comprising a set of wireless communication links and mobile nodes from a source node to a destination node,

a route discovery module to discover routes, including at least one of partial and complete routes, and to update the route cache,

a route failure predictor to predict failure of routes defined in the route cache by generating route failure metrics including link failure metrics and node failure metrics for each route, and

a route maintenance module to perform route maintenance in the network based upon predicted route failure.

29. The wireless mobile node according to claim 28 wherein the route failure predictor estimates at least one of node mobility and radio frequency (RF) propagation characteristics to generate the route failure metrics.

30. The wireless mobile node according to claim 28 wherein the route failure predictor determines a mean time to failure (MTF) for a route from a source to a destination based upon the route failure metrics.

31. The wireless mobile node according to claim 28 wherein the route maintenance module directs the route discovery module to discover alternative routes to replace routes predicted to fail.

32. The wireless mobile node according to claim 28 wherein the route maintenance module increases transmission power on a link to reduce route failure.

33. The wireless mobile node according to claim 28 wherein the route maintenance module allocates additional channels on a link to reduce route failure.

34. The wireless mobile node according to claim 28 wherein the route maintenance module determines whether alternate routes are defined in the route cache to replace routes predicted to fail.