Adaptive scheduling in a wireless network
First Claim
1. A method of adaptively scheduling communications in a wireless mesh network including a plurality of network nodes in a process control environment, the method comprising:
- generating, by a centralized network manager, a network routing scheme based on a topology of the wireless mesh network;
generating, by the centralized network manager, a communication schedule for each node included in the wireless mesh network, including;
defining a communication timeslot of a predefined duration; and
defining a plurality of superframes as repeating cycles of different consecutively scheduled numbers of the communication timeslot;
automatically updating, by the centralized network manager, the communication schedule in response to detecting a changed transmission requirement of one of the plurality of network nodes, wherein the changed transmission requirement is not associated with the one of the plurality of network nodes joining the network, by defining a new superframe as a repeating cycle of a multiplicity of consecutively scheduled communication timeslots, the new superframe made up of a particular consecutively scheduled number of the communication timeslots, the particular consecutively scheduled number being based on the changed transmission requirement of the one of the plurality of network nodes, and updating the communication schedule using the new superframe to perform communications to or from the one of the plurality of network nodes,wherein the changed transmission requirement corresponds to a change in an update rate of a particular node included in the plurality of network nodes, the update rate corresponding to a rate of publishing of process control data generated by the particular network node and corresponding to a process control function in the process control environment.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of adaptively scheduling communications in a wireless mesh network including a plurality of network nodes includes generating a network routing scheme based on a topology of the wireless mesh network, generating a communication schedule for the wireless mesh network, and automatically updating the communication schedule in response to detecting a change in a transmission requirement of at least one of the plurality of network nodes. The act of generating a communication schedule includes defining a communication timeslot of a predefined duration and defining a plurality of superframes as repeating cycles of a certain number of consecutively scheduled communication timeslots.
173 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A method of adaptively scheduling communications in a wireless mesh network including a plurality of network nodes in a process control environment, the method comprising:
-
generating, by a centralized network manager, a network routing scheme based on a topology of the wireless mesh network; generating, by the centralized network manager, a communication schedule for each node included in the wireless mesh network, including; defining a communication timeslot of a predefined duration; and defining a plurality of superframes as repeating cycles of different consecutively scheduled numbers of the communication timeslot; automatically updating, by the centralized network manager, the communication schedule in response to detecting a changed transmission requirement of one of the plurality of network nodes, wherein the changed transmission requirement is not associated with the one of the plurality of network nodes joining the network, by defining a new superframe as a repeating cycle of a multiplicity of consecutively scheduled communication timeslots, the new superframe made up of a particular consecutively scheduled number of the communication timeslots, the particular consecutively scheduled number being based on the changed transmission requirement of the one of the plurality of network nodes, and updating the communication schedule using the new superframe to perform communications to or from the one of the plurality of network nodes, wherein the changed transmission requirement corresponds to a change in an update rate of a particular node included in the plurality of network nodes, the update rate corresponding to a rate of publishing of process control data generated by the particular network node and corresponding to a process control function in the process control environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method of adaptively scheduling communications in a wireless mesh network including a plurality of network nodes, wherein at least some of the plurality of network nodes are field devices operating in a process control environment;
- the method comprising;
generating, by a centralized network manager, a communication schedule for each network node of the plurality of network nodes included in the wireless mesh network, including; defining a communication timeslot of a predefined duration; defining a plurality of superframes as repeating cycles of different consecutively scheduled numbers of the communication timeslot; and associating each of the field devices with at least one of the plurality of superframes, including selecting the at least one of the plurality of superframes based on a rate of scheduled publishing of process data generated by the field device and corresponding to a process control function in the process control environment; automatically updating, by the centralized network manager, the communication schedule in response to detecting a change in performance of the wireless mesh network without restarting the wireless mesh network. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- the method comprising;
-
16. A method of optimizing a transfer of data in a wireless communication network operating in a process control environment and including a plurality of wireless network devices, the method comprising:
-
generating, by a centralized network manager, a routing scheme including a plurality of directed routing graphs, each graph connecting two of the plurality of wireless network devices and having a source node and a destination node, including; defining a plurality of direct wireless connections between pairs of the plurality of wireless network devices; and associating each of the plurality of directed routing graphs with one or more direct wireless connections; generating, by the centralized network manager, a communication schedule for the wireless mesh network, including; defining a communication timeslot of a predefined duration; defining a plurality of superframes as repeating cycles different consecutively scheduled numbers of the communication timeslot; and associating each device of the plurality of wireless network devices with at least one of the plurality of superframes, including selecting the at least one of the plurality of superframes based on rate of scheduled publishing of process data generated by the each device and corresponding to a process control function in the process control environment; and optimizing, by the centralized network manager, the routing scheme and the communication schedule during an operation of the wireless network by monitoring at least a health of each of the plurality of direct wireless connections. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method of adaptively scheduling communications in a wireless mesh network including a plurality of network nodes in a process control environment, the method comprising:
-
generating, by a centralized network manager, a network routing scheme based on a topology of the wireless mesh network; generating, by the centralized network manager, a communication schedule for the wireless mesh network, including; defining a communication timeslot of a predefined duration; and defining a plurality of superframes as repeating cycles of different consecutively scheduled numbers of the communication timeslot; deactivating, by the centralized network manager, one of the plurality of superframes in response to a network condition, wherein the one of the plurality of superframes remains associated with the communication schedule while deactivated, and wherein none of the plurality of network nodes transmits or receives data in the one of the plurality of superframes while the one of the plurality of superframes is deactivated. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
Specification