Scheduling communication frames in a wireless network
First Claim
1. A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node wireless mesh network including a first network device and a second network device, the method comprising:
- defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration;
defining, by a centralized network manager, a first superframe including a first number of the communication timeslots including respective transmit segments;
defining, by the centralized network manager, a second superframe including a second number of the communication timeslots including respective transmit segments;
aligning the first superframe with the second superframe, so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe; and
associating, by the centralized network manager, the first and the second superframes with a network schedule for the multi-node wireless mesh network, the multi-node wireless mesh network operating in conjunction with a process plant,wherein;
at least one of the first network device or the second network device performs a physical control function included in a control loop corresponding to a process being controlled by the process plant,the first network device and the second network device each transmit data according to the network schedule, andthe data transmitted by the at least one of the first network device or the second network device is used to control the process.
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Abstract
A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node wireless mesh network which has a first network device and a second network device includes defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration, defining a first superframe having a repeating superframe cycle including a first number of the communication timeslots, defining a second superframe having a repeating superframe cycle including a second number of the communication timeslots, aligning the first superframe with the second superframe, so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe, and associating the first and the second superframes with a network schedule, so that the first network device and the second network device transmit data according to the network schedule.
159 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node wireless mesh network including a first network device and a second network device, the method comprising:
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defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration; defining, by a centralized network manager, a first superframe including a first number of the communication timeslots including respective transmit segments; defining, by the centralized network manager, a second superframe including a second number of the communication timeslots including respective transmit segments; aligning the first superframe with the second superframe, so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe; and associating, by the centralized network manager, the first and the second superframes with a network schedule for the multi-node wireless mesh network, the multi-node wireless mesh network operating in conjunction with a process plant, wherein; at least one of the first network device or the second network device performs a physical control function included in a control loop corresponding to a process being controlled by the process plant, the first network device and the second network device each transmit data according to the network schedule, and the data transmitted by the at least one of the first network device or the second network device is used to control the process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node mesh network including a first network device and a second network device, the method comprising:
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defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration; defining, by a centralized network manager, a first superframe including a first number of the communication timeslots including respective transmit segments, wherein the first number corresponds to a transmission rate of the first network device; defining, by the centralized network manager, a second superframe including a second number of the communication timeslots including respective transmit segments, wherein the second number of timeslots corresponds to a transmission rate of the second network device, and wherein the second number of communication timeslots is not equal to the first number of communication timeslots; aligning the first superframe with the second superframe, so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe; and associating, by the centralized network manager, the first and the second superframes with a master network schedule for the multi-node mesh network, wherein; the multi-node mesh network operates in conjunction with a process control environment, at least one of the first network device or the second network device performs a physical control function corresponding to a process being controlled by the process control environment, the first network device transmits data in at least one timeslot of the first superframe and during at least one timeslot of the second superframe according to the master network schedule, and the data is used in a control scheme to control the process. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A multi-node mesh wireless network including a plurality of network devices and operating in a process control environment, the network comprising:
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a first network device; a second network device corresponding to a physical control function included in a control loop corresponding to a process being controlled by the process control environment; a plurality of wireless connections between pairs of the plurality of network devices, including a first wireless connection between the first network device and the second network device; and a network manager storing a network schedule for use by the first network device and the second network device, the network schedule including; a first superframe including a first number of timeslots of a predefined duration including respective transmit segments, the first number of timeslots cyclically repeating to define a first plurality of frame cycles; and a second superframe including a second number of timeslots of a predefined duration including respective transmit segments, the second number of timeslots cyclically repeating to define a second plurality of frame cycles, wherein the first network device and the second network device are each assigned at least one respective timeslot in which to transmit respective data used to control the process. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A multi-node mesh wireless network adapted to dynamically schedule communications between a plurality of network devices, the network comprising:
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a first network device corresponding to a physical control function corresponding to a process being controlled by a process control environment, and the first network device associated with a first update rate corresponding to a frequency of transmitting, from the first network device, process data used in a control scheme for the process; a second network device associated with a second update rate corresponding to a frequency of transmitting data from the second network device; a plurality of wireless connections between pairs of the plurality of network devices, including a wireless connection between the first network device and the second network device; and a network manager responsible for defining and scheduling communication resources in the multi-node mesh network, the communication resources including; a plurality of communication channels; a first superframe including a first number of timeslots of a fixed predefined duration including respective transmit segments, wherein the first number of timeslots corresponds to the first update rate; and a second superframe including a second number of timeslots of a fixed predefined duration including respective transmit segments, wherein the second number of timeslots corresponds to the second update rate;
wherein the network manager associates at least one of the first number of timeslots with a first one of the plurality of communication channels and at least another one of the first number of timeslots with a second one of the plurality of communication channels.
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26. A computing device in communicative connection with a wireless mesh network including a plurality of network devices, the computing device embodied with a network manager software routine comprising computer-executable instructions including:
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a first procedure to define a plurality of concurrent overlapping superframes, wherein each of the superframes includes repeating superframe cycles defined by a fixed number of communication timeslots of a fixed time duration and including respective transmit segments, and wherein the superframe cycle for at least one of the plurality of concurrent overlapping superframes includes a different number of communication timeslots than the superframe cycle for another one of the concurrent overlapping superframes, and wherein each of the plurality of concurrent overlapping superframes is associated with one or more of the plurality of network devices; a second procedure to define a management superframe for shared use by the plurality of network devices; and a third procedure to define a plurality of device specific schedules, wherein; each of the plurality of device specific schedules is associated with one of the plurality of network devices, each of the plurality of device specific schedules specifies at least one timeslot during which the network device is allowed to transmit data and at least one timeslot during which the network device is allowed to receive data, none of the network devices transmits or receives data in a communication timeslot not included in the device specific schedule of the network device, at least one of the plurality of network devices performs a physical control function included in a control loop corresponding to a process being controlled within a process control network, and the data transmitted by the at least one of the plurality of network devices is used to control the process.
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27. A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node mesh network including a first network device and a second network device, the method comprising:
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defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration; defining, by a centralized network manager, a first superframe having a first repeating superframe cycle including a first number of the communication timeslots including respective transmit segments, wherein the first number corresponds to a transmission rate of the first network device and wherein the first network device transmits first process data associated with the first network device during at least one of the communication timeslots of the first superframe, the first process data used to control a process being controlled by a process control environment corresponding to the multi-node mesh network; defining, by the centralized network manager, a second superframe having a second repeating superframe cycle including a second number of the communication timeslots including respective transmit segments, wherein the second number of timeslots corresponds to a transmission rate of the second network device, wherein the second network device transmits second process data associated with the second network device during at least one of the communication timeslots of the second superframe, the second process data used to control the process, and wherein the first network device does not transmit the first process data associated with the first network device using any of the timeslots of the second superframe; defining, by the centralized network manager, a management superframe including a third number of the communication timeslots, wherein none of the first network device or the second network device transmits, respectively, the first process data or the second process data using any of the communication timeslots of the management superframe and wherein at least one of the communication timeslots of the management superframe is reserved for network management data; and aligning the first superframe, the second superframe, and the management superframe so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe and with one of the timeslots of the management superframe, wherein at least one of the first network device or the second network device corresponds to a physical control function corresponding to the process.
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Specification