Power management for a radar system and ad hoc node device

• US 8,742,976 B1
• Filed: 08/09/2011
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp. (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp. (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Dryer, Paul, Robertson, Dale G., Weeks, Steven V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sotomayor, John B
• Application Number:
  US13/206,141
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 342/52, 342/57, 342/59, 342/73, 342/82
• US Class Current: 342/52
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/02 Systems using reflection of radio waves, e.g. primary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/02 of systems according to group G01S13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• 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

A method and apparatus for providing power management for a device including a radar unit and an ad hoc network node are presented. The present invention involves various individual components of the device being turned on and off in various sequences in order to minimize power draw of the device. This involves starting individual components ahead of when they are required so they are fully functional when needed.

Claims

1. A method in which a device performs operations comprising:

determining, for a device comprising a combination of a radar unit and a wireless node, at least one predefined power sequence for a plurality of components of said device such that said components are fully functional at a proper time for providing a particular function of said device; and

executing a particular one of said at least one predefined power sequence, wherein execution of said at least one predefined power sequence is performed such that a respective component is fully functional when needed to perform said function, and wherein said component is disabled otherwise such that a minimum amount of power is used by said device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said predefined sequence comprises the turning on and off of predetermined components at predetermined times.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying said predefined sequence on the fly based on which particular function said device is going to perform after said device enters a hibernate cycle.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said at least one predefined sequence is used to provide a different function.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein one predefined sequence of said at least one predefined sequence is used to perform a radar function.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein one predefined sequence of said at least one predefined sequence is used to perform a radio function.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein one predefined sequence of said at least one predefined sequence is used to perform a function other than a radar function and other than a radio function.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing said device including a combination low energy ad hoc network and radar unit.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein at least one node comprises a combination low energy ad hoc network and radar unit.

9. A method comprising:

determining a path for a first node of a group of nodes to communicate with a second node of said group of nodes, said path including one or more intermediate nodes, said determining taking into account battery power remaining at each node, wherein said determining a path comprises excluding a node having low battery power remaining.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a radio module comprising a plurality of radio module components;

a Radio Frequency (RF) module comprising a plurality of RF module components;

power circuitry in communication with said radio module and said RF module; and

a wakeup timer in communication with said power circuitry, said radio module, and said RF module, wherein the wakeup timer is operative to execute at least one predefined power sequence for at least one of said plurality of radio module components and said plurality of RF module components of said apparatus such that said components are fully functional at a proper time for providing a particular function for said device.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said wakeup timer is further operative to execute said at least one predefined power sequence including the turning on and off of predetermined components at predetermined times.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said wakeup timer is further operative to modify one of said at least one predefined power sequence on the fly based on which particular function said apparatus is going to perform after said apparatus enters a hibernate cycle.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said wakeup timer is further operative to execute each of said at least one predefined power sequence is used to provide a different function.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said wakeup timer is further operative to execute one predefined power sequence of said at least one predefined power sequences to perform a radar function.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said wakeup timer is further operative to execute one predefined power sequence of said at least one predefined power sequence to perform a radio function.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said wakeup timer is further operative to execute one predefined power sequence of said at least one predefined power sequence to perform a function other than a radar function and other than a radio function.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said apparatus comprises a combination low energy ad hoc network node and radar unit.

19. A system comprising:

a plurality of nodes wherein one of said plurality of nodes is designated an origination node, and another one of said plurality of nodes is designated a destination node, and further including one or more other nodes;

wherein a path between said origination node and said destination is determined, said path including one or more of said other nodes, wherein said path takes into account battery power remaining at each node and wherein a node having low battery power remaining is excluded from said path.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of said nodes comprises a combination low energy ad hoc network and radar unit.