System, device, and method for monitoring communication in a wind farm network

• US 8,782,187 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2009
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Kumar, Vivek, Jose, Chery, Kumar, Hemanth A
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, KENNY S
• Application Number:
  US12/548,036
• Publication Number:
  US 20100138751A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,784 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• 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: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A method for monitoring communication in a wind farm network. A server is attached to one or more network nodes in a wind farm network. The server determines whether it is capable of communicating with each of the network nodes and reports the results as a network state. A graphical representation of the network state may be displayed to a user.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a status of communication in a wind farm network from a remote device, the system comprising:

a first wind turbine comprising a first network node communicatively coupled to the wind farm network;

a server comprising;

a first communication interface communicatively coupled to the wind farm network and programmed to;

detect the first network node, wherein the first network node is stored in a collection of detected network nodes; and

determine a first connection status for the first network node in the collection of detected network nodes, the first connection status comprising a quantity of data transmitted by the first network node, a quantity of data received by the first network node, an elapsed time since the server became capable of communicating with the first network node, and a date and a time at which the server became capable of communicating with the first network node and indicating whether the server is capable of communicating with the first network node;

a second communication interface communicatively coupled to the remote device and configured to transmit a network state comprising the first connection status to the remote device; and

,

a first processor operatively coupled to the first communication interface and the second communication interface; and

,

a remote device configured to;

receive the network state from the server; and

display a graphical representation of the network state, wherein the graphical representation indicates whether the server is capable of communicating with the first network node.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the graphical representation of the network state comprises:

a graphical representation of the server;

a graphical representation of the first network node; and

,

a graphical representation of the first connection status.

3. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein:

the first wind turbine further comprises a second network node communicatively coupled to the wind farm network;

the first communication interface is further programmed to determine a second connection status for the second network node, the second connection status indicating whether the server is capable of communicating with the second network node; and

,

the network state further comprises the second connection status.

4. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a second wind turbine, wherein:

the second wind turbine comprises a second network node communicatively coupled to the wind farm network;

the first communication interface is further programmed to determine a second connection status for the second network node, the second connection status indicating whether the server is capable of communicating with the second network node; and

,

the network state further comprises the second connection status.

5. A system in accordance with claim 4, wherein:

the first communication interface is further configured to detect the second network node;

the server further comprises a memory configured to store the collection of detected network nodes comprising the first network node and the second network node; and

,

the first communication interface determines a connection status for each of the first network node and the second network node in the collection to determine the first connection status and the second communication status.

6. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first connection status further comprises one or more of the following:

a network address of the first network node, and a hardware identifier of the first network node.

7. A device for displaying a network state of a wind farm network, the wind farm network comprising a server communicatively attached to a plurality of wind farm network nodes, the wind farm network state comprising a plurality of wind farm network node states, each of the plurality of wind farm network node states corresponding to a wind farm network node, each of the plurality of wind farm network node states comprising a link state, the device comprising:

a communication interface communicatively attachable to the server and configured to receive the network state from the server; and

,

a display device configured to;

display a graphical representation of the plurality of wind farm network node states and a graphical representation of the link states associated with the plurality of wind farm network node states, wherein the link state associated with a wind farm network node state comprises a connection indicator having a value of connected if the server is capable of communicating with the wind farm network node corresponding to the link state, and having a value of disconnected if the server is not capable of communicating with the wind farm network node corresponding to the link state; and

display connection details corresponding to a wind farm network node of the plurality of wind farm network nodes, the connection details including at least one of an elapsed time since the server became capable of communicating with the wind farm network node, and a date and a time at which the server became capable of communicating with the wind farm network node.

8. A device in accordance with claim 7, wherein:

the display device is further configured to graphically distinguish a link state having a connection indicator of connected from a link state having a connection indicator of disconnected.

9. A device in accordance with claim 8, wherein the display device is further configured to display at least one of a network address of the wind farm network node and a hardware identifier of the wind farm network node.

10. A device in accordance with claim 7, further comprising a user input device configured to allow a user to select one of the displayed link states, wherein the display device is further configured to display at least one connection detail corresponding to the selected link state.

11. A device in accordance with claim 7, wherein:

each of the plurality of wind farm network nodes is associated with a position;

each wind farm network node state further comprises the position of the wind farm network node corresponding to the wind farm network node state; and

,

the display device is configured to depict each wind farm network node state based on the position of the wind farm network node.

12. A device in accordance with claim 11, wherein the position comprises a position of the wind farm network node relative to other devices within the wind farm network.

13. A device in accordance with claim 11, wherein the position comprises a physical location.

14. A method for presenting a communication status in a wind farm network, the wind farm network comprising a server and a plurality of network nodes, the method comprising:

associating each network node of the plurality of network nodes with a position comprising a position of each network node relative to other network nodes of the plurality of network nodes;

requesting the communication status from the server, the communication status comprising a plurality of connection indicators and a plurality of connection details, each of the plurality of connection indicators indicating whether the server is capable of communicating with a corresponding network node of the plurality of network nodes in the wind farm network;

receiving the communication status from the server; and

,

displaying on a display device a graphical representation of the communication status and connection details corresponding to a network node of the plurality of network nodes, the connection details including at least one of an elapsed time since the server became capable of communicating with the network node, and a date and a time at which the server became capable of communicating with the network node.

15. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein receiving the communication status from the server comprises receiving an identifier for each corresponding network node.

16. A method in accordance with claim 15, wherein receiving the communication status further comprises receiving at least one of a network address of the corresponding network node and a hardware identifier of the corresponding network node.

17. A method in accordance with claim 16, wherein the graphical representation of the communication status comprises a graphical representation of each connection indicator, the method further comprising:

enabling a user to select one of the connection indicators; and

,

displaying at least one connection detail for the selected connection indicator, wherein the at least one connection detail includes at least one of the network address and the hardware identifier.

18. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein displaying on a display device a graphical representation of the communication status comprises:

displaying on the display device a graphical representation of the server; and

displaying on the display device a graphical representation of each connection indicator.

19. A method in accordance with claim 18, wherein:

each of the plurality of network nodes is communicatively coupled to the wind farm network via a type of network connection;

the communication status further comprises a network topology comprising;

a plurality of expected network nodes, each expected network node corresponding to a network node in the wind farm network; and

,

the type of network connection for each of the expected network nodes; and

,

displaying the graphical representation of the communication status further comprises displaying on the display device a graphical representation of the network topology.